Transporting people > Vehicles owned by others > Air

You produce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from this activity if members of your organization took flights operated by another business. This is a Scope 3 (indirect) emission.

Enter information about your flights into Climate Smart to calculate the emissions from your inventory period.

On this page:

• Examples of emission sources
• Prepare the data you need
  • Option 1: Estimate by distance, by passenger (most common)
  • Option 2: Estimate by distance, by entire plane (less common)
  • Option 3: Actual consumption (rare cases) 
• Find your emissions data
• Enter data into your inventory

Examples of emission sources

Not sure if you should report this emission source? You should consider tracking this activity in your inventory if:

• Members of your organization flew to conferences or other business trips in a commercial airline, including helicopters, float planes, and private jet subscriptions

Prepare the data you need

To get your data ready for Climate Smart, choose one of the following options based on the information that’s available to you. This will be the method you use to calculate the GHGs emitted by your organization. 

Remember to collect information for the relevant inventory period.

Option 1: Estimate by distance, by passenger (most common)

If your team members flew in commercial airline, you’ll need to know:

• Distance between the start and end locations of a one-way trip(kilometres or miles)
• Type of aircraft (for example, commercial haul, float haul, or helicopter)
• Number of people on the trip

Option 2: Estimate by distance, by entire plane (less common)

If your team members flew in a small aircraft, you’ll need to know:

• Distance between the start and end locations of a one-way trip (kilometres or miles)
• Type of aircraft, by how many passengers it can hold (for example, a 10-passenger prop plane)

Option 3: Actual consumption (rare case)

If you know how much fuel your flight(s) took and want to enter this data into Climate Smart, you’ll need to know:

• Amount of fuel (litres or gallons)
• Type of fuel (for example, aviation gasoline, jet fuel, or aviation turbo fuel)

OR

• Amount of fuel (litres or gallons)
• Time in the air (hours)

Find your emissions data

Not sure where to find the data you need? Try the following suggestions:

Ask your accounting department

Your accounting department might already have the information you need! Ask your accounting team about collecting data for your emissions inventory.

Download flight reports

If you use a travel agent or booking software, you might be able to download a report of the flights taken during your inventory period.

Measure distance travelled with the distance calculator

Not sure what the distance was between the origin and destination of a trip? To estimate how far a vehicle travelled, use the distance calculator.

Enter data into your inventory

When you’re ready to track emissions from this activity, you can start entering the data you’ve collected into Climate Smart.

Note: Lots of trips to enter at once? Try importing your activity data.

Add this activity to your inventory

Before you can enter information about your emissions, you need to add this activity to your inventory. Learn how to add new activities to your inventory.

Add an entry to your inventory

To enter your data into Climate Smart:

1. Choose a calculation method based on the data you have:
   • If you have your fuel cards or receipts that show how much the plane(s) used, select Actual Consumption and enter your information into Climate Smart.
   • If you flew in a commercial airline, select Estimate by Distance (by passenger) and enter your information into Climate Smart.
   • If you flew in a smaller aircraft, such as a plane for a charted flight, select Estimate by Distance (by entire plane) and enter your information into Climate Smart.
2. Enter the start and end dates of the activity you’re measuring. These dates will usually match your inventory period.
3. Enter the total cost of plane tickets your organization paid for (including taxes) for this entry. If you’re estimating the amount, select the checkbox next to Cost is estimate. Tell us if you paid in Canadian Dollars (CAD) or United States Dollars (USD) from Currency the drop-down list. 
4. Under Description, enter information such as:
   • Origin and destination airports
   • How you calculated flight distances(for example, the total distance for all short haul flights or all flights between two airports)
   • Reason for the trip (for example, the name of the conference or vendor you travelled to)
5. In the Note box, enter optional information including any details that might be helpful for you (or your Climate Smart Advisor, if applicable) in the future.  
6. When you’re done, click ADD ENTRY. Your entry will appear in the table below.