Travelcare have made carbon offsetting available on the high street.

Much has been talked about the effects of global warming over the past few years and more and more of us are looking at ways we can help our environment. Air travel is now part of everyday life and people will continue to want to take a holiday. We recognise that more and more travellers are becoming concerned about the impact their holidays have on our climate. Our initiative, a high street first, will make it easy for you to neutralise the biggest environmental impact of your holiday, the flight. Check out Climate Care's website to use their quick flight emissions calculator. At Travelcare we have now provided you with a means to counter the environmental effects of your holiday or other travel arrangements by buying carbon offset in our branches. For the first time you will be able to walk into any of our high street branches and buy carbon dioxide offset on the spot, previously it has only been possible to do this on the internet. Aviation is the fastest growing source of carbon dioxide emissions and this initiative means that you can voluntarily pay a small sum which will go towards offsetting in full, or in part, the carbon dioxide cost of your flight.

The Co-operative Group has been at the forefront of the battle against climate change and has been working closely with the Climate Care organisation. The Group led the switch to green electricity back in 1998 and has been pioneering good quality offsets with the Co-operative Bank mortgages since 2000.

The Co-operative Group's contributions so far have enabled projects in

• UGANDA - an area of rain forests is now home to a thriving population of chimpanzees and monkeys
• KARNATAKA (Southern India) - installation of a wind turbine producing electricity to supply local homes.
• MADAGASCAR - provision of energy efficient cooking stoves, reducing the pressure on local forests where people collect wood for heating and cooking
• YASIN VALLEY (Pakistan) - increased energy efficiency to reduce de-forestation.

See below an example of cost per passenger to offset your flights

Eight bands have been established, reflecting the distance travelled. For example, if you were travelling to France or mainland Spain it would cost you £3 to fully carbon offset your trip alternatively you can choose to offset 20% [this is the UK Government's target for CO₂ reduction by 2010] which would cost you 60 pence