Work out carbon emissions per passenger instantly with clear inputs, formula shown and shareable results.
Burning one kilogram of jet fuel produces about 3.16 kg of carbon dioxide, fixed by the carbon content of kerosene. Allocating that between passengers and freight, then dividing by passengers, gives the per-passenger figure; dividing again by distance gives the grams per passenger kilometre used in emissions reporting.
Aviation CO2
CO2 = fuel (kg) x 3.16; per passenger = CO2 x (1 - cargo share) / passengers
Each carbon atom in the fuel combines with two oxygen atoms, so the mass of CO2 is about 3.16 times the fuel mass for typical kerosene composition.
No. Contrails, water vapour and nitrogen oxides add further warming effect; some schemes apply a radiative forcing multiplier of around 1.9 to account for them.