API Reference
Travel (preview)

Travel ADD-ONADD-ON

⚠️
Preview Feature

This feature is currently in preview. That means that we believe the feature is good enough to start using, but:

  • There might still be bugs or edge cases we haven't covered.
  • The documentation and error messages might be less detailed.
  • We might need to make further changes in the API surface.

We need the ability to iterate quickly on preview versions, so we offer less guarantees of stability. When we make changes to the preview version, we will release a new version, and you must migrate to this new version within one month. Read more about API versioning at Climatiq here.For this reason, preview endpoints are not available without explicitly opting in. If you would like to opt-in to this preview feature, please contact us.

Climatiq provides a comprehensive toolkit to help businesses measure GHG emissions from travel activities. This includes reporting scope 3.6 emissions under the GHG Protocol for travel activities in vehicles owned or operated by third parties, such as aircraft, trains and passenger cars. Emissions associated with hotel stays can also be calculated, providing a comprehensive view of travel-related emissions.

The GHG Protocol outlines three main methods for calculating GHG emissions from your travels:

  • Fuel-based
  • Distance-based
  • Spend-based

Your choice of method will depend on the data you have at hand.

Our endpoints are tailored to handle all possible situations with respect to your data availability. Use our spend-based endpoint if you only have expenditure data available. For enhanced accuracy, the distance-based endpoint offers route-specific estimates, automatic distance calculations, and customization options to improve calculations.

Notes on calculation methods:

  • The Travel feature provides endpoints for distance-based and spend-based approaches where you have distance or spend data.
  • If you have fuel usage data (e.g. liters of petrol), use our Estimate endpoint or Energy feature.
  • To calculate emissions from taxi journeys, use the distance-based method when you have data on the vehicle type and the journey's origin and destination. Alternatively, use the spend-based method if you know the cost of the taxi.

Distance-based method

POST This endpoint allows you to apply the distance-based method by specifying the origin and destination of your journey, and the primary mode of transportation: by air, car, or rail. The journey distance is automatically determined and used for the calculation.

The endpoint will return the CO2e for the primary mode of transportation. If the journey includes separate legs (e.g. travel to / from a railway station or airport) then these need to be calculated separately with additional calls to the API.

https://preview.api.climatiq.io/travel/v1-preview1/distance
Notes
  • The endpoint works for one-way travel for one passenger. If your journey has more legs (e.g. is a return journey / round trip) or passengers, you should make multiple API calls.
  • We do not have full coverage of the global rail network. If data on specific rail segments is missing, we might use car routes for distance calculations instead of rail routes.
  • For air travel, the endpoint will always include a Radiative Forcing (opens in a new tab) (RF) multiplier. It is best practice to include the RF multiplier in most reporting although sometimes (e.g. under the SBTi) it is not accounted for.
  • For electricity-based estimates, such as electric vehicles, the CO2e values returned are location-based, not market-based. Find more details on the different types of electricity-based estimates in our Energy feature.

Request

Request parametersShould be sent as a JSON object in the body
    • travel_moderequired string

      The primary type of travel for this journey. Valid values are: air, car, rail.

    • originrequired object

      The origin of the journey. Accepts QueryLocation, IataCodeLocation, UNLocodeLocation or CoordinateLocation.

    • destinationrequired object

      The destination of the journey. Accepts QueryLocation, IataCodeLocation, UNLocodeLocation or CoordinateLocation.

    • yearinteger
      Default value: Latest year available

      The year that the travel occurred.

    • distance_kmfloat

      If you have an actual distance for this leg in kilometers you can input the distance here. Climatiq will then use this distance instead of the planned distance it would normally calculate.

    • car_detailsobject

      Additional details about the car used for the travel. Supplying this will result in more accurate estimations. Can only be used when travel_mode is car.

    • air_detailsobject

      Additional details about the plane used for the travel. Supplying this will result in more accurate estimations. Can only be used when travel_mode is air.

Car Sizes

The car_details object allows you to specify different car types that you can see in the list below. If you don't know the size of the car used for the trip, you can omit the car_size or set it as average, both of which will result in a weighted average of car sizes on the road being used.

Car sizePetrolDieselOthersCar example
smallbelow 1.4-liter enginebelow 1.7-liter engineVehicle models of a similar size (i.e. market segment A or B (opens in a new tab))Fiat 500, Opel Adam, Renault Clio, Ford Fiesta etc.
mediumfrom 1.4-liter to 2.0-liter enginefrom 1.7-liter to 2.0-liter engineVehicle models of a similar size (i.e. generally market segment C)Volkswagen Golf, Honda Civic etc.
largeabove 2-liter engineabove 2-liter engineVehicle models of a similar size (i.e. generally market segment D and above)BMW 3-Series, Volkswagen Passat etc.
curl --request POST \
  --url https://preview.api.climatiq.io/travel/v1-preview1/distance \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $CLIMATIQ_API_KEY" \
  --data '{
    "origin": {
        "locode": "DE-HAM"
    },
    "destination": {
        "query": "Berlin"
    },
    "travel_mode": "car",
    "car_details": {
        "car_type": "plugin_hybrid"
   }
}'

Response

A response consists of the following attributes.

