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Emission factor specification

Retrieved 2026-08-25

Air Travel

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

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Emission factor
0.209127
kgCO₂e/passenger-mile
Data grade
Secondary
Edition
—
Source
US EPA
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Source: CO2, CH4, and N2O emissions data for highway vehicles are from Table 2-13 of the EPA (2022) Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990–2020. Vehicle-miles and passenger-miles data for highway vehicles are from Table VM-1 of the Federal Highway Administration Highway Statistics 2020. Fuel consumption data and passenger-miles data for rail are from Tables A.14 to A.16 and C.9 to C.11 of the Transportation Energy Data Book: Edition 40. Fuel consumption was converted to emissions by using fuel and electricity emission factors presented in the tables above. Intercity Rail factors from communication with Amtrak, March 2020. These are based on 2019 values. Air Travel factors from 2022 Guidelines to Defra / DECC's GHG Conversion Factors for Company Reporting. Version 2.0 June 2022." "Notes: The factors represented in the table above represent combustion emissions only (tank-to-wheel) and do not represent upstream emissions or well-to-wheel emissions. CH4 and N2O emission factor updates for motorcycle and bus due to a methodology change. A Passenger car: includes passenger cars, minivans, SUVs, and small pickup trucks (vehicles with wheelbase less than 121 inches). B Light-duty truck: includes full-size pickup trucks, full-size vans, and extended-length SUVs (vehicles with wheelbase greater than 121 inches). C Intercity rail: Amtrak long-distance rail between major cities. Northeast Corridor extends from Boston to Washington D.C. Other Routes are all routes outside the Northeast Corridor. D Commuter rail: rail service between a central city and adjacent suburbs (also called regional rail or suburban rail). E Transit rail: rail typically within an urban center, such as subways, elevated railways, metropolitan railways (metro), streetcars, trolley cars, and tramways.

1Factor specification

Values are per kgCO₂e/passenger-mile

Product
Air Travel
Activity name (original)
Air Travel - Short Haul (< 300 miles)
Factor value
0.209127 kgCO₂e/passenger-mile
Unit basis
passenger-mile
GWP
AR4
Calculation approach
AR4 GWP100
Method
Activity-Specific Tank-to-Wheel (TTW)
Data period
2019
Year published
2023
Region
USA · USA
Dataset edition
2023

2Where it sits in the industry spread

91.1% of 61 · larger than the median

US EPA · 단위 passenger-mileTop 25% band
0.0230545Median 0.1322670.227236

Compared against 61 factors in the same unit (passenger-mile). Product families may be mixed, so treat it as indicative only. Measuring concrete and steel sheet with the same ruler says little.

3Breakdown by gas

4 items provided by the source

CO₂e total
0.209127
CO₂
0.207
CH₄
0.00016
N₂O
0.0019668

4Factors to compare

0 under the same product · 6 with a similar value

Product · manufacturerRelationEditionFactor (kgCO₂e/passenger-mile)vs this factor
Commuter Rail · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencySimilar value—0.162156▼ 22.5%
Intercity Rail · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencySimilar value—0.151425▼ 27.6%
Intercity Rail · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencySimilar value—0.151425▼ 27.6%
Intercity Rail · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencySimilar value—0.151425▼ 27.6%
Intercity Rail · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencySimilar value—0.151425▼ 27.6%
Intercity Rail · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencySimilar value—0.151335▼ 27.6%

Notes

  1. 1)The value is as published by US EPA; we do not alter it. EPA Emission Factors Hub
  2. 2)Factor values in the table are unified to kgCO₂e for comparison. The original unit is in "Factor specification".
  3. 3)Even with several editions the value often stays the same. "Checked and unchanged" is an answer too.
  4. 4)One of 13,844 factors from public sources. ecoinvent, EXIOBASE and IEA factors bar redistribution, so they aren't here. See why
Source: US EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency), Dataset edition 2023, retrieved 2026-08-25. View original