- guardian.co.uk, Monday July 11 2005 00.22 BST
Your supplement on air travel (Flying this summer? July 7) suggests travellers can offset the emissions from their flights through "tree-planting schemes". But leading providers in the voluntary carbon offset market put most of their funds into sustainable energy projects that reduce emissions, rather than try to soak them up. Climate Care supports a renewable energy scheme displacing fossil fuel use in India and an efficient cooking project in Honduras.
Well-designed carbon offset schemes bring together the goals of renewable energy, poverty alleviation and reducing the impact of air travel - the very themes being discussed at the G8. Once people have chosen to fly, the only way to reduce the impact is to offset the emissions through high-quality offset projects.
Tom Morton
Director, Climate Care
· Your supplement was more balanced than most on this tricky topic. However, when comparing the city-to-city time of train versus plane you say the overall journey time by air isn't much shorter than train. But many people don't live within easy reach of a downtown railway station. For many, one of London's airports or a regional airport are more convenient.
And on CO2 emssions, you forget that a car produces as much pollution during its manufacture and disposal as it does during its working life. Consider that a car has only around a six- to 15-year lifespan, while a plane will last 20 to 30 years and fly many, many passengers for millions of miles.
Alex McWhirter
Business Traveller magazine
· I wonder if all the current problems of water shortages in the south-east of England will have been solved by 2012 when the demand will be huge from the many thousands of competitors and visitors who will be deluging the capital for the Olympics.
Brian Saperia
Harrow, Middx
· The London Olympics will consume a vast amount of energy in the new construction involved, whereas the Paris proposal would have maximised use of existing facilities and minimised the impact on the environment.
Dave Pardy
Christchurch, Hants
