December 19, 2025, 2:01 pm | Read time: 3 minutes
Annual vacation in the Maldives or shopping in New York during the holiday season? Those who fly can ease their conscience by making compensation payments to climate projects. But can flights really be offset with money? An overview.
By now, everyone should know: Flying is harmful to the climate. Yet for many, a vacation far from the Alps and the Baltic Sea is still a must. A possible solution for the conscience is so-called CO₂ compensation payments.
“In this process, the traveler pays an additional amount on top of the airfare and thus supports specific climate protection projects in the form of a climate contribution,” explains the German Environment Agency on its website.
The European Consumer Center lists some measures where the money can be directed:
- Promotion of renewable energies, such as through the construction of solar power plants
- Investment in better energy efficiency, for example, through improved waste recycling
- Reforestation of forests
- Protection of moorlands
But it’s not that simple. “The climate footprint doesn’t disappear just because a tree is planted,” says Sebastian Öttl from WWF Germany. He is an expert in corporate climate protection. It is merely an attempt at a balance sheet offset. Emissions are not prevented but are partially reversed elsewhere.
Offsetting Flights with Donations? The Math Doesn’t Add Up
So what to do? According to WWF Germany, the first advice for the climate is: Avoid and reduce. In concrete terms, this means avoiding flights as much as possible. Because: “Compensation is only needed on the path to climate neutrality for what cannot be avoided,” says Öttl.
If that’s not possible, compensation payments are not a bad way to support climate protection to some extent. “Also because, in addition to biological ways to reduce emissions, technical means are needed”–and these need to be financed, says Öttl.
Moreover, donations for high-quality climate and nature conservation projects–even independent of flight bookings–are indeed sensible. “As long as one is aware that it does not eliminate one’s own footprint.”
What Are SAF–and Are They a Solution?
Some airlines offer the use of so-called SAF, Sustainable Aviation Fuels, for an additional fee on the ticket price. These are fuels that are supposed to have a lesser impact on the climate than conventional kerosene. For example, because biomass is used in their production or synthetic fuels are employed, which are made from renewable energies.
“It works similarly to the early days of green electricity: The airline buys the fuel, but whether it is used on the booked flight is not guaranteed,” explains WWF’s Sebastian Öttl. These payments should therefore be seen more as an investment in the expansion of this fuel, which is not yet available globally in the required quantities. While it doesn’t directly reduce one’s own footprint, it still benefits the climate indirectly.
With material from dpa