Flight emissions data now shown in more than 65 billion searches worldwide

The search figure, released by Travalyst - the not-for-profit organisation founded by Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex - aggregates data from a number of its coalition partners, which include Amadeus, Booking.com, Expedia Group, Google, Sabre, Skyscanner, Travelport, and Trip.com Group.

Travalyst’s mission is to align the travel industry behind clear, consistent and credible sustainability information to help people make more informed choices. The Travel Impact Model (TIM), which estimates lifecycle emissions for flights at the individual passenger level, was developed by Google and has been scaled through the Travalyst coalition.

Platforms using the TIM present flight emissions information at the time of booking, so travellers are able to choose a flight with an estimated lower-than-typical CO2e footprint. On some platforms, travellers can also sort flight search results by emissions, alongside standard filter options such as cost and arrival/departure time. 

The TIM takes a variety of attributes into account including flight origin and destination, aircraft type, cabin class and seat configuration, load factors and average aircraft utilisation. With such granular data comes the ability to see emissions at individual airline level, which could pave the way for airlines to compete on reducing their climate impact, as well as price and service.

Sally Davey, CEO of Travalyst, comments: “Travellers hold enormous influence in their collective purchasing decisions. Flight emissions estimates have been scaled across our coalition partners’ booking platforms, resulting in this information appearing in over 65 billion flight searches globally. By supporting travellers to book lower-emitting flights, in the long-term we hope this will drive demand for more sustainable supply, encourage innovation, support corporations with their reduction targets, and help to guide policy.”

Flying continues to be a major source of carbon emissions and is inherently unsustainable, regardless of travellers selecting lower-emitting flights. Alternative long-distance transportation methods, like rail, have a significantly smaller environmental impact but there are instances where flying is the only viable choice. Giving travellers access to clear, credible and consistent information about flight emissions enables them to make more informed decisions.