My Travels, My Emissions

As a member of parliament, I’m constantly on the move. I want to be present in Rostock, as well as in Brussels and Strasbourg. I want to meet people all over Europe, get a picture of the situation on the ground. And I want to do all this with a carbon footprint that is as low as possible.

I make it transparent here how much CO2 I produce with my travels. In 2020, it was around 2.7 tons. That’s about as much as a round-trip flight from Germany to New York – still far too much, but measured against my travel volume, it’s a first step.

I travel almost exclusively by train. My regular route Rostock-Brussels I made 11 times last year. Most of the time, I’m on the go there for around 10 hours – and I’m very very looking forward to when the planned night train finally becomes a reality 🙂

I only take the plane when there is absolutely no other way. That was the case twice last year: when I traveled to Kazakhstan as part of my work for the European Parliament’s delegation. And once when I had no other choice but to fly from Berlin to Brussels due to my schedule. These two trips alone generated 1.7 tons, almost 2/3 of my total emissions. Every flight weighs in!

When the Corona pandemic is over, my travel activity will increase again. My goal is clear: to further reduce emissions. In order to achieve this, I am campaigning for the expansion of rail lines throughout Europe – and, of course, for the expansion of renewable energies so that the trains also get clean electricity!

The Rainbow in Europe

“Everyone in Europe can live and love how and whom they want – always, everywhere, without fear!” – Niklas Nienass In March 2021, we in the EU Parliament declared the European Union an LGBTIQ Freedom Zone. Following an initiative by our MEP Terry Reintke, the resolution was adopted by a large majority. We thus made…

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