What is the Flight Free Challenge?

Our method of behaviour change is for people to go flight free for a year. 

Why do we ask people to do this?

1. To reduce emissions

If you fly, it’s likely that flights will make up the biggest part of your carbon footprint. Depending on where you fly to, taking a year off flying could save multiple tons of carbon from your personal emissions.

We are seeing the effects of the climate crisis getting closer to home every year, so reducing our personal and collective emissions is more important than ever.

Removing or reducing flights is one of the quickest and easiest way of bringing emissions down.

2. To break a habit

Lots of people fly because it’s become the default way of travelling, and we are in the habit of doing it even though it’s not always necessary. Setting a challenge not to take any flights for a year can help people discover other ways of travelling – ways that might actually be preferable to flying. 

3. To change the social norm

We humans are heavily influenced by each other, so if we see lots of people taking a certain action, it encourages us to do the same. That’s one of the reasons why flying has become so normalised in our society. If everyone around you flies, you probably do too.

The advantage of this is that it works the other way, too – and it means change can happen quickly. If lots of people change their travel habits, it starts to shift the social norms. We can ‘denormalise’ flying if lots of us act together.

4. To communicate the urgency of the climate crisis

For a long time, environmentalism has been about changing lightbulbs and doing the recycling. But at this point in the climate crisis, we need to be taking the big steps to reduce our emissions, and that means making big changes in our lives. Avoiding something that for many people is an integral part of our lifestyles shows just how important it is to take climate action.

5. Because it’s a proven method of behaviour change

Changing something for a short time can lead to longer-term behaviour change, as we see with movements such as Stoptober and Veganuary. Of course, these challenges last for just one month, not one year. But we eat (and smoke) several times a day, whereas flights come only every so often, so taking a full year off flying has an equivalent level of challenge to spending a whole month avoiding animal products or cigarettes.

Even if you people choose to fly again after the year is up, it’s unlikely to be at the same level of flying as before. We don’t say you can never fly again – we just challenge you to give it a try.

6. ... and it’s really hard, but also really easy

If you fly, it’s going to be a significant challenge to avoid flying for a full year, especially if those around you are still flying.

But, as we found out during 2020, it is entirely possible to stay grounded for a whole year (it’s much easier if you’ve chosen this than if a global pandemic has forced you to stop). It’s a mindset shift more than anything, and it can be easier than you think.

For those who can’t be completely flight free for a year, we also offer a ‘free choice’ pledge.

Everybody’s circumstances are different, and there might be a reason why you can’t avoid all flights for a year. For this reason, people can make their own pledge which suits their personal circumstances.

This might work especially well for people who have relatives abroad, who are not easily reached without flying. Some work commitments also require a flight.

It could also be a useful starting point for people who haven’t considered reducing their flights before, but would be prepared to challenge themselves to take no flights within Europe, for example. After that, a more difficult challenge would seem more achievable.

We want to make it clear that we’re not letting people ‘off the hook’ with our free-choice pledge, but we understand that living in a globalised world comes with plenty of challenges, and it’s simply not practical for everyone to be completely flight free. We invite you to take part in our challenge because it’s a great way to demonstrate good intentions, to work towards reducing emissions, and to show our leaders and politicians that people are concerned about the climate. 

There is no ‘minimum’ pledge that someone can make, but we encourage people to choose something that will make an impact and that is a real challenge.

We therefore strongly encourage you not to include any holiday flights in any pledge, because of the urgency of the climate crisis.

The pledge can also be tailored for those who want to make a bigger commitment than one flight free year, for example four years flight-free, or a flight-free decade, or even flight-free for life.

If you have any questions or queries about our pledge or campaign, visit our FAQ page, or get in touch.

Take a look at our inspiring testimonials for stories of others who have taken the challenge!

Make your pledge on our website

Page updated 2026