Working towards carbon calculation standards for aviation

Amadeus and the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) are taking significant steps towards reaching wide consensus on an aviation industry standard calculation methodology for CO₂ emissions per passenger.

Calculating CO₂ emissions per passenger is complicated by a number of factors related to data availability, scientific uncertainty regarding global warming effects of certain aircraft emissions, and the unavoidable subjectivity of allocating aircraft emissions to individual passengers.

This has led to a situation in which different calculators offer significantly different results for the same itinerary.

In October 2009 Amadeus and the ICAO executed an agreement by which Amadeus would use and promote the ICAO CO₂ calculator.

The information obtained from the ICAO calculator is used to provide CO₂ emissions information to passengers and corporate customers willing to build emissions inventories and offset emissions.

Through the Amadeus - ICAO agreement, the ICAO provides calculated emissions data per city pair using their calculation methodology; and Amadeus on the other hand facilitates the usage of the calculator through our technology and global reach.

The current version of the Amadeus corporate booking tool (Amadeus e-Travel Manager) includes a CO₂ display functionality that uses CO₂ estimations from the ICAO carbon calculator.

We look forward to continuing to work with the ICAO and other industry players towards the achievement of further environmental goals.

Have a look at our latest Corporate Responsibility Report for more information about what we’re doing to uphold our commitment to the environment.