Calculate emissions

The desire for a uniform calculation of climate-damaging emissions has increased significantly in the industry and business travellers and holidaymakers are increasingly asking about the actual climate footprint caused by their trips. In addition, the EU CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) is becoming relevant for more and more companies and travel emissions are mandatory as part of reporting.

There are already various methods for calculating greenhouse gas emissions in tourism. However, these do not delimit the CO₂e emissions in a standardised way and determine the emissions using different approaches and accuracies. The aim of KlimaLink is to make CO₂e emissions available to all users in the industry on the basis of a uniform calculation standard (consisting of various methods).

To this end, the KlimaLink standards for individual travel components are developed in working groups consisting of experts from our member and the scientific community and are based on the following criteria:

• CO2e emissions are recorded systematically and with a high degree of accuracy.
• The CO₂e emissions of different service providers (flight, hotel, cruise, etc.) can be compared and categorised.
• The calculations are accurate enough to show travellers options for reducing climate emissions even before they book.
• The calculations are accurate enough to compare combined travel products of different types on the basis of absolute CO₂e emissions.
• The various methods are based entirely on travel input data that is available to the travel industry as standard in the systems of tour operators and travel agents.
• The standard provides a unique CO₂e value for each input of travel components worldwide. To this end, the individual methods specify fallback hierarchies that require less and less specific input data in descending tiers (method variants) in order to always deliver the best result under the circumstances.

There is already agreement on the calculation method for flights, rail, bus/car and hotels. These will be visible in booking systems as from spring 2025. Calculation standards for other components will follow shortly, until all travel components can be covered by the end of 2025.

• Flight
• Hotel
  
• Rail (from spring 2025)
• Bus/car (from winter 2024/25)
• Holiday homes (in 2025)
  
• Cruise/ferry (in 2025)
• Activity and mobility on site (in 2025)

The emissions calculation for the Climate Link is based on specific emissions values that a travel service generated in the past. If no such specific values exist, the most accurate average values possible are used. The data is collected, verified and provided by our partner company, the climate protection organisation atmosfair.

In doing so, the Climate Link Standard takes into account, as far as possible, the destination and departure point, the expected occupancy rate, selected booking classes and model specifications for aircraft or other means of transport. Despite this claim of the most accurate calculation possible, the Climate Link Standard can only provide an approximation of the actual emission value, which may be subject to significant deviations in individual cases, and therefore serves only as a rough guide. The correct calculation of CO₂e emissions is scientifically controversial and can lead to different results depending on the calculation method. In this sense, the Climate Link standard offers only one of many possible calculation methods. You can find more about the standard and the currently available calculation methods for flights and hotels here:

• Flight calculation standard
  
• Hotel calculation standard
  

1. Use only in the concrete, specified form

   The calculated footprint may not be changed or presented in any way other than the intended forms (value in kg CO₂e with logo or icon).

   

   For sending the logos/icon please send an e-mail to: info@klimalink.org

2. Compliance with the legal requirements for rankings and comparisons

   By displaying the footprint in sales channels, KlimaLink enables customers to find out about the expected CO₂e emissions of individual travel components and entire trips before booking. This means that KlimaLink does not actively intervene in the customer's highly individualised decision-making process.

   If the carbon footprint is also used by providers in their sales channels for a kind of ranking or recommendation to customers, it is up to the provider itself to check the legal requirements for such rankings or sorting functions. However, in order not to make yourself vulnerable from a competition law perspective, it is advisable to adopt as neutral a position as possible with regard to the various travel services and to work with the greatest possible transparency here as well. See the legal requirements the EU Digital Markets Act, the EU Digital Services Act, Section 5a (1) No. 1, (2) UWG in conjunction with Section 5b (2) No. 1 UWG. § Section 5b para. 2 no. 1 UWG and Section 8a UWG in conjunction with. Regulation (EU) 2019/1150. A legal review of the provider's platform in each individual case is recommended.

