Flight Carbon Calculator
Calculate flight emissions per passenger including altitude effects.
About Flight Carbon Calculator
Short flights emit more per kilometre because take-off and climb consume a large share of the fuel regardless of distance. Cabin class matters because premium seats occupy more floor area per passenger. Flying is usually the single largest discretionary component of a personal footprint, so one long haul return trip can outweigh a year of other choices.
Formula
Flight Carbon
Emissions = distance × emission factor × cabin multiplier × radiative forcing
- radiative forcing
- Non-CO2 effects at altitude roughly double the warming impact
- short haul penalty
- Take-off and climb make short flights less efficient per kilometre
Worked example
With the default values below, Flight Carbon Calculator returns Total Emissions of 1,185.60. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.
Inputs used
- One-way distanceminimum 0 km
- 1,200 km
- Passengers travellingminimum 1
- 2
- Return flightone of Yes, No
- Yes
- Cabin classone of Economy, Premium economy, Business, First
- Economy
- Radiative forcing multiplieraccepts 1–4 x
- 1.9 x
Results
- Total Emissions
- 1,185.60 kg CO2e
- Emissions per Passenger
- 592.80 kg CO2e
- Total Distance Flown
- 2,400 km
- Emissions per Passenger Kilometre
- 247.0 g CO2e
- Trees Needed to Offset for a Year
- 28.2
Step by step
- 1Values used
- 2Flight Carbon
- 3Total Emissions= 1,185.60 kg CO2e
- 4Emissions per Passenger= 592.80 kg CO2e
- 5Total Distance Flown= 2,400 km
- 6Emissions per Passenger Kilometre= 247.0 g CO2e
- 7Trees Needed to Offset for a Year= 28.2
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 2 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 Flight Carbon calculated?
Emissions = distance × emission factor × cabin multiplier × radiative forcing Short flights emit more per kilometre because take-off and climb consume a large share of the fuel regardless of distance. Cabin class matters because premium seats occupy more floor area per passenger.
Why does Flight Carbon matter?
Flying is usually the single largest discretionary component of a personal footprint, so one long haul return trip can outweigh a year of other choices.
What values do I need to enter?
This calculator takes 5 inputs: One-way distance, Passengers travelling, Return flight, Cabin class, Radiative forcing multiplier. The pre-filled defaults are a realistic starting point — replace them with figures from your own environment for a result you can act on.