Flight: DEFRA 🇬🇧

💡 High-Level Description:

The Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) of the United Kingdom plays a key role in shaping environmental policies and approaches to carbon reduction. As part of its sustainability initiatives, DEFRA has developed a carbon calculation methodology specifically for the flight passenger sector, providing a standardized and credible means to evaluate the emissions associated with air travel.

DEFRA's methodology for evaluating carbon emissions from passenger flights incorporates a range of factors. These include the aircraft's fuel consumption, flight distance, type of aircraft, and even the indirect effects of high-altitude emissions. The aim is to offer a holistic view of a flight's environmental impact. By developing this standardized approach, DEFRA not only aids the aviation industry in understanding and reducing its carbon footprint but also provides a reliable reference point for policymakers and environmental advocacy groups.

Sample API Request

{
  "expand": [
    "items"
  ],
  "items": [
    {
      "type": "flight",
      "methodology": "DEFRA",
      "external_reference": "test_4",
      "number_of_travelers": 2,
      "origin": "LON",
      "destination": "LAX",
      "booking_class": "first",
      "aircraft_type": "737",
      "radiative_forcing_index": true,
      "energy_scope": "wtw"
    }
  ]
}

• Default Values

  • "booking_class": "average"

  • "energy_scope": "wtw"

  • "radiative_forcing_index": true

• Calculation Specifics

  • An 8% uplift factor is used in the UK Greenhouse Gas Inventory to scale up Great Circle distances (GCD) for flights between airports to account for indirect flight paths, delays, etc.

API Request Items

• "type": "flight" (required)

• "methodology": "DEFRA" (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": SQUAKE will try to resolve the origin/destination regardless of its format. Ideally, for addresses use the Post standard, 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": SQUAKE will try to resolve the origin/destination regardless of its format. Ideally, for addresses use the Post standard, 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").

• "booking_class": If you don't pass a booking_class, then fare_class and airline are required. SQUAKE will then automatically resolve the correct booking_class. For DEFRA, average is the default.

• "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_type": Aircraft type in the IATA or ICAO format. Aircraft types are supported only for flights that have at least origin or destination in the UK.

• "fare_class": The combination of fare_class and airline is mutually exclusive with booking_class. This is a single letter, e.g., Y, J, etc.

• "airline": The IATA Designator of an airline, e.g., LH. Airline names are also supported, SQUAKE will then automatically resolve it. The combination of fare_class and airline is mutually exclusive with booking_class.

• "radiative_forcing_index": Controls if a multiplier that factors in gases emitted to the atmosphere when flying at altitude should be applied.

• "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.

• "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.

• "energy_scope": Values are ttw or wtw. The default value is wtw.

Aircraft Type Distribution

Domestic	Short-Haul	Long-Haul
32N	32N	32N
32Q	32Q	32Q
319	318	320
320	319	321
321	320	332
AT4	321	333
AT5	332	339
AT7	333	343
738	359	359
D38	AT7	338
ER3	7M8	7M8
ER4	7M9	738
E70	733	752
E90	734	763
E95	735	764
J41	736	772
SF3	737	773
	738	77F
	739	77W
	752	788
	753	789
	763	781
	772
	77W
	788
	789
	221
	223
	CR9
	DH8
	E70

Sample API Response

{
    "carbon_quantity": 15273823,
    "carbon_unit": "gram",
    "items": [
        {
            "carbon_quantity": 15273823,
            "carbon_unit": "gram",
            "external_reference": "test_4",
            "type": "flight",
            "methodology": "DEFRA",
            "distance": 8804.0,
            "distance_unit": "kilometer"
        }
    ]
}

For more details about RFI: Radiative Forcing Index

Bibliography

• Bramwell, R., et al. (2024, July). 2023 Government Greenhouse Gas Conversion Factors for Company Reporting. Methodology Paper for Conversion Factors Final Report. Department for Business, Energy, & Industrial Strategy. Retrieved from https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/668408e6a59289f59b840597/2024-greenhouse-gas-conversion-factors-methodology.pdf