Sustainable travel by reducing luggage
Table of Contents
2: Awareness of the importance of sustainable travel grow
3: Carbon dioxide emissions by air travel
4: Carbon dioxide emission reductions by reducing luggage
1: Introduction
As interest in climate change has grown over the years, so has an interest in sustainable travel. Environmental activist Greta Thunberg’s (Sweden) activities have even given rise to the term ‘Flight Shame’.
As Japan is an island nation, 99.4% of foreign visitors to Japan enter and leave the country by plane with heavy luggage (source: 2019 Survey of Foreign Visitor Spending Trends in Japan). For those from neighboring countries such as South Korea, coming to Japan by ship is also an option, but it is impossible to require all foreign travelers to come to Japan by anything other than air.
According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism, the carbon dioxide emissions per person traveling 1km (in 2019) are 98g for air (75% of the car emissions), 57g (44%) for buses, and 17g (13%) for trains, compared to 130g for cars. Therefore, flying into Japan and traveling around Japan in a rented car is the worst way of traveling in terms of carbon dioxide emissions. For this reason, we recommend rail travel in Japan.
As discussed below, travelers interested in sustainable travel are looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprint when traveling to Japan. We would like to offer international travelers who have no choice but to fly to Japan an immediate and significant carbon footprint reduction measure: reducing the luggage carried on board the plane.
2: Awareness of the importance of sustainable travel grow
In a survey by Booking.com (published June 2022, with 30,314 responses from 32 countries), 71% of global travelers and 46% of Japanese travelers said they want to try to travel more sustainably in the next 12 months. This is an increase of 10% from 61% of global travelers in 2021. Most people also recognize the importance of sustainable travel, with 81% of global travelers and 73% of Japanese travelers saying that sustainable travel is important to them.
In addition, 41% of global travelers want to contribute to reducing their impact on climate change and 33% want to take action to reduce CO2 emissions from transport. Furthermore, 29% believe that it is the responsibility of travelers to reduce the negative impacts of travel and tourism.
In addition, 75% of global travelers say they want to use more environmentally friendly ways of transport (i.e. walking, cycling, or public transport over taxis or rental cars). 30% feel ashamed to fly because of its impact on the environment. 28% would take a longer time to travel to their destination to reduce carbon emissions (i.e. by taking a train over a car or plane).
However, as Japan is an island nation, no other means of entering or leaving the country other than by plane is practical. We would therefore like to propose a way to significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions while flying. That is to reduce the amount of luggage carried on board the plane.
3: Carbon dioxide emissions by air travel
According to Our World in Data, carbon dioxide emissions from airplanes are increasing year by year, accounting for 2.5% of global emissions, and in October 2022 the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), a specialized UN organization, decided to set a target of virtually zero carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from international flights by 2050. The production cost of SAF is high and the supply is extremely low. The challenges are that SAF is expensive to produce and the supply is extremely low.
Source：Our World in Data
Find out the number of foreign visitors to Japan and the carbon footprint of traveling to Japan In 2019, there were 31.88 million foreign visitors to Japan. Most visitors are from neighboring countries such as China, South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. The proportion of visitors to Japan as a percentage of the total population is very high, with Hong Kong accounting for 31.6% and Taiwan at 20.7%.
