A once-around-the-world expedition systematically measuring its real-world carbon footprint.
Table of Contents
1. A Journey Designed to Explore limits and Measure CO₂, Not Just Avoid Flights
2024 marked the first full year of the ONE PLANET Expedition and, to the best of my knowledge, the first attempt to circle the globe overland and by sea while systematically tracking the resulting travel-related carbon emissions.
Rather than making assumptions about what sustainable travel should look like, I wanted to test it in practice. The idea is simple: travel slowly, make conscious decisions, and document how every choice influences the overall carbon footprint. By the end of the expedition, the goal is to replace estimates and averages with real-world data collected over several years of continuous travel.
Throughout the journey, I record my daily decisions, including transportation, accommodation, food, and activities. This data forms the basis for calculating my travel-related carbon emissions and helps me better understand where impacts occur and how they can be reduced.
While my PhD research focused on analyzing environmental impacts of human beings, including impact categories such as acidification and eutrophication, this expedition currently focuses on carbon emissions as a practical and transparent starting point. A more comprehensive environmental assessment is planned once the expedition is complete.
Calculate your travel carbon emissions and discover the science behind the free GREEN TRAVEL Carbon Calculator.
2. Estonia: Establishing a Low-Carbon Baseline Off Grid
I began the ONE PLANET expedition Estonia, in the middle of winter, volunteering at a non-profit husky farm and helping care for around 50 huskies. I lived in a nature reserve, sleeping in a treehouse, fully off-grid and surrounded by forests and snow.
Except for the bus rides to Estonia from Berlin, I had no longer travel during these first three months and only minimal infrastructure use, this period established a low-carbon baseline for the expedition. It was a calm and grounded starting phase to slow down and arrive mentally — and it was also when I began developing the Green Travel Carbon Calculator, the tool used to calculate all emissions throughout the journey. The calculator is based on my PhD research on the life cycle impacts of human beings and is grounded in peer-reviewed scientific studies.
HOW DO I TRACK MY TRANSPORTATION DATA? With Travelmap , which also lets you build a personal travel blog where your routes get plotted on a customizable map. It’s perfect for keeping your followers in the loop with engaging and interactive travel posts.
3. Measuring Slow Travel Across Europe: From the Baltics to the Alps
From Estonia, I gradually moved south through Europe using public buses, trains, hitchhiking, and lots of hiking. Over the course of 2024, I covered 10,851 kilometers — entirely without flying and without using any car.
This resulted in 412.5 kg of CO₂e from mobility, a comparatively low figure for that distance.
One of the physical highlights was crossing the Alps on foot, from Oberstdorf to Milan, carrying a brutal 25 kg backpack and sleeping outdoors or in simple shelters. The data later confirmed what the body already knew: slow travel doesn’t mean always easy travel. It is physically demanding, often intense, and comes with blisters, exhaustion, and uncertainty — but it has the opportunity to reduce the environmental impact while offering a depth of experience that fast travel simply can’t provide.
4. Storms, Waiting Seasons, and Living in a cave on the Canary Islands
After the Alps, I continued by public transport to Spain. From Cádiz, I had the opportunity to hitchhike a sailboat to the Canary Islands. The crossing to Gran Canaria included a three-day storm, during which we temporarily lost the steering wheel and had to improvise repairs at sea, which was probably the most intense moment so far on my travels.
Because it was hurricane season, crossing the Atlantic toward South America was not yet possible. Instead of forcing progress, I stayed longer in Gran Canaria and later Tenerife. In Gran Canaria, I worked on sustainable cave restoration at a friend’s finca, focusing on low-impact building techniques and land stewardship.
On Tenerife, I volunteered for three months at Tenerife Horse Rescue as their videographer. We lived freegan, rescuing food from supermarkets that would otherwise be thrown away — a lifestyle choice that had a measurable effect on food-related emissions.
5. What the CO₂ Data Shows: A Measured Low-Impact Year
Throughout the year, all major categories were tracked and quantified.
- Food emissions:
- 95 days freegan
- 270 days on an average meat-reduced diet
- 1,185 kg CO₂e,
- Accommodation emissions:
(Out of 354 nights)
- 306 nights in campsite conditions
- 30 nights couchsurfing
- 7 nights wild camping
- Only 5 nights in shared Airbnb accommodation and a similar number in shared hostel rooms
- 306 nights in campsite conditions
- Total accommodation emissions were 1,347 kg CO₂e, averaging 3.8 kg CO₂e per night, largely due to outdoor stays and shared, low-energy, often solar-powered places.
- Total emissions for 2024:
- Mobility, food, and accommodation combined: 2,945 kg CO₂e
- Including infrastructure, lifestyle, and digital consumption: 4,051 kg CO₂e for the entire year
- Mobility, food, and accommodation combined: 2,945 kg CO₂e
By the end of 2024, hurricane season was easing. I met the same captain again who had taken me to Gran Canaria, and we finally set sail across the Atlantic toward Brazil — carrying not only supplies, but a full year of measured data, lived experience, and lessons.
Measured in numbers, 2024 was a low-impact year.
Measured in experience, it was foundational.
It showed that traveling without flying is not just a crazy idea, but a measurable, repeatable, and enriching approach to moving through the world differently.