Response parameters
    • co2efloat

      The total co2e emitted by the journey, expressed in co2e_unit.

    • co2e_unitstring

      Always kg.

    • co2e_calculation_methodstring

      Which calculation methodology that was used for the calculation. The value of this is either ipcc_ar4_gwp100, ipcc_ar5_gwp100, ipcc_ar6_gwp100 or ipcc_mixed_gwp100. <br/> Learn more about calculation methods here.

    • distance_kmfloat

      The distance in kilometers of the journey using the primary mode of transport (excludes any travel to and from airport or railway stations).

    • originobject

      A ResponseLocation containing the name and an (optional) confidence_score of the location we found, given your origin parameter.

    • destinationobject

      A ResponseLocation containing the name and an (optional) confidence_score of the location we found, given your destination parameter.

    • direct_emissionsobject

      The emissions associated with the direct emissions of the journey, such as the combustion of fuel or generation of electricity. For air flights, the radiative forcing effect is included in these emissions.

    • indirect_emissionsobject

      The upstream emissions associated with the journey, such as transmission and distribution losses for electricity, or the extraction and transportation of the fuel (i.e. well-to-tank).

    • noticesarray of Notices

      Any notices related to the calculation.

    • source_trailarray of SourceDataPoint

      A list of Source Data Points that help explain and provide trust in the calculation. Click to view more details about Source Trail. This field is deprecated - please use the source_trail inside the direct_emissions and indirect_emissions fields.

{
    "co2e": 44.28,
    "co2e_unit": "kg",
    "co2e_calculation_method": "ipcc_mixed_gwp100",
    "source_trail": [
        {
            "data_category": "emission_factor",
            "name": "Electricity supplied from grid - production mix",
            "source": "AIB",
            "source_dataset": "European Residual Mix",
            "year": "2022",
            "region": "DE",
            "region_name": "Germany"
        },
        {
            "data_category": "emission_factor",
            "name": "Petrol (100% mineral petrol)",
            "source": "BEIS",
            "source_dataset": "Greenhouse gas reporting: conversion factors 2023",
            "year": "2023",
            "region": "GB",
            "region_name": "United Kingdom"
        }
    ],
    "distance_km": 299.1,
    "origin": {
        "name": "Hamburg",
        "latitude": 53.51666,
        "longitude": 9.93333,
        "confidence_score": null
    },
    "destination": {
        "name": "Berlin, Germany",
        "latitude": 52.51604,
        "longitude": 13.37691,
        "confidence_score": 1
    },
    "direct_emissions": {
        "co2e": 34.26,
        "co2e_unit": "kg",
        "source_trail": [
            {
                "data_category": "emission_factor",
                "name": "Electricity supplied from grid - production mix",
                "source": "AIB",
                "source_dataset": "European Residual Mix",
                "year": "2022",
                "region": "DE",
                "region_name": "Germany"
            },
            {
                "data_category": "emission_factor",
                "name": "Petrol (100% mineral petrol)",
                "source": "BEIS",
                "source_dataset": "Greenhouse gas reporting: conversion factors 2023",
                "year": "2023",
                "region": "GB",
                "region_name": "United Kingdom"
            }
        ]
    },
    "indirect_emissions": {
        "co2e": 10.02,
        "co2e_unit": "kg",
        "source_trail": [
            {
                "data_category": "emission_factor",
                "name": "Electricity supplied from grid - production mix",
                "source": "AIB",
                "source_dataset": "European Residual Mix",
                "year": "2022",
                "region": "DE",
                "region_name": "Germany"
            },
            {
                "data_category": "emission_factor",
                "name": "Petrol (100% mineral petrol)",
                "source": "BEIS",
                "source_dataset": "Greenhouse gas reporting: conversion factors 2023",
                "year": "2023",
                "region": "GB",
                "region_name": "United Kingdom"
            }
        ]
    },
    "notices": []
}

Spend-based method

POST This endpoint uses EXIOBASE emission factors to calculate emissions based on your spending on travel activities in any currency. This endpoint automatically takes inflation into account, if the year you spent the money was different than the year of the emission factor. Note that the EXIOBASE spend-based emission factor, used for the road travel is, in fact, an average emission factor for a mix of different types of transport: urban and suburban passenger land transport, taxi operation, other passenger land transport and freight transport by road and can therefore produce results of lower accuracy. Climatiq advises to use fuel-based or distance-based method, where possible.

https://preview.api.climatiq.io/travel/v1-preview1/spend

Request

Request parametersShould be sent as a JSON object in the body
    • spend_typerequired string

      The type of travel associated with the expenditure. Valid values are: air, road, rail, sea, and hotel.

    • moneyrequired float

      The amount of money spent.

    • money_unitrequired string

      The currency in which the money unit is expressed.

    • spend_locationrequired object

      The location where money was spent. Accepts QueryLocation, IataCodeLocation, UNLocodeLocation or CoordinateLocation.

