The most reasonable way to decarbonize is that every person/organization makes a plan to structurally reduce their carbon footprint by e.g. 5% per year. The first personal actions are quite simple: install solar panels, bike more often, replace light bulbs with LED lights, eat less meat and consume more local products. They have no dramatic impact on somebody’s life.

The next steps are more difficult. Reduce the number of cars per family, reduce the amount of work-related travel, stop flying for a vacation, move into a smaller house. To be honest, flying less is much easier than giving up a car, or moving into a smaller house. For many years, I’ve restricted my flights to events where I really have to be, and for which there is no reasonable alternative. I have declined numerous invitations that require flying (attending PhD defenses, unimportant meetings, celebrations, conferences…), and reduced my intercontinental flights per year to near zero.