Aviation analytics firm Cirium has introduced a proprietary methodology to calculate aircraft and flight emissions based on fuel burn rather than flying distance estimates, the company announced on Wednesday (29 May).
The Emerald Sky carbon calculator considers factors such as aircraft type and engine configuration, age, flight duration (both physical taxi and airtime) and passenger and cargo load to provide “unparalleled accuracy and reliability” in emissions tracking.
The tool uses real-time operational data and flight conditions to measure both forecasted and flown CO2 emissions and allows users to track seat-by-seat emissions across different aircraft types on selected routes.
Cirium chief marketing officer Mike Malik during a press briefing on Wednesday said there is a “critical need” to establish a common baseline to measure aircraft emissions and track improvements against the industry’s net zero 2050 goal.
Malik acknowledged the “numerous” carbon calculators already in market but said “unfortunately they’re all based on approximations due to the lack of available data”. He said Cirium possesses the “most detailed and comprehensive datasets in the industry” and that these are necessary to calculate “the most accurate CO2 emissions, right down to seat level”.
Following the introduction of ESG reporting regulation such as the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), Malik said travel buyers and suppliers “are all getting information from somewhere right now, but their data is all different. So, if it’s all different, it can’t be all right.”
The company said the tool can be utilised by corporate travel managers and travel management companies to support “more informed” decision-making to reduce the carbon footprint of managed travel programmes.
Malik said TMCs will be able to directly integrate the calculator into their online tools but that the company “hasn’t yet decided” whether to charge users to access the technology “because we want to make it the index for the industry”.
Cirium is already in talks with several TMCs, Malik said, and that it will “very shortly” announce industry partnerships similar to its recent agreement with sustainable travel specialist Trees4Travel.