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Project Aim

Maybe Don't Fly? helps you understand the climate impact of air travel by estimating and contextualizing the carbon emissions of your flight.

Methodology and Sources

Geocoding

Location coordinates are looked up using the Nominatim geocoding API, which converts place names to latitude and longitude.

Distance

The distance between your chosen origin and destination is calculated using the haversine formula, which measures the shortest path between two points on the Earth's surface ("as the crow flies"), and adjusted for traffic and weather conditions, based on the ICAO Carbon Emissions Calculator.

Emissions

Emissions are estimated using a methodology based on the myclimate Flight Emission Calculator. The calculation considers:

• Flight distance (short-haul vs. long-haul)
• Return vs. one-way flights
• Flight class (economy, business, first)
• Aircraft and infrastructure factors
• Non-CO₂ effects (e.g., contrails, ozone)

Emissions as Percentage of Carbon Budget

Your flight's emissions are shown as a percentage of your annual carbon budget for a 1.5°C world. This budget is set at 1,250 kg CO₂e per person per year, based on research by atmosfair and the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C.

Emissions per Capita

The emissions per capita are taken from Worldometer.

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Calculations are for educational purposes and may not reflect all real-world factors.