It seems easier than ever to fly green. Simply tick the carbon offset box when booking a flight and dismiss worries over the pollution created as you fly to Paris. But how many trees really get planted and where? Does it even help the bigger, troubling climate picture – particularly given most emissions are created by long-haul passenger flights, the sort regularly taken by Australians?

Airlines have ambitious goals to slash greenhouse gases. In 2021, they committed to emitting net zero carbon by 2050, mostly through the use of sustainable aviation fuels but also by adopting carbon capture and carbon offset schemes. Aircraft remain, however, one of the fastest-rising sources of pollution. Carbon created by global tourism – mostly from flying – rose 3.5 per cent between 2009 and 2019 and now contributes almost 9 per cent of the world’s total emissions, according to a study published in December in journal Nature Communications.