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Car Travel Carbon Footprint Calculator

Calculate car journey emissions from fuel consumption and occupancy.

About Car Travel Carbon Footprint Calculator

Car emissions follow directly from fuel burned, since carbon content per litre is essentially fixed. Diesel produces more CO2 per litre but less fuel is burned per kilometre, which roughly cancels out. Occupancy is the largest lever available: four people in one car emit a quarter each of the same journey driven alone.

Formula

Car Travel Carbon Footprint

Emissions = fuel used × kilograms of CO2 per litre

litres per 100 km
Standard consumption measure
CO2 per litre
About 2.31 kg for petrol and 2.68 kg for diesel

Worked example

With the default values below, Car Travel Carbon Footprint Calculator returns Total Emissions of 102.102. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.

Inputs used

Distanceminimum 0 km
650 km
Fuel consumptionminimum 0 L/100km
6.8 L/100km
Fuel typeone of Petrol, Diesel, LPG
Petrol
Occupantsminimum 1
2
Offset price per tonneminimum 0
25

Results

Total Emissions
102.102 kg CO2e
Emissions per Occupant
51.051 kg CO2e
Fuel Used
44.200 L
Emissions per Kilometre
157.1 g CO2e
Cost to Offset
$2.55

Step by step

  1. 1Values used
  2. 2Car Travel Carbon Footprint
  3. 3Total Emissions= 102.102 kg CO2e
  4. 4Emissions per Occupant= 51.051 kg CO2e
  5. 5Fuel Used= 44.200 L
  6. 6Emissions per Kilometre= 157.1 g CO2e
  7. 7Cost to Offset= 2.55

Assumptions and limits

  • The result is derived only from the 5 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
  • In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
  • Figures are rounded for display to 3 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.

How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is Car Travel Carbon Footprint calculated?

Emissions = fuel used × kilograms of CO2 per litre Car emissions follow directly from fuel burned, since carbon content per litre is essentially fixed. Diesel produces more CO2 per litre but less fuel is burned per kilometre, which roughly cancels out.

Why does Car Travel Carbon Footprint matter?

Occupancy is the largest lever available: four people in one car emit a quarter each of the same journey driven alone.

What values do I need to enter?

This calculator takes 5 inputs: Distance, Fuel consumption, Fuel type, Occupants, Offset price per tonne. The pre-filled defaults are a realistic starting point — replace them with figures from your own environment for a result you can act on.

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