Flight Carbon Footprint Calculator

Flight Carbon Footprint Calculator

Air travel produces significant CO₂ emissions per passenger, especially on long-haul routes. This calculator estimates your flight carbon footprint from trip duration, seat occupancy, and radiative forcing, then compares the result to the IPCC yearly CO₂ allowance of 2,500 kg per person.

Flight CO₂ emission formula

The estimate uses an emission rate of 90 kg CO₂ per hour per passenger, adjusted for how full the plane is and the extra warming effect of emissions at altitude:

Emitted CO₂ = Duration (hours) × 90 kg/h × Radiative forcing ÷ Seat occupancy

For return trips, the result is doubled. Seat occupancy defaults to 80%, the worldwide average for passenger flights. Radiative forcing defaults to 2, reflecting the stronger greenhouse effect of aviation emissions high in the atmosphere.

Yearly CO₂ allowance

The IPCC suggests that to keep global warming under roughly 2°C by 2050, each person should stay below about 2,500 kg of CO₂ emissions per year. A single long flight can consume a large share of that budget. For related ecology tools, see the Bag Footprint Calculator, Car vs Bike Calculator, and Kaya Identity Calculator.