Number of foreign visitors (million) and percentage of total population in 2019
Number of foreign visitors to Japan Number of visitors per total population (Millions) (%) 1 China 9.59 0.7 2 Korea 5.58 11.0 3 Taiwan 4.89 20.7 4 Hong Kong 2.29 31.6 5 USA 1.72 0.5 6 Thailand 1.32 1.9 7 Australia 0.62 2.6 8 Philippines 0.61 0.6 9 Malaysia 0.50 1.6 10 Vietnam 0.50 0.5 11 Singapore 0.49 8.7 12 UK 0.42 0.6 13 Indonesia 0.41 0.2 14 Canada 0.38 1.0 15 France 0.34 0.5 16 Germany 0.24 0.3 17 India 0.18 0.0 18 Italy 0.16 0.3 19 Spain 0.13 0.3 20 Macau 0.12 19.8 21 Russia 0.12 0.1 Total 31.88
Source：JNTO、Worldometer
The ICAO Carbon Emissions Calculator of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), a specialized agency of the United Nations, has been used to calculate the carbon dioxide emissions (round trip) from Narita Airport to major airports in different countries. This simulation naturally shows that the carbon dioxide emissions per passenger for short-distance travel are lower, while the carbon dioxide emissions per passenger are higher in Europe and the USA, where the flight distances are longer. The per capita carbon dioxide emissions (round trip) for the top countries in the statistics for foreign visitors to Japan are 338 kg for the short distance between Beijing Airport and Narita Airport, and 785 kg for the long distance between Washington Airport and Narita Airport.
On the other hand, the carbon dioxide emissions of checked baggage (20 kg) are shown in the ECTA (The European Clean Trucking Alliance) “Guidelines for Measuring and Managing CO2 Emission from Freight Transport Operations 2011” of ECTA (The European Clean Trucking Alliance). The carbon dioxide emissions intensity per tonne-kilometer of freight transported by flight used in the calculation is 0.602 kgCO2/tkm. The UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has set the carbon dioxide emissions intensity per tonne-kilometer of freight transported at 0.602 kgCO2/tkm for the international long-haul flight standard (6,482 km).
The DEFRA data for long-haul international short-haul flights (1,108 km) is 1.48848 kgCO2/tkm and for domestic short-haul flights (463 km) 1.98149 kgCO2/tkm, which seems to take into account the effective use of fuel on long-haul flights. Note that the DEFRA data was published in the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism’s ‘Guidance on the disclosure of CO2 emissions arising from logistics‘.
The carbon dioxide emissions of the deposit baggage (20 kg) relative to the carbon dioxide emissions per passenger vary depending on the distance flown but range from 15% to 35%.
Distance from Narita Airport from major cities and carbon dioxide emissions
Distance from Narita Airport (round trip, km) CO2 emissions (kg) Per One Passenger Per Checked Baggage (20 kg) USA (Washington) 21,684 785 261 Canada (Toronto) 20,594 749 248 Italy (Rome) 19,776 781 238 France (Paris) 19,416 815 234 UK (London) 19,170 784 231 Germany (Frankfurt) 18,730 675 226 Australia (Melbourne) 16,344 875 197 Russia (Moscow) 14,990 685 180 India (Delhi) 11,812 693 142 Indonesia (Jakarta) 11,668 620 140 Singapore (Singapore) 10,708 588 129 Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) 10,812 550 130 Thailand (Bangkok) 9,292 538 112 Vietnam (Hanoi) 7,436 429 90 Philippines (Manila) 6,096 388 73 Hong Kong (Hong Kong) 5,922 417 71 Taiwan (Taipei) 4,362 313 53 China (Beijing) 4,268 338 51 South Korea (Seoul) 2,510 201 30 Average 12,399 591 149
Note: Emissions per passenger for Rome, London, and Moscow are data from Haneda Airport. Emissions per passenger are data from economy class
Sources: ICAO; ECTA; UK Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra); Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism
4: Carbon dioxide emission reductions by reducing luggage
To make it easier to understand the carbon dioxide emissions reduction effect of not carrying 20 kg of checked baggage on board an aircraft, we have compared it with the per capita carbon dioxide emissions for each country. Depending on the distance flown to Japan and the per capita carbon dioxide emissions, the reduction can range from 1 to 27 days. South Korea, with a shorter flight distance, has only one day for carbon dioxide emissions reduction, and India, with lower per capita carbon dioxide emissions, has a reduction of 27 days. The reductions in European countries vary from 9 days (Germany) to 17 days (France).
Compared to the global average of 4.79 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per capita per year, the reduction effect is proportional to the flight distance: 20 days in the USA, 19 days in Canada, 18 days in Italy, etc.
