Sydney to Glasgow is almost 17,000 km. Before I have even stepped off the plane I will have contributed 3.3 tonnes of CO2 from my flight there (myclimate, 2026). More than half of the average person’s emissions per year (Our World in Data, 2023), and that doesn’t even consider the way back. How can I, someone studying renewable energy engineering who understands the strain the climate is already under justify that environmental cost for my own benefit?
My answer is that I can only justify that flight if what I bring back is worth more than the carbon it cost me to go.
I am currently undertaking an introductory course in humanitarian engineering at UNSW which has focused on using engineering as a tool to create solutions that are appropriate for who we are trying to help, not just the best technology available. In this we have looked at the UN sustainable development goals in depth, particularly in the frame of least developed countries, I chose to research SDG 7 (United Nations, 2026) and observe affordable and clean energy in the scope of Tanzania. Tanzania’s narrative is starkly different to Australia, with access to energy at all being the primary challenge rather than making this energy clean. Their progress however, is undeniable with the Julius Nyerere 2.1 GW hydropower plant (ENR, 2025) implemented just last year and yet even then the country is expected to be among those that account for over half of the world’s unnelectrified population by 2030 (IEA, 2025).
Australia on the other hand is almost the complete inverse, as an extremely high CO2 emitter at almost 3 times the global average per person our challenge isn’t accessing energy its transitioning it. Over the next decade the balance of retiring of coal whilst simultaneously absorbing renewables is crucial. This is where Scotland comes in, a completely different perspective and a country further into its transition than where I live, wrestling in transmission and storage on a national scale as it already draws most of its energy from wind. The experience I can gain from living and understanding the energy transition from another country and seeing SDG 7 solved in another manner is undeniable and it directly serves where I want to take my career at a humanitarian scale.
I can’t get around the 3.3 tonnes it takes to get there but what I can do it make sure I limit my CO2 input whilst I am abroad by taking busses and trains over short haul flights, packing light and buying second hand and most importantly, make sure I get the most of this once in a lifetime opportunity given the cost it places on our already struggling environment.
REFERENCES:
https://co2.myclimate.org
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/co-emissions-per-capita
https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal7
https://www.enr.com/articles/62204-best-project-water-wastewater-julius-nyerere-hydropower-plant-and-dam
https://www.iea.org/reports/tracking-sdg7-the-energy-progress-report-2025
