Depending on where you read, a ton of carbon dioxide is emitted when you fly two thousand miles or just under that if you drive. We're also told that one tree can absorb more than a ton of carbon dioxide over a period of roughly 99 years. So if we plant a tree or two, technically we won't have to feel guilty about getting on that plane. It's called Carbon Offsetting.

These days you can do more than plant trees. If you want to offset your carbon emissions, you can pay companies who will take your contribution and invest it in environmentally friendly projects around the world - wind farms, methane capture farms, environmentally friendly light bulb schemes, hydropower projects, the list goes on and on. But where does our money actually go and are we really helping the environment? With so much skepticism about this unregulated market, CNN Business Traveller explores if carbon offsetting is off kilter. CNN's Adrian Finighan will follow his off-set all the way to an environmental project in The Netherlands, the home of carbon offsetting - where we'll also be presenting the show.

We also visit the Princess Amalia Wind Farm, the largest offshore wind farm in the world, run by energy company Eneco, and we get to grips with The Global Peatland Fund run by Wetlands International - a viable environmental project that cuts out the intermediary carbon offsetting companies. We take a look at the good, the bad and ugly in carbon offsetting, with the help of Kevin Smith, author of The Carbon Neutral Myth.

Aviation has been criticized for its contribution to global carbon emissions with calls for a carbon tax and being included in the Kyoto Protocol and the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. We speak to the Director-General of IATA, Giovanni Bisignani. Record fuel prices are strong industry incentive to reduce fuel burn and related emissions and Bisignani believes that the "tunnel-vision on emissions trading is no solution at all. Airlines are working hard to reduce their 2% share of global carbon emissions. Europe is fixated on punitive measures. Unilaterally bringing aviation into the European Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) seeks to limit mobility and adds $6 billion to the cost of travel. But reducing emissions is more effective than charging for them."

The industry has a three-pronged attack on climate change with the development of fuel-efficient aircraft, working toward better air traffic control systems and biofuels. We also speak to the CEO of Lufthansa Wolfgang Mayrhuber about its new environmental programme; we the CEO of Air New Zealand - Rob Fyfe and Billy Glover, managing director of Environmental Strategy, Boeing Commercial Airplanes about the launch of The Algae Biomass Organisation - the collaborative effort on research and development on algae - tipped to be the most viable alternative to jet fuel.

Emissions of course are not just about flights but also includes vehicles. CNN's Alphonso van Marsh reports from London on eco-friendly cars and examines the EU's proposal for a substantial phasing-in period for emission targets and some leeway on fines for automakers who miss the limits.

Almost every industry is feeling the effects of the credit crisis. With belts being tightened, the way in which we travel for our business is also changing. So on this month's CNN Business Traveller, we're looking at doing Business on a budget.

CNN's Adrian Finighan presents the show from Oslo - the most expensive city in the world, according to Swiss bank UBS in their most recent survey. Anyone visiting the city will most certainly feel the pinch. During the course of the program, Adrian will try and keep costs to a minimum while in Oslo - flying Economy, staying in a budget hotel and using public transport.

We look at how travel managers are keeping a closer eye on expenses and how the hotel industry is coping. Airlines have been hit harder with the price of oil above $120 per barrel, reaching as high as $135. Every dollar increase in the price of oil drives up aviation industry costs by about $1.6 billion. There is great concern for the future and airlines are doing all they can to save money. We speak to airline CEOs Jean-Cyril Spinetta (Air France), Willie Walsh (BA), Ola Strand (SAS Norway), and Richard Branson, Chairman of Virgin Group about the measures they're taking to weather this economic storm.

One sector of the aviation industry that is looking forward to the future is private air travel. It has seen record numbers this year in terms of orders and deliveries. Everyone wants a piece of the action from Russia to China to Germany. There's also an increasing trend also to make private air travel more affordable with the launch of chartered "air taxis", where in some cases flights are cheaper than business class. We follow entrepreneur Jackie Russell using the new low-cost air taxi service "Blink".

The best way to keep costs down is of course, to travel only when absolutely necessary. We look at the latest technology in webconferencing. It's called TelePresence - pioneered by Cisco and Hewlett Packard - the image of the person is life-size, in high definition with no time delay. We interview Cisco's general manager of its Emerging Technologies Group Martin de Beers via the new TelePresence system with Adrian in London and Martin de Beers in San Jose, CA.

Keeping to a budget shouldn't put you off from exploring the city you're in whilst on the road. With an Oslo travel pass, there are plenty of ways to explore Oslo from Sunrise to Sunset.

This month, CNN Business Traveller features Michael Elliot, the author of a recent Time Magazine article 'A Tale of Three Cities', on how influential New York, London and Hong Kong are in setting the benchmark in hotel standards and trends. Gone are the days when business travellers were simply interested in a decent night's sleep and a good breakfast - today's guests want and expect more. The programme explores how hotels carry out tests to ensure they meet the needs of their guests, by looking at Starwood's 'hotel lab' for its budget boutique subsidiary, Aloft, in New York. With boutique hotels proving big business, the show speaks to John 'Bill' Marriott, Jr., Chairman and CEO of Marriott International and renowned hotel designer, Ian Schrager who have teamed up to ensure the Marriott group makes its own mark on this bespoke type of accommodation. In London, the programme visits the first Andaz hotel, formerly the Great Eastern; from Hong Kong, Andrew Stevens looks at high-end hotels that are expanding into Asia and speaks to regional experts on whether the city is still the fighting ground for new trends in the industry.

