Flight: Base Empreinte 🇫🇷

💡 High-Level Description:

Base Empreinte, managed by ADEME, is a comprehensive environmental impact database combining data from Base Carbone and Base IMPACTS. For air travel, Base Empreinte® offers emissions data that reflect aircraft size, fuel type, and other parameters crucial for accurate carbon footprint assessments.

The methodology considers the radiative forcing index (RFI) to account for the broader climate impact of aviation emissions beyond CO2. This ensures that businesses and travelers receive comprehensive environmental insights into their air travel.

Sample API Requests

A. Without audit mode (for pre-booking/quotes)

{
  "expand": ["items"],
  "items": [
    {
      "audit": false,
      "type": "flight",
      "methodology": "BASE-EMPREINTE",
      "external_reference": "test_1",
      "number_of_travelers": 1,
      "origin": "FRA",
      "destination": "JFK",
      "aircraft_size": "under_220_seats",
      "radiative_forcing_index": true
    }
  ]
}

B. With audit mode (for finalized/post-booking calculations)

{
  "expand": ["items"],
  "audit_for": "<Auditable Entity ID>",
  "items": [
    {
      "audit": true,
      "type": "flight",
      "methodology": "BASE-EMPREINTE",
      "external_reference": "test_1",
      "number_of_travelers": 1,
      "origin": "FRA",
      "destination": "JFK",
      "aircraft_size": "under_220_seats",
      "radiative_forcing_index": true
    }
  ]
}

Note: audit_for is optional. Provide when calculating on behalf of a specific Auditable entity; otherwise omit.

API request items

• "type": "flight" (required)

• "methodology": "BASE-EMPREINTE" (required)

• "external_reference": A unique identifier that helps you link the resulting emissions to the requested item. Especially useful if multiple items are requested since SQUAKE cannot guarantee to keep the same order. The maximum length is 128 characters.

• "number_of_travelers": Minimum value is 1. The default value is 1.

• "origin": For airports use IATA/ICAO code (format: ^[A-Z]{3,4}$, e.g. "MUC"), for other locations used in trade and transportation use UN/LOCODE codes (format: ^[A-Z]{2}\W?[A-Z2-9]{3}$, e.g. "DEHAM"). You can also pass lat/long (format: ^[-+]?\d{1,3}\.\d{1,10}\s?,\s?[-+]?\d{1,3}\.\d{1,10}$, e.g. "+40.712,-74.006").

• "destination": For airports use IATA/ICAO code (format: ^[A-Z]{3,4}$, e.g. "MUC"), for other locations used in trade and transportation use UN/LOCODE codes (format: ^[A-Z]{2}\W?[A-Z2-9]{3}$, e.g. "DEHAM"). You can also pass lat/long (format: ^[-+]?\d{1,3}\.\d{1,10}\s?,\s?[-+]?\d{1,3}\.\d{1,10}$, e.g. "+40.712,-74.006").

• "distance_in_km": Prioritized over origin and destination. If you don't have a distance_in_km, you can use origin and destination and the distance will be automatically resolved. If you pass both distance_in_km and origin/destination, then distance_in_km will be used.

• "aircraft_size": Supports values like under_220_seats, under_50_seats, under_50_seats_jet, or defaults to average if not passed.

• "sustainable_fuels": Indicates the usage of sustainable fuels. This lowers the computed emissions in SQUAKE but is not part of the current official emissions frameworks.

• "radiative_forcing_index": Defaults to true.

• "carbon_reduction_percentage_of_total": The percentage of emissions reduction through the usage of sustainable fuel. The minimum value is 0, and the maximum value is 1. Default value is 0.

• "audit": boolean (optional). Set to true to create immutable audit records for finalized calculations. Must be enabled for your account.

• Default Values

  • "radiative_forcing_index": true

Sample API Response

{
    "carbon_quantity": 632000,
    "carbon_unit": "gram",
    "items": [
        {
            "carbon_quantity": 632000,
            "carbon_unit": "gram",
            "external_reference": "test_1",
            "type": "flight",
            "methodology": "BASE-EMPREINTE",
            "distance": 6320.0,
            "distance_unit": "kilometer"
        }
    ]
}

Bibliography

• ADEME. (2025). Base Empreinte - Données d’impacts environnementaux. Retrieved from https://www.ademe.fr/base-empreinte

• ADEME. (2024). Base Carbone Methodological Guide. Retrieved from https://www.ademe.fr/base-carbone

• ADEME. (2023). Documentation on aviation emission factors. Available via official ADEME publications.

• Eurocontrol (2022). Aircraft performance and fuel consumption statistics.