Annual CO2 emissions per capita(t)
Total CO2 emissions CO2 emissions from daily life Canada 18.6 2.7 Australia 17.1 0.6 USA 15.5 1.7 Korea 11.9 1.0 Taiwan 11.7 1.4 Russia 11.4 1.0 Germany 9.4 1.7 Malaysia 8.7 0.2 Singapore 8.6 0.1 China 7.4 0.4 Hong Kong 6.5 0.2 Italy 5.9 1.1 UK 5.6 1.1 France 5.1 1.2 Thailand 3.9 0.1 Vietnam 2.2 0.2 Indonesia 2.0 0.1 India 1.9 0.1 Philippines 1.2 0.1 Average 8.1 0.8
Sources: Worldometer; World Bank Data
Reduction in CO2 emissions per capita without checked baggage (20 kg) (round trip)
Reduction in total CO2 emissions Reduction in CO2 emissions from daily life (days) (days) India 27 495 Indonesia 25 494 Philippines 22 316 France 17 71 UK 15 80 Vietnam 15 187 Italy 15 82 Thailand 10 372 Germany 9 49 USA 6 56 Russia 6 63 Malaysia 6 290 Singapore 6 415 Canada 5 34 Australia 4 113 Hong Kong 4 119 China 3 47 Taiwan 2 14 South Korea 1 12 Average 10 174
Sources: Worldometer; World Bank Data; UK Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra); Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport; our calculations
Reduction in the global average CO2 emissions per capita without checked baggage (20 kg)(round trip)
Reduction in overall CO2 emissions Reduction in CO2 emissions by daily life (days) (days) USA 20 231 Canada 19 220 Italy 18 211 France 18 207 UK 18 205 Germany 17 200 Australia 15 174 Russia 14 160 India 11 126 Indonesia 11 125 Singapore 10 114 Malaysia 10 115 Thailand 9 99 Vietnam 7 79 Philippines 6 65 Hong Kong 5 63 Taiwan 4 47 China 4 46 South Korea 2 27 Average 11 132
Sources: Worldometer; World Bank Data; UK Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra); Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport; our calculations
Carbon dioxide emissions per capita include all carbon dioxide emissions from the power generation, industrial, and transport sectors. Therefore, if the reduction effect is limited to per capita carbon dioxide emissions from the residential, commercial, and public service sectors as carbon dioxide emissions from the living environment, the reduction effect is calculated to be 11 days (South Korea) to 495 days (India).
Compared to the global average per capita carbon dioxide emissions of 0.4 tonnes per year from the living environment, the reduction effect is proportional to flight distance: 231 days in the USA, 220 days in Canada, and 211 days in Italy. Even in short-distance East Asian countries, the reduction in carbon dioxide emissions is significant: 63 days in Hong Kong and 47 days in Taiwan.
Although the reduction effect varies greatly from country to country, it is surprising that simply not carrying 20 kg of checked baggage on board an aircraft can have such a large effect on reducing carbon dioxide emissions. I don’t know of any other reduction in carbon dioxide emissions of this magnitude that can be achieved immediately when traveling.
Note that carbon dioxide emissions from international flights are not counted in national carbon dioxide emissions calculations but in the global ‘bunker fuel’ category. Governments, therefore, have little incentive to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from international flights. However, this is only a matter of how the statistics are classified.
Again, 81% of global travelers and 73% of Japanese travelers say that sustainable travel is important to them. Travelers who recognize the importance of sustainable travel may want to consider reducing their checked baggage.
The detailed formula for the reduction in carbon emissions can be found in Excel by clicking on the button below.
Notice
We are planning to launch a travel rental service next spring to reduce the amount of luggage carried on board airplanes and to make it easier for everyone to travel around the country without hand luggage. Until the rental service is launched, we will be offering free itinerary creation for the first 10 passengers.
I have traveled a cumulative total of more than 200 times, almost every two months, both domestically and internationally, and have created many itineraries. In addition, our company has already compiled a database of more than 20 000 tourist destinations in Japan. We create itineraries according to travelers’ preferences, so please contact us via the ‘Registration / Inquiries section if you would like to do so.