Flight
Calculate passenger flight emissions on the Calculation API with one of the flight methodologies below. They differ in the data they're built on and in how much you need to know about the flight.
Choose a methodology
| Methodology | Coverage | Basis | Inputs you need | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ADEME 🇫🇷 | Not stated | GHG information for transport services (French ministry, June 2019) | origin and destination; optional aircraft_size, aircraft_type, airline | Includes radiative forcing |
| Base Empreinte 🇫🇷 | Not stated | ADEME Base Empreinte, 2025 | origin and destination; optional aircraft_size, radiative_forcing_index | Radiative forcing on by default; aircraft_size defaults to the average |
| CO2-emissiefactoren 🇳🇱 | Not stated | CO2-emissiefactoren (Milieu Centraal), factor years 2020 and 2022 | origin and destination; optional departure_date or methodology_version, booking_class, radiative_forcing_index, energy_scope | Factor year picked from departure_date; the 2020 factors have no travel-class split |
| DEFRA 🇬🇧 | Not stated; aircraft_type applies only when an airport is in the UK | UK government DEFRA Conversion Factors | origin and destination; optional methodology_version, booking_class, aircraft_type, radiative_forcing_index, energy_scope | Pin a factor year with methodology_version; 8% uplift on great-circle distance |
| EPA 🇺🇸 | Not stated | US EPA GHG Emission Factors Hub | origin and destination; optional methodology_version | Mode-level factors: no aircraft type, booking class or RFI |
| GATE4 | Not stated; records from 1 January 2019 onward | GATE4 by Advito (ISO-certified) | IATA origin and destination; departure_date, flight_number, airline, booking_class | Flight-level records; match_level says how the record was resolved |
| ICAO | All ICAO member states | ICAO Carbon Emissions Calculator methodology v13.1 (August 2024) | origin and destination; optional aircraft_type, booking_class (or fare_class and airline) | Uses the ICAO methodology, not the ICEC dataset |
| TIM | Not stated | Google Travel Impact Model | IATA origin and destination; optional departure_date, flight_number, airline, booking_class, logistics_hub | Falls back from flight-level to distance-based data; dataset_type says which was used |
| TU-Chalmers 🇸🇪 | Not stated | Travel and Climate methodology report v4.1 (Chalmers University of Technology) | origin and destination; optional booking_class, plane_type, biofuel | Supports charter flights and biofuel |
Every methodology above supports audit mode, and all of them accept routing in place of origin and destination.
How to decide
- You know the exact flight (carrier, flight number and departure date): GATE4 and TIM match flight-level records and report in the response whether they fell back to a broader match (
match_levelfor GATE4,dataset_typefor TIM). - You need to reproduce a published factor year: DEFRA, EPA and CO2-emissiefactoren take a
methodology_version. CO2-emissiefactoren also picks the year fromdeparture_datewhen you leave the version out. - You want high-altitude effects included: ADEME includes radiative forcing, and Base Empreinte, CO2-emissiefactoren and DEFRA apply it by default through
radiative_forcing_index. EPA's mode-level factors don't include RFI. - You only have the airports, or only a distance: ADEME, Base Empreinte, CO2-emissiefactoren, DEFRA, EPA, ICAO and TU-Chalmers accept
distance_in_km. GATE4 needs three-letter IATA airport codes. - The flight is a charter or used biofuel: TU-Chalmers is the only methodology with
plane_typeandbiofuel.
Multi-leg itineraries
To describe an itinerary as a single hyphen-separated airport chain (for example BER-FRA-JFK) instead of an origin and a destination, see Flight: Routing (multi-leg). SQUAKE calculates each leg with the methodology you choose and totals them on the item.