Queen Seeks to Fly 'Green' on U.S. Visit

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RENEE MONTAGNE, host:

In our last word in business, the queen is aiming to be green as she begins her state visit to the U.S. For the first time, Queen Elizabeth is paying what's known as a carbon offset. That's a fee paid to compensate for the carbon that her flights across the Atlantic and around America will spew into the air. For the queen, those 8,700 miles will cost her $20,000. The money will go towards some project like planting trees that reduces greenhouse gases.

Here in Britain, it's become quite the thing to do to track your carbon footprint, and businesses are springing up to help you shrink it, from carbon-neutral shampoo to selling carbon offsets. Still, environmentalists aren't so happy with the queen. That's because the royals have hired a Boeing 777 passenger plane for their smallish entourage, and it leaves a massive carbon footprint.

This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne in London.

STEVE INSKEEP, host:

And I'm Steve Inskeep.

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