By Emmanuel Mounier, Secretary General, Global Travel Tech.
The Problem With CO₂ Comparisons
You’re booking a flight for a long-awaited trip. Scanning through the options, a green label catches your eye: “This flight emits 12% less CO₂ than average.” It feels good to know you’re choosing a greener option, so you book it.
But moments later, you check another airline’s website. For what looks like the same flight, the emissions figure is completely different. A third travel platform gives you yet another number. Which one is correct? Are you really making the most sustainable choice, or are you being misled?
This confusion isn’t hypothetical. It’s the reality travellers face today when trying to make responsible choices. Different methods for measuring carbon emissions mean different results. Without consistency, transparency becomes impossible—and so does meaningful action to decarbonize air travel.
Why Travellers Deserve Better Information
Aviation makes up a significant portion of tourism’s carbon footprint. A single long-haul flight can emit more carbon dioxide than most people produce in a year. As travellers grow increasingly aware of this impact, their expectations are changing. Forty percent of travellers actively seek sustainability information when booking, and more than half say that reducing their transport emissions is key to sustainable travel. Yet 32% report a lack of sustainable options, while a quarter say that these choices aren’t clearly labeled.
The demand is there, but the tools are not keeping up.
Some platforms and airlines have stepped up. Travel intermediaries like Skyscanner already highlight flights that emit significantly less CO₂ than the average for that route. Yet this progress is undermined by the absence of a single, global standard.
Today, there are several competing methodologies for calculating flight emissions: ICAO’s Carbon Emissions Calculator, IATA Connect CO₂, and Travalyst’s TIM framework, to name a few. In the European Union, work is underway on a Flight Emission Label methodology. Each system has its strengths, but collectively, they create fragmentation and confusion.
For example, the CO₂ emissions for the same flight might differ depending on the aircraft model, the type of fuel used, or the data sources relied upon for fuel consumption and occupancy rates. The methodology chosen to calculate the output also plays a role. Travellers are left questioning the numbers.
Intermediaries struggle to present consistent information between platforms. And airlines lack clear incentives to improve their sustainability performance.
A Global Standard Is the Solution
The solution is clear: the world needs a single, standardized approach to measuring CO₂ emissions in air travel. Aviation is inherently global, and consumer-facing environmental information must reflect this reality.
A global standard would deliver clarity for travellers, providing accurate and reliable CO₂ data for every flight, everywhere. It would give confidence to travel platforms, allowing them to display clear comparisons and help travellers make informed choices. Most importantly, it would incentivize airlines to invest in greener technologies—such as sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) and more efficient aircraft—because their efforts would be reflected in transparent, comparable data.
The Role of Collaboration
Creating a global standard will not happen overnight, and no single actor can do it alone. Airlines, travel intermediaries, policymakers, and regulators must work together to agree on a unified approach. This standard must be grounded in actual data, particularly fuel consumption, to ensure its accuracy and credibility.
In the meantime, regional or national mandates should tread carefully. Imposing different methodologies in different markets risks deepening the fragmentation and undermining progress. Until a global standard emerges, alignment must remain the priority.
A Future of Transparent, Sustainable Choices
Picture this: you’re booking a flight, and you see one clear, reliable emissions figure for every option. You compare routes and carriers with confidence, knowing that you’re making the most sustainable choice. Airlines compete to lower emissions because they know their efforts are reflected in the data.
That’s the future we can achieve—but only if the air travel industry unites behind a single, global standard for CO₂ measurement.
Transparency is the first step toward greener skies. For the sake of travellers, the planet, and the industry itself, it’s time for all stakeholders to work together and make it happen.