Travel Carbon Footprint Calculator

Compare the carbon footprint of a journey across transport modes.

About Travel Carbon Footprint Calculator

Emission factors differ by roughly a factor of six between flying and rail for the same distance. Cars become competitive when fully occupied because their emissions divide across passengers. A single long-haul return flight can exceed a year of driving emissions, which is why flying dominates the footprint of anyone who does it regularly.

Formula

Travel Carbon Footprint

Emissions = distance × emission factor for the mode

emission factor: Kilograms of CO2 equivalent per passenger kilometre
car sharing: Car emissions divide across occupants, unlike per-seat modes

Worked example

With the default values below, Travel Carbon Footprint Calculator returns Total Emissions of 408.00. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.

Inputs used

Distance each wayminimum 0 km: 800 km
Return journeyone of Yes, No, one way: Yes
Transport modeone of Short-haul flight, Car, petrol, Leaf, Coach, Electric car: Short-haul flight
Passengers sharing the journeyminimum 1: 1

Results

Total Emissions: 408.00 kg CO2e
Emissions per Passenger: 408.00 kg CO2e
Total Distance: 1,600 km
Trees Needed to Offset for a Year: 19.43
Emissions if Travelling by Train: 65.60 kg CO2e

Step by step

1Values used
2Travel Carbon Footprint
3Total Emissions= 408.00 kg CO2e
4Emissions per Passenger= 408.00 kg CO2e
5Total Distance= 1,600 km
6Trees Needed to Offset for a Year= 19.43
7Emissions if Travelling by Train= 65.60 kg CO2e

Assumptions and limits

The result is derived only from the 4 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 Travel Carbon Footprint calculated?

Emissions = distance × emission factor for the mode Emission factors differ by roughly a factor of six between flying and rail for the same distance. Cars become competitive when fully occupied because their emissions divide across passengers.

Why does Travel Carbon Footprint matter?

A single long-haul return flight can exceed a year of driving emissions, which is why flying dominates the footprint of anyone who does it regularly.

What values do I need to enter?

This calculator takes 4 inputs: Distance each way, Return journey, Transport mode, Passengers sharing the journey. The pre-filled defaults are a realistic starting point — replace them with figures from your own environment for a result you can act on.