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Podcast: The Climate Question
Episode: Can we trust Google’s carbon footprint calculations?
Description: If you are planning a trip, but you want to check the climate impact before choosing how to get there, then beware. Google has been seriously underestimating the carbon footprint of plane flights, and overestimating that of some train journeys. And its calculations don’t just appear in its search results, but also feed the sites of more and more online booking companies, like Skyscanner and Booking.com.
To be fair, carbon footprints are actually very hard to get right, as the BBC’s Climate Editor, Justin Rowlatt, discovers on his own trip to Rotterdam. On the way out, he t...