It's the same every year - we've all made them with the best of intentions and forget all about them. 2008 will be different as we gear up to make some resolutions for the business traveller. This month, Richard Quest is in Egypt by the Red Sea - it's one of the top 5 destinations that frequent fliers cash in their air miles for especially during this time of year - some winter sun is a great way to start the year right.

GET ORGANIZED

Nowadays there are so many ways to accrue and redeem miles and points - it's an addiction we are all happy to feed. There are so many different frequent flyer and loyalty programs that constantly have special deals and perks for us to take advantage of and the next level to work towards. It can be a little difficult to digest. Frequent flyer guru Randy Petersen gives us some top tips on how to get your loyalty programs in order and how to get round redeeming those precious points.

DO MORE TO HELP OTHERS

Your miles can go further than you think. You can put your miles to good use and donate them to charities through frequent flyer programs. We speak to United Airlines and the American Red Cross. The disaster relief organization uses donated miles to send staff and volunteers to disaster areas and to the cities where they train them to prepare for coping with people affected on the ground.

LEARN TO FACE YOUR FEARS

Fear of flying is a serious and prevalent issue amongst business travellers who end up suffering in silence because they have to make that important meeting. There are courses that can help alleviate the anxiety that has in some cases accumulated over the years and suddenly crept up on business travellers. We talk to a business traveller who took a course and is now flying high. While he tells us how he faced his fear, Richard Quest dives straight in to face his own.

OUT WITH OLD, IN WITH THE NEW

It's time to spring-clean your gadgets! Tom Dunmore, Editor of Stuff Magazine gives his top 5 trends and gadgets that we should look out for in 2008.

MAKE MORE TIME FOR YOURSELF AND FAMILY

The most popular resolution that we should all try and keep!! From Sunrise to Sunset, Richard Quest leaves the Pyramids of Giza to visit the hidden Egyptian treasure of Luxor, exploring the Temple of Karnak and the Valley of the Kings with Amr El-Ezaby, Chairman of the Egyptian Tourism Authority; and sailing down the Nile in a traditional Felucca.

On this special edition, CNN's Richard Quest travels to Japan to look at how the country is leading the way when it comes to technology. From robotics to mobile phones to hotel services, Richard will spend his time in the tech mecca Tokyo road-testing new gadgets and devices designed to make our lives easier.

Richard starts by exploring what's new in the world of travel. He pays a visit to the ANA headquarters, meets with the CEO and then heads out to Haneda airport to discover ANA's new mobile phone checking and boarding system. After that, it's time for a spot of light shopping, visiting the geek's paradise of Akihabara in search of the latest pdas, computers and even a new mobile phone that can translate Japanese characters into English. He also meets with Naoki Sakai, one of Japan's foremost designers, who in the past, was responsible for Nissan's Be-1, the SW-1 motorbike for Suzuki and the model for Toyota's Will concept car. Now he's designing some of the most modern, cutting edge phones for KDDI. Sakai talks to Richard about how he comes up with phones for both regular consumers and business travellers. Then Richard's off to a business meeting at NEC's state-of-the-art broadband, paperless office. While he's there he meets Papero, NEC's most-advanced robot. Back to his hi-tech hotel, and then for the show's regular segment, Sunrise to Sunset. Richard will use his leisure time to check out one of Tokyo's new tourist attractions - an earthquake simulator. Then it's time for lunch at some of the city's digital vending machine noodle bars, and finally a night-time cruise onboard the futuristic water bus, Himko, designed by the Japanese cartoonist Leiji Matsumoto.

This month's show is an 'Airbus Superjumbo' extravaganza as host Richard Quest gains access to the maiden flight of the biggest airliner ever constructed: the A380. Travelling from Singapore to Sydney, Quest finds out whether the plane lives up to the hype that has surrounded its launch, and gauges reaction from other passengers. He also looks at the financial implications of the airliner on the wider industry, talking to Chew Choon Seng, CEO of Singapore Airlines and John Leahy, COO of Airbus. Whilst in Sydney, Quest takes some time out to discover hidden highlights of the city in the regular 'Sunrise to Sunset' feature.

Host Richard Quest takes a look at the future of the travel experience. Travel may broaden the mind, but what about its toll on body, soul and planet earth?

Our journey begins in beautiful Vancouver on the west coast of Canada. Canadians have been at the forefront of environmental thinking for years. It's no accident that Greenpeace was founded there back in 1971. Responsible traveling these days means keeping an eye on what you're doing to the planet. So Richard traces the carbon footprint he left on his journey from London to Vancouver. What did he do right? What did he do wrong? How can responsible world travelers do better?

