Would you still bring your luggage on board a plane after looking at this data?

Table of Contents

1：Comparison of reductions in daily carbon dioxide emissions

2：Number of days of reduction against per capita carbon dioxide emissions

3：If all visitors to Japan did not carry their luggage onto the plane

1：Comparison of reductions in daily carbon dioxide emissions

We have previously analyzed the carbon dioxide emission reductions produced by not carrying 20 kg of checked baggage on board an airplane. We have compared the effect of this reduction in daily carbon dioxide emissions with the various other measures this time. In conclusion, we have found that the carbon dioxide emission reductions achieved by reducing the amount of baggage carried on board an airplane are overwhelming. Its carbon dioxide emissions reduction is 74.5 kg for a one-way trip to Japan alone. (Average figure based on the distance from 19 countries to Japan).

The carbon dioxide emissions of the 20 kg of checked baggage are based on the data provided by ECTA (The European Clean Trucking Alliance) in their “Guidelines for Measuring and Managing CO2 Emission from Freight Transport Operations” by ECTA (The European Clean Trucking Alliance). The carbon dioxide emissions intensity of freight transported by air (tonne-kilometers) used in the calculation is 0.602 kgCO2/tkm.

According to the Ministry of the Environment, Government of Japan’s “Zero Carbon Action 30“, the other ways of carbon dioxide emissions reduction per day are much smaller. The carbon dioxide emissions reduction from installing solar panels is 3.49 kg, electric vehicles (renewable energy charging) is 1.28 kg, working from home is 0.76 kg, and carsharing is 0.58 kg. Compared to the 74.5 kg effect from the reduction in checked baggage (20 kg) described above, the various ways are considerably smaller. Of course, most people do not fly every day, but we want everyone to know about the overwhelming benefits of reducing checked baggage (20 kg). If you are aware of climate action in your daily life, why not stop bringing your boot when you travel by plane?

Source: ICAO, ECTA, Ministry of Environment

“Bring Your Own Water Bottles” and “Bring Your Own Bag” is effective against waste plastic. However, it turns out to be almost meaningless with regard to the effect of reducing carbon dioxide emissions. The effect of planting trees is also almost meaningless if we plant only one tree. We need to plant 34,000 trees to match the carbon dioxide emissions reductions achieved by reducing checked baggage (20 kg).

2：Number of days of reduction against per capita carbon dioxide emissions

The data calculated in “Section 1: Comparison of reductions in daily carbon dioxide emissions” is compared with the per capita carbon dioxide emissions (global average, per day) of 13.12 kg. The reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from not bringing in checked baggage (20 kg) is 5.68 days. On the other side, The reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from installing solar panels is 0.27 days, from electric vehicles (renewable energy charging) is 0.1 days, from working from home is 0.06 days, from car sharing was 0.04 days, and so on.

Source: ICAO, ECTA, Ministry of Environment, Worldometers

3：If all visitors to Japan did not carry their luggage onto the plane

What would the effect be if all visitors did not bring their luggage on board the plane? 31.88 million people visited Japan in 2019. Using data on flight distances (round trip) between countries, we calculated the carbon dioxide emissions reduction by reducing the amount of checked baggage (20 kg). The reduction volume was 2.49 million tonnes.

This volume is more than the carbon dioxide emissions (2019) of countries such as Togo 2.37 million tonnes, Chad 2.25 million tonnes, Niger 2.15 million tonnes, Maldives 2.11 million tonnes, South Sudan 1.7 million tonnes, Malta 166, Iceland 1.64 million tonnes and Fiji 1.63 million tonnes. People who want to tackle the issue of climate change should seriously consider not taking checked baggage (20 kg) on board airplanes.