One reason the low cost of carbon offsets might not make it feel okay to fly is if you’re trying to think about what behaviors and habits would still be acceptable in a society that is already functioning carbon-neutrally. My intuition is that as regulations become stricter and greenhouse-gas-reducing projects need less crowdfunding, carbon offset prices will rise until they equal the cost of capturing and sequestering the CO2, which is on the order of several hundred dollars per tonne. So it’s hard to imagine a future in which flying is still okay at prices even close to what they are today.
One reason the low cost of carbon offsets might not make it feel okay to fly is if you’re trying to think about what behaviors and habits would still be acceptable in a society that is already functioning carbon-neutrally. My intuition is that as regulations become stricter and greenhouse-gas-reducing projects need less crowdfunding, carbon offset prices will rise until they equal the cost of capturing and sequestering the CO2, which is on the order of several hundred dollars per tonne. So it’s hard to imagine a future in which flying is still okay at prices even close to what they are today.
If you have another look at the post, I talk about how flying would still make sense in many cases at carbon capture costs.