Hopper to Plant Trees for Every Flight, Hotel Booked Through Its App

Travel booking app Hopper announced it will pay to plant trees for all flight and hotel bookings made through the app to reduce the "impact" that traveling has on the environment.

As part of the program, dubbed “Hopper Trees,” the app will donate money to plant up to four trees for every flight and two trees for every hotel booked. The program is done in conjunction with the nonprofit Eden Reforestation projects.

“As Hopper grows, so too does our impact on the world around us,” Frederic Lalonde, the company’s CEO and co-founder, said in a statement, adding: “It has always been our goal to make booking travel easier and more accessible, as we believe deeply in the positive social and economic impact that it has on the world. But we also realize that with travel becoming increasingly part of our global everyday life, the environment feels its impact.”

Lalonde estimated that the Hopper Trees program will result in about six million trees planted this year. The travel company noted that a tree can offset about 900kg of CO2 during its lifetime.

“We are excited to take this step toward a more sustainable future, and we are pleased to see that we are aligned with our customers in viewing this commitment as a priority as well,” Lalonde added.

Hopper isn’t the only company with the goal of offsetting carbon emissions. Travel organizing app TripIt announced this week it will inform customers of their flight’s carbon emissions as well as track their annual flight emissions.

Additionally, several airlines have pledged to offset carbon emissions from their flights, including JetBlue, EasyJet, and Qantas, which has pledged to produce net zero emissions by 2050.

Experts have warned, however, there is a difference between net-zero emissions and zero-carbon fuel and buying into carbon offset programs may not always have the impact travelers expect.