Overseas property ownership and the environment

Does the average Briton care about their carbon footprint? Owning a holiday home abroad can increase your carbon footprint by nearly 35% just from travel. Owning and traveling to a holiday home abroad, plus the energy used while there, can literally add tonnes to a carbon footprint, according to a study released by HiFX.

Holiday homes in Cyprus, South Africa and Cape Verde create the largest carbon footprint. Travel alone, typically increases the average owner’s total carbon emissions by 28% a year and in some cases up to 40% in the worst offending destinations .

While 78% of Brits admit to making some effort to reduce their carbon footprint generated by their home on the UK, 41% of people who own or would like to own property abroad said they would not consider the carbon footprint created by the energy consumption of their holiday home. This is the figure most people seem fixated on, but this means 59% of Brits said the reverse. But what are they planning to do about it? Stop using the flat in Marbella? I don’t think so.

“With 27% of a person’s carbon footprint typically made up from domestic energy consumption this lax attitude abroad could add tonnes to individual’s carbon footprints, let alone the travel to get there. It is nice to enjoy these places for now but ignoring the environmental effect of owning two houses could impact the enjoyment of these places in the future.” said Mark Bodega, Director of HiFX.

According to HiFX’s analysis, regular short haul flights to Cyprus put the island at the top the table in terms of creating the largest carbon footprint as people visit so often. Long haul destinations rack up the emissions; so just one visit a year to a place in South Africa lands Cape Town as the second most environmentally unfriendly destination amongst the ten most popular countries to own a holiday home.

A typical homeowner visiting southern Spain three times a year bumps the Iberic peninsula up the rankings; generating a carbon footprint of two and a half tonnes. Travelling to emerging overseas property hotspots such as Cape Verde can increase the average Brit’s carbon footprint by 40% - loading over four tonnes of carbon emissions onto the average Briton’s annual output of approximately ten tonnes.

So, what can you do about it? If you genuinely want to decrease your carbon footprint, rather than just go through the motions, here are a few options:

1. Take a boat instead of a plane.
2. Go twice a year instead of three times a year. Stay a little longer each trip. By far the major part of the increased footprint is from the flight. I am sure EasyJet don’t want to hear it, or even care, but it’s true.
3. You can buy “carbon credits” and there are a number of companies selling this service. What this means, in effect is that you pay them to work towards creating a positive carbon footprint on your behalf. There are a few companies offering the service and I have listed a few at the bottom of this article. I make no recommendations, but check them out yourself.

• Carbonfootprint
• Climatecare
• Carbonneutral