It isn't just business travelers who pack in the air miles. We are what we eat - it's as true of how we treat the food as the food itself. At Vancouver's Granville Island market there is produce from all over the world, often in a single store. Getting it to you uses up resources and generates emissions - let Business Traveller 21st Century explain about Food Miles.

From Vancouver Richard travels back across the Pacific Ocean, through the dateline and on to Hong Kong. These sorts of long oceanic flights are terrible for jetlag. Anyone who's done it regularly knows all about living in the grey half-light before dawn. Most of us just endure it, relying on sleeping pills, eyeshades and just good old fashioned willpower but are there other ways to beat the lag? We show you what can the business traveler learn about sleep.

From Hong Kong it's back to Europe and Hamburg, HQ of Lufthansa Technik. This is one of the companies around the world who fit out private jets. What makes Lufthansa Technik different though, is that they've worked on a niche product that could open private jet travel up if not to the masses then at least the middle management. It is a type of approved off the shelf private jet. Normally luxury jets are bespoke affairs costing telephone number prices. The Lufthansa offering - the Airbus A318 Elite - goes for a comparatively modest $50 million. We take a look at the first one to roll off the production line.

And from there it's back home for Richard for some well earned rest before Business Traveller's next show in June when we explain all about Open Skies. The winners, the losers and how it'll affect your travel costs.

30 mins.

Richard Quest goes to the high-tech and travel hub of Singapore to present a special show on the future of transport.

Kicking off with that great dog-fight in the skies, Airbus versus Boeing. Will the much delayed Super-jumbo shape-up? Or will Boeing's eco-friendly Dreamliner be the dream ticket?

The Super-commuter - is this the shape of travel to come? How to cope when you live in one city but you regularly have to work and travel to another continent.

Escape - What to do with your hard earned air miles. One suggestion is a trip to Dubrovnik in Croatia. It's got bags of history as well as style in abundance. Richard takes it easy in the town dubbed the 'Pearl of the Adriatic'.

This month CNN Business Traveller explores what rights we have when things go wrong.

We take a look at JetBlue's recently introduced Bill of Rights after passengers were grounded for 8 hours due to bad weather conditions. One disgruntled passenger talks about her experience. 

A Passenger Rights Directive is already in place in the European Union. We get future prospects from the EU Transport Commission.

A TALE OF TWO CITIES

Believe it or not, we have rights when we travel by taxi. Richard takes a ride around London and the Big Apple to compare and contrast passenger rights in taxis.

POLITICAL ESCAPE

CNN's Bill Schneider takes us on a tour of Washington.

This month on Business Traveller we're taking another look at some of the stories and issues you wanted to see again.

The Frequent Flyer scheme has become as much part of the business traveller's life as a mobile phone or a passport. Indeed, when they were launched twenty five years ago, air miles promised to be the passport to richesfor those flyers loyal - and busy enough to earn them.

Times have changed in the intervening quarter of a century. There are now over 100 different programmes, with over 100 million of us enrolled in one offering or another. And now there's a whole army of enthusiasts dedicated to picking through the small print and working out the routings to earn as many points as possible. Join Richard as he enters the pre-dawn world of the milage runner on assignment in Texas.

Partner schemes and tie ins mean you can earn  airmiles on almost any purchase these days. Credit Cards, car hire, hotel stays... Shop wisely and you can earn more airmiles on the ground than in the air! But what happens if the accounts department has put your amex in the cooler. Keeping expenses down is every traveller's challenge. Especially in Japan where you can't read the writing and the numbers seem frighteningly high . Richard was a man on a mission in Osaka - a mission to keepy expenses below 22,000 yen a day.

What to wear when we're travelling has always been a vexed question. Do you dress to impress at checkin in the hope of getting an upgrade only for your suit to be a crumpled mess  after 11 hours in economy? Or do you travel looking like a holidaymaker and give up on the upgrade? It's so hard to find clothes that will withstand the rigours, but these days there's a whole new brand of garment designed to help us road warriors stay fresh and pressed. We've been road testing the best of them.

Some would argue it's not what you wear but what you do in it. One man who has done much to put the fun back into travel is Sir Richard Branson, Chairman of Virgin Atlantic. his ethos is simple, travelling can be enjoyable and we caught up with him in the Virgin Lounge in London to find out his top 5 ways of making it happen.

Doing business in the global economy is about connections. A project these days could have contributors in Auckland, Los Angeles, London and Hong Kong... You could try a conference call - but when's a convenient time to catch them all? Far better to go and visit! If you've got the time and the money. And now you can do that without ever having to change airlines or code-share partners.... Air New Zealand has started a new round the world service, joining the dots and Richard travelled to Auckland, New Zealand to join its inaugural service.

Since Business Traveller started we've been keeping an eye on the downtime as well as the business hours. How to keep your health and well-being while moving around the world is something we've followed regularly. In all our 50 odd episodes so far there's one place that can't be beaten. The Ananda Spa in the Himalayan foothills and we finish this month's show with another look at it.