Pollution

Google Flights Accused of 'Airbrushing' Carbon Emissions

AUG 25 2022·Updated SEP 2 2022

Story

Image credit: Reuters [via BBC]

The Facts

According to climate experts, Google has "airbrushed" the full environmental impact of air travel through updates made to its flight carbon calculator in July.
Business Insider
Critics say the calculator - which estimates the potential impact of different flights on the climate - effectively halved total emission figures when it began excluding "carbon dioxide equivalent" emissions involved in flying, such as water vapour, last month.
guardian
Contrails - the wisps of ice crystals left in the air in the wake of a plane - are reportedly a contributor to global warming as they trap heat radiated from the Earth in the atmosphere.
BBC News
Professor David Lee of Manchester Metropolitan University says the change means the calculator "now significantly understates the global impact of aviation on the climate." While aviation reportedly accounts for around 2% of global CO2 emissions, it's responsible for around 3.5% of human-caused global warming.
BBC News
Google has stated that offering an accurate estimate of CO2 equivalent emissions is impossible. In a statement, they said "we strongly believe that non-CO2 effects should be included in the model, but not at the expense of accuracy."
guardian
Many have responded to the news with concern, as the reach of the calculator spreads beyond Google to use by travel sites such as Skyscanner and Expedia.
Protocol

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The Spin

Narrative A

Google is greenwashing the effects of the aviation industry and hundreds of millions of users are underestimating the environmental impact of their journeys as a result. Carbon footprint calculations are crucial to understanding the cost of human activity - Google needs to be held accountable for misleading consumers.

EuroNews

Narrative B

While Google's poor practices are certainly irresponsible, the very notion of a "carbon footprint" was the brainchild of big oil, designed to shift accountability for climate change from corporations onto individuals. Rather than concentrating on private individual actions to tackle global warming - as is encouraged by programs like carbon calculators - we must seek collective action and policy reform.