The carbon footprint of an Antarctic expedition on Sonabia 2 is:
255kg of CO2 per person.
In order to compute this, we consider first the fuel consumption of Sonabia 2 vs. that of passenger ships.
The difference is very large: 64 g of diesel per person and nautical mile* on Sonabia 2 vs. 320 g for an “ideal” passenger ship.
More details.
3 weeks expedition
Diesel fuel per person:
93 kg, carbon footprint 248.7kg of CO2.
1 kg of diesel producest 2.68kg of equivalent CO2.
Propane gas for cooking:
2 kg per person, carbon footprint 6kg of CO2.
1 kg of propane produces 3kg of pure CO2.
TOTAL 255kg of CO2 / person
The average route is 1450 nautical miles i.e., 2685 km. The food and personal consumption are not considered (would be the same is you stay aground). The transportation of combustibles towards Ushuaia is not counted. Measured on the 2 expeditions of the season 2023-2024.
Air travel
Air travel to Ushuaia and back, from 3 European cities: Madrid, Paris, London.
Madrid:
12.427 km, 1347 kg CO2 (Madrid-Buenos Aires-Ushuaia)
Paris:
13.440km, 1437 kg CO2 (Paris-Buenos Aires-Ushuaia)
Londres:
13.669km, 1580 kg CO2 (London-Madrid-Buenos Aires-Ushuaia)
Source: ICAO carbon emission calculator. Tourist class, round trip.
1347 to 1580 kg of CO2
Carbon footprint of your vacations
FIRST CASE: travelers and backpackers : you are already in Ushuaia.
255 kg of CO2
SECOND CASE: round trip by plane from Madrid / Paris / Londres
1602 to 1835 kg of CO2
Comparison with a passenger ship
Notwithstanding the air travel, the minimal carbon footprint of a trip on an “ideal” passenger ship is
857 kg de CO2 per person
We consider a 1500 nautical miles trip (2778 km), a fuel consumption of de 320g / person x nautical mile (very very optimistic), we assume that the ship uses light diesel fuel (whereas most of the ships use heavy diesel oil, more contaminant) . We do not consider the additional sources of CO2 (meals, carburant to go aground …).
What if you stay at home?
According to your diet, the carbon footprint of your food for 1 year is:
between 1500 kg et 3300 kg of CO2
Estimates for the USA: Source: Afrouzi et al. (2003), Result in Engineering Vol 18. Warning these estimates are only valid for the industrial food available in the USA.