Flight Carbon Footprint Calculator

Calculate flight emissions including the radiative forcing uplift.

About Flight Carbon Footprint Calculator

Aviation emissions are roughly doubled by non-CO2 effects at altitude, which is what the radiative forcing multiplier captures. Cabin class matters because a business seat occupies about three times an economy seat’s floor area. Flying business class rather than economy roughly triples the footprint of the same journey, which is the single largest discretionary choice a traveller makes.

Formula

Flight Carbon Footprint

Emissions = distance × base factor × cabin multiplier × radiative forcing multiplier

radiative forcing: Non-CO2 effects at altitude roughly double the warming impact
cabin multiplier: Premium seats occupy more floor area, so they carry more of the emissions

Worked example

With the default values below, Flight Carbon Footprint Calculator returns Total Emissions of 3,132.57. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.

Inputs used

Flight distance each wayminimum 0 km: 5,570 km
Return flightone of Yes, No, one way: Yes
Cabin classone of Economy, Premium economy, Business, First: Economy
Radiative forcing multiplieraccepts 1–4 x: 1.9 x
Offset price per tonneminimum 0: 25

Results

Total Emissions: 3,132.57 kg CO2e
Emissions Before Radiative Forcing: 1,648.72 kg CO2e
Cost to Offset: $78.31
Cabin Class Multiplier: 1.00 x
Emissions per Kilometre: 0.28120 kg CO2e

Step by step

1Values used
2Flight Carbon Footprint
3Total Emissions= 3,132.57 kg CO2e
4Emissions Before Radiative Forcing= 1,648.72 kg CO2e
5Cost to Offset= 78.31
6Cabin Class Multiplier= 1.00 x
7Emissions per Kilometre= 0.28120 kg CO2e

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 5 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 Footprint calculated?

Emissions = distance × base factor × cabin multiplier × radiative forcing multiplier Aviation emissions are roughly doubled by non-CO2 effects at altitude, which is what the radiative forcing multiplier captures. Cabin class matters because a business seat occupies about three times an economy seat’s floor area.

Why does Flight Carbon Footprint matter?

Flying business class rather than economy roughly triples the footprint of the same journey, which is the single largest discretionary choice a traveller makes.

What values do I need to enter?

This calculator takes 5 inputs: Flight distance each way, Return flight, Cabin class, Radiative forcing multiplier, 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.