Now that Trip.com’s CO2 emissions offsetting partnership with CHOOOSE has been in operation for almost two months, Trip.com wanted to take a moment to assess how the collaboration was progressing and to take an in-depth look at the audiences that are buying emissions offsetting options today. With some interesting revelations to come out of the analysis, below we discuss our findings.
CO2 Emissions offsetting options are most popular among UK and European travellers
Since June 2022, Trip.com has been offering CO2 emissions offsetting options across almost all flight inventory. According to our recent data, users in the UK were purchasing emissions offsetting products on flights in larger numbers than any other country, with these options being 10% more popular amongst UK users than those from Germany, the next highest adopters of this eco-conscious option. US users took third place, with 11% choosing CO2 emissions offsetting on their flights, followed by 8% of users in the Netherlands, 5% of users from Japan and Australia and 4% from Singapore and Korea.
In terms of overall emissions offsetting purchases, 54% of users who offset their flights emissions were based in Europe, 24% of purchases were made by users from the APAC region (covering East Asia, SE Asia and Australia) and 12% were made by users based in the Americas.
Emissions offsetting options tend to be purchased for short-haul trips
On average, Trip.com users paid 4% of the original airfare for the emissions offsetting product. In terms of travel distance, 71% of users who purchased emissions offsetting did so for short-haul trips (less than three hours), compared to 16% of customers who purchased offsetting for mid-haul flights (three to six hours) and 13% who purchased for a long-haul trip (more than six hours).
Emissions offsetting is most popular among Gen Z and Millennials
Our data shows that emissions offsetting products are most popular among Gen Z and Millennials, the youngest generations who have the most to benefit from these types of initiatives. The products were most popular among 24-33 year olds, with 41% of total offsetting products purchased by this age bracket, followed by 18-23 year olds at 21% and 34-43 year olds accounting for 20% (encompassing geriatric Millennials and some users from Gen X).
How Trip.com x CHOOOSE supports emissions offsetting projects
For those who are interested in purchasing offsetting products with Trip.com and CHOOOSE, they’ll be pleased to hear that their contribution goes towards four major sustainability programmes that deliver measurable benefits to the planet and developing communities.
These include a project which supports the building of two waste-to-energy facilities at landfill sites in Turkey, two Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) projects in Cambodia and Brazil, and the Breathing Space improved cooking stoves programme in India, which offsets traditional high-emission cooking stoves with more energy efficient options.
“We are excited to see that users from over 35 different Trip.com sites are now actively offsetting their flight’s CO2 emissions when booking with us,” said Yudong Tan, CEO of Flights Business Group at Trip.com Group. “Trip.com Group will continue to encourage users to travel more responsibly through offering various sustainable travel options.”
