There was an article in Friday's Guardian that claims the airline industry is heading for the 'neutral zone'.

Is that true? According to the article Silverjet is the only airline that's 'carbon neutral' currently, with the carbon offset included in the price of the ticket. But surely all airlines will start charging a carbon tax soon. Sounds like a good thing. But people flying business or first class will hardest hit and have to pay more to offset their emissions than others.

It's quite revealing to work out how much carbon you could actually be responsible for.

There's a calculator here that lets you work it out. I'm not sure how it's calibrated. This is what came up for a London to New York flight. The offset cost is supposed to be spent on green initiatives like woodland development.

Economy class:
Travelled (km): 5561.3km
Tonnes of CO2 : 0.61 Travel
Offset Cost: £5.19

Business/First Class
Travelled (km): 5561.3km
Tonnes of CO2 : 0.92
Travel Offset Cost: £7.82

By comparison a Range Rover creates 0.001 tons per mile. So you could drive 920 miles in it to be responsible for the same amount of emissions as your first/business class flight. Or I could do about 3000 miles in my Golf...