PURE - The Clean Planet Trust, the UK’s first dedicated climate change charity, welcomed news that most British holiday-makers would be willing to pay a premium to carbon offset long- and short-haul flights. PURE offers travellers a quick and effective carbon offsetting package.

In a survey for online consumer products review agency Ciao, three quarters (73%) of respondents said they would pay a voluntary contribution to cancel the C02 emitted during their flights.

British passengers said they would happily pay GBP5 to offset carbon emissions for a short-haul flight such as to Spain and GBP15 for a long-haul flight, for example to New York.

A donation via PURE’s charity offset package benefits from Gift Aid. This means that a return trip to Spain can be offset for as little as GBP2.13, whilst the C02 emitted on a trip to New York can cost GBP8.18 to offset.

The survey quizzed 500 UK residents who had taken flights within the last 12 months. According to PURE, if just 1 in 50 Brits flying to Europe offset their holiday flights, the charity could remove the pollution belched out by a medium-sized UK power station.

Phil Wolski, head of fund raising at PURE - The Clean Planet Trust, said:

“Brits are among the most environmentally-savvy travellers in the world. We realise that holiday-makers and business travellers will not stop flying overnight, but this highlights the pent-up consumer demand to do something about climate change.”

PURE - The Clean Planet Trust is a charity providing individuals and businesses the opportunity to offset their carbon emissions online at www.puretrust.org.uk and is a simple way for individuals to directly support the Kyoto process. PURE’s trustees cancel the credits to put them beyond use. By removing these quotas, donations help finance projects worldwide that reduce emissions and limit the amount of carbon dioxide that polluting companies are allowed to release into the atmosphere.
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