Google adds carbon emission data to flight search results

Beginning today, Google will display a carbon emissions estimate for nearly every flight in Google Flights search results.

It’s the latest step in the company’s commitment to “help one billion people make more sustainable choices by 2022,” according to Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet. 

Two weeks ago Google announced two other climate-friendly initiatives related to travel – adding badges in search for hotels that have met certain sustainability standards and joining the Travalyst coalition to help create standards for calculating and displaying carbon emissions for airplanes and hotels. 

Now when users search for flights on Google they will see an estimate of emissions – both for specific flights and specific seats. 

“For instance, newer aircraft are generally less-polluting than older aircraft, and emissions increase for premium economy and first-class seats because they take up more space and account for a larger share of total emissions,” says Richard Holden, Google vice president of travel products, in a blog post announcing the initiative.

Under the numerical estimate, Google will also indicate if the emissions are higher, lower or in line with the average emissions for that flight route. Users can sort results to bring the greenest flights to the top.

To calculate the estimates, Google is using data provided by the European Environmental Agency and by airlines and other providers about aircraft type, trip distance and seating layout.  

The company says it is also working with airlines including American Airlines and Lufthansa to gather data on how much fuel their planes use on a flight to make the estimations more accurate.

“Customers are making sustainability a priority when it comes to travel, and so are we. With shared goals of informing customer choice and supporting transparency, we are working with the team at Google to hone the information about carbon emissions that customers will see as they search for flights, and we look forward to continuing that collaboration to further improve those estimates moving forward,” says Jill Blickstein, managing director of environmental, social and governance for American Airlines.

“With our eye on a low-carbon future for aviation, American has set ambitious sustainability goals that we’re matching with concrete action, and we believe travelers will see the results of those efforts over time as we work to reduce our emissions and progress on our journey to net zero.”

And says Annette Mann, senior vice president of corporate responsibility at Lufthansa, “Both Google and Lufthansa Group have set sustainability high on the agenda, and we believe that transparency is key for creating trust in that matter.

"So we decided to support customers in finding the best choice for their flight by systematically adding information on environmental criteria, starting with the carbon footprint, which they can now also see on Google Flights. Based on that transparency, customers also have the possibility to go fully carbon neutral when flying with Lufthansa Group by choosing sustainable aviation fuels or high-quality offsets.”

Google’s announcement about adding carbon emission data to flight search results is part of a broader announcement of sustainability updates it is making.

Among the other new initiatives, Google is updating its Maps product to add “eco-friendly routing” that optimizes lower fuel consumption. 

The routes are based on information such as road incline and congestion and insights from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

When the estimated time of arrival is similar, the default choice in Google Maps will be the route that uses less fuel. If that is not also the fastest route, users can tap to see the relative fuel savings and time difference between the two options. The eco-friendly routing is live today in the United States and launching in Europe in 2022.

“We believe the feature will have the same impact next year as taking over 200,000 cars off the road,” Pichai says.

Also today, Google is expanding bike- and scooter-share information to more than 300 cities including Berlin, New York, São Paulo and Taipei.

In Google Maps users can find bikes available nearby and also stations to return a bike. The effort has been created in partnership with micro-mobility companies including Bird and Spin in the U.S. and Donkey Republic, Tier and Voi in Europe.