3. Use of the climate footprint only in conjunction with disclaimer

   A disclaimer must be used to inform customers about the data basis and method of calculating the CO₂e value, as well as who KlimaLink e.V. is, who the association represents and what information content the footprint has for them. Just like the climate footprint itself (as a logo or CO₂e value), this must be used in unchanged form and in the immediate vicinity of the footprint via mouseover or deep link.

   Disclaimer for the climate footprint (as a logo or isolated CO₂e value)

   The CO₂e emission value is a value calculated in advance by KlimaLink e.V. according to the KlimaLink standard based on the selection of one or more travel services. By converting different types of emissions into the equivalent amount of CO₂ (so-called CO₂e), this value can provide information about the likely impact of the travel services to be booked or planned on the climate.
   
   The calculation is based on specific emission values that a comparable travel service has achieved in the past. If such specific values are not available, the most accurate average values possible are used.
   The input data are collected by the KlimaLink partner companies and provided to the service provider atmosfair. More information about atmosfair can be found here: LINK →https://www.atmosfair.de/de/

   The KlimaLink standard uses specific values as far as possible. Nevertheless, the KlimaLink standard can only provide an approximation of the actual emission value, which may be subject to significant deviations in individual cases. This applies in particular to the case of incomplete query data for a trip or gaps in the databases on which the emission calculation is based.

   The correct calculation of CO₂e emissions depends on many factors, including the underlying principles and specifications for areas of application, system boundaries, calculation methods, travel data and technical databases for emission factors and means of transport. These factors are transparently published in the documentation of the KlimaLink standard. They correspond to the good practice of CO₂e balancing and the state of the art in science. For the mobility components of air, rail, bus and car travel, the KlimaLink standard has also been verified according to the ISO 14083standard. You can find more about the standard, its calculations and operational system boundaries here: LINK →https://klimalink.org/emissionen-berechnen//

   KlimaLink e.V. is an association that has set itself the goal of enabling the travel industry to map all tourism services with correct emission figures according to a uniform calculation standard. You can
   find more about the association and its members here: LINK →https://klimalink.org/

4. Use separate disclaimer for variant with the addition "climate-friendly annual budget"

   The logo variant with a person's climate-friendly annual budget of 1.5 tonnes of CO₂e must always be used in conjunction with a separate disclaimer.

   

   Disclaimer for the additional information on the climate-friendly annual budget

   To help you assess whether your emissions are low or high, you can compare them with the climatefriendly annual budget for one person. The climate-friendly annual budget for a person of 1.5 tonnes of CO₂e is intended to provide a guide to the average CO₂e emissions that each person is allowed to ‘consume’ in order to limit global warming to below 1.5°C compared to pre-industrial levels. This figure is based on a special report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) from 2018. This assumes that, as of 2018, the world has a global emissions budget of around 420 billion tonnes of CO₂e to reach the 1.5°C target. Assuming that the global economy must be fully decarbonised by 2050 and that the world population will reach 8.8 billion by 2050, this means that each person on this planet would have an average climate-friendly budget of around 1.5 tonnes of CO₂e per year, possibly unevenly distributed. You can find more information about the climatefriendly annual budget at https://www.atmosfair.de/de/gruenreisen/persoenliches_klimabudget/.

   It should be noted that this budget applies to all areas of life (e.g. living, driving, eating, etc.). Travel isonly a part of the total budget. The German Environment Agency provides a calculator that takes allareas of life into account: https://uba.co2-rech- ner.de/de_DE/.
   
   (To calculate the climate footprint of a private household you may use another link corresponding to your home country.)

5. Have specific use checked in context

   KlimaLink e.V. only assumes responsibility for the climate footprint (as a logo or CO₂e value) itself and the calculation of CO₂e, i.e. for the plausibility of the KlimaLink standard. Any further compliance with legal requirements, in particular competition law, consumer law and case law on environmental claims (e.g. additional illustration of a green leaf or a drop of water in connection with the CO₂e value), must be legally checked by the provider itself. This applies in particular if, in connection with the climate footprint (as a logo or CO₂e value), reference is made to the possibility of "climate neutralisation" through offsetting measures. Offsetting options are not part of the KlimaLink standard.