Travel Carbon Footprint Calculator
Calculate the CO2 emissions from your trip.
Compare flights, driving, trains, and buses by distance and passenger count.
Transportation is one of the largest sources of personal carbon emissions. Different modes of transport have dramatically different carbon intensities per passenger-kilometer.
CO2 emissions per passenger-km (approximate averages):
- Short-haul flight (under 1,500 km): 255 g CO2e/km — short flights are the worst per km due to takeoff/landing fuel burn and higher altitude climate effects
- Long-haul flight (over 1,500 km): 195 g CO2e/km — more efficient per km but the total distance makes the impact very high
- Economy class vs business class: Business uses 2.7× more carbon due to seat space allocation
- Car (average ICE, single occupant): 192 g CO2e/km
- Car (2 people sharing): 96 g CO2e/km
- Car (4 people): 48 g CO2e/km
- Electric vehicle (average US grid): 70 g CO2e/km
- Intercity bus (coach): 27 g CO2e/km
- Intercity train (average Europe): 14 g CO2e/km
- High-speed train (TGV France): 3 g CO2e/km (nuclear electricity)
- Bicycle / walking: 0 g CO2e/km
Radiative forcing (flights): Flights at high altitude have a warming effect 2–4× greater than just the CO2 emitted, due to contrail formation and NOx emissions. This calculator includes a standard radiative forcing factor of 1.9× for flights.
Context for your emissions:
- Average global per-capita annual CO2 budget (1.5°C target): ~2,000 kg CO2e/year
- A single round-trip London–New York flight: ~1,600 kg CO2e (economy)
- A 500 km car journey alone: ~96 kg CO2e
- Taking the train for 500 km: ~7 kg CO2e
Offsetting: Tree planting offsets ~21 kg CO2 per tree per year. A transatlantic flight would require ~75 trees planted for one year to offset. High-quality carbon offsets (Gold Standard) cost roughly $10–$30 per tonne CO2.