Carbon footprint

Each time we take a flight or travel in a car, carbon dioxide or 'CO2' is emitted into the atmosphere. CO2 is a greenhouse gas that's released when fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal are burnt.

A certain amount of greenhouse gases are a good thing: the earth is surrounded by a blanket of greenhouse gases that keep the surface of our planet at the right temperature and help sustain life. However, if we release too much greenhouse gas, the blanket gets thicker and the Earth's atmosphere gets warmer. This is why our climate is changing.

Air travel also has other effects on the environment besides the release of CO2 into the atmosphere including:

• methane destruction
• ozone production
• cloud formation

However, there is currently less scientific understanding about these other effects.