Sail to the COP: how to travel in a sustainable way

During the COP25 we had the opportunity to meet one of the representatives of the organization “Sail to the Cop”.

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It was created with the purpose of sensitizing people to travel in a more sustainable way. Aviation is one of the main reasons of pollution, in fact the average per passenger CO2 emissions (in Kg) for the same distance are 3 times bigger when travelling by plane than by car and almost 7 times than by train.

“Flying is destroying our planet” comment the members of “Sail to the Cop” and that is why they decided to sail to the COP25 in Santiago de Chile. 36 participants started their navigation on the 2nd of October from Amsterdam and their journey would have lasted approximately 7 weeks. They would have arrived in Rio de Janeiro and from there they would have travelled by bus to the capital of Chile. Unfortunately, after the announcement that the COP25 was cancelled in Chile, they realized they could not make it in time to the new destination. So, the participants decided to change their track and sail to Martinique, where they currently are. Nevertheless, they are actively following all the events of the COP25 online and via social media and every day on the ship they organize informative activities and workshops about different issues.

The organization, after finding out the new location of COP25, decided to create a new project called “Rail to the Cop”, with the purpose of convincing people of travelling to the COP25 in Madrid by train or by bus. Many people accepted the challenge and travelled to Madrid with alternative transportation means. It is an important challenge, that has to be shared and makes us understand our responsibility towards the planet, not only during the two weeks of the COP but above all in everyday life. Every small action can make the difference and that is why the organization is going to re-propose the project also for the next COP. Everybody can take part to this initiative, in fact it is possible to finance the project on their Crowdfunding platform.