January 2025

We are excited to announce an improved feature designed to make your carbon accounting process even easier.

Improved Feature

Business Travel Flight Distance Calculation

To simplify the process of recording business flight emissions, we have introduced an improved feature that allows users to calculate flight distances directly within the platform.

When using the Business Travel: Air Template, you now have two options:

• Enter the flight distance manually if you already have this information.
• Provide the origin and destination countries along with airport codes, and Compare Your Footprint will automatically calculate the journey’s distance.

Compare Your Footprint uses an extensive database of pre-calculated journey distances. If a specific airport-to-airport distance is unavailable, the platform will leverage the Google API to determine the required distance.

Important Note: Clients must provide their own Google API key if the Google API is used, as Google may charge for these calculations.

Methodology for Flight Distance Calculation:

1. IATA Codes:
   • Compare Your Footprint uses the International Air Transport Association (IATA) codes as reference points for distance calculation.
   • If routing information is included, the platform will determine whether the flight is one-way or return and account for any stopovers (e.g., LHR – MUC – LHR).
2. Distance Calculation:
   • The geographic coordinates of each airport are used to measure the shortest flight path using the great-circle distance method.
3. Distance Uplift for Accuracy:
   • For flights originating in the UK, an 8% uplift is applied to account for indirect flight paths, as per UK government guidance.
   • For international flights, a 9% uplift is applied, following the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) recommendations.

These updates will make calculating flight distances and carbon emissions simpler and more accurate.