    • spend_yearinteger
      Default value: Latest year available

      The year in which expenditures occurred.

curl --request POST \
  --url https://preview.api.climatiq.io/travel/v1-preview1/spend \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $CLIMATIQ_API_KEY" \
  --data '{
    "spend_type": "air",
    "money": 100,
    "money_unit": "gbp",
    "spend_location": {
        "locode": "GB-LON"
    },
    "spend_year": 2018
}'

Response

Response parameters
    • co2efloat

      co2e emitted by the journey, expressed in co2e_unit.

    • co2e_unitstring

      Always kg.

    • co2e_calculation_methodstring

      Which calculation methodology that was used for the calculation. The value of this is either ipcc_ar4_gwp100, ipcc_ar5_gwp100, ipcc_ar6_gwp100 or ipcc_mixed_gwp100. <br/> Learn more about calculation methods here.

    • spend_locationobject

      A ResponseLocation containing the name and an (optional) confidence_score of the location we found, given your spend_location parameter.

    • noticesarray of Notices

      Any notices related to the calculation.

    • source_trailarray of SourceDataPoint

      A list of Source Data Points that help explain and provide trust in the calculation. Click to view more details about Source Trail.

{
    "co2e": 135.5,
    "co2e_unit": "kg",
    "co2e_calculation_method": "ipcc_ar5_gwp100",
    "source_trail": [
        {
            "data_category": null,
            "name": "Country-specific inflation rates",
            "source": "World Bank",
            "source_dataset": null,
            "year": null,
            "region": "GB",
            "region_name": "United Kingdom"
        },
        {
            "data_category": "emission_factor",
            "name": "Air transport services",
            "source": "EXIOBASE",
            "source_dataset": "EXIOBASE 3",
            "year": "2019",
            "region": "GB",
            "region_name": "United Kingdom"
        }
    ],
    "spend_location": {
        "name": "London, LND, GB",
        "latitude": 51.50643,
        "longitude": -0.12718,
        "confidence_score": null
    },
    "notices": []
}

Hotels

POST Use this endpoint to estimate emissions from hotel stays across the world based on the number of nights spent. If no emission factor is available for hotels in the given country, another factor from the same continent is used.

https://preview.api.climatiq.io/travel/v1-preview1/hotel

Request

Request parametersShould be sent as a JSON object in the body
    • hotel_nightsrequired integer

      The number of nights spent in the hotel.

    • locationrequired object

      The location of the hotel. Accepts QueryLocation, IataCodeLocation, UNLocodeLocation or CoordinateLocation.

    • yearinteger
      Default value: Latest year available

      The year that the hotel stay occurred.

curl --request POST \
  --url https://preview.api.climatiq.io/travel/v1-preview1/hotel \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $CLIMATIQ_API_KEY" \
  --data '{
    "hotel_nights": 5,
    "location": {
        "query": "San Francisco"
    }
}'

Response

Response parameters
    • co2efloat

      co2e emitted by the hotel stay, expressed in co2e_unit.

    • co2e_unitstring

      Always kg.

    • co2e_calculation_methodstring

      Which calculation methodology that was used for the calculation. The value of this is either ipcc_ar4_gwp100, ipcc_ar5_gwp100, ipcc_ar6_gwp100 or ipcc_mixed_gwp100. <br/> Learn more about calculation methods here.

    • noticesarray of Notices

      Any notices related to the calculation.

    • locationobject

      A ResponseLocation containing the name and an (optional) confidence_score of the location we found, given your location parameter.

    • source_trailarray of SourceDataPoint

      A list of Source Data Points that help explain and provide trust in the calculation. Click to view more details about Source Trail.

{
    "co2e": 80.5,
    "co2e_unit": "kg",
    "co2e_calculation_method": "ipcc_ar5_gwp100",
    "source_trail": [
        {
            "data_category": "emission_factor",
            "name": "Hotel stay",
            "source": "BEIS",
            "source_dataset": "Greenhouse gas reporting: conversion factors 2024",
            "year": "2024",
            "region": "US",
            "region_name": "United States of America (the)"
        }
    ],
    "location": {
        "name": "United States of America (the)",
        "confidence_score": 1
    },
    "notices": []
}

Location

Many of the endpoints accept a location. There are four different ways to input a location.

Query Location

Query Location AttributesRequired
query string
A free text query describing the location, such as "Berlin, Germany", or "10 Downing Street".		optional
country string
The 2-letter ISO-3166 country code (opens in a new tab) for a given location.		optional
postal_code string
The postal (or zip) code for the given location. If used, country or query must also be specified.		optional

All the properties are optional, but you must specify at least a query or a country + postal_code. You may specify all three. Note that not all countries have support for postal codes, and the format might be different from country to country. See this table (opens in a new tab) for details on postal codes.

IATA Code Location

IataLocation AttributesRequired
iata string
An IATA airport code.		required

UN/LOCODE Location

UNLocode Location AttributesRequired
locode string
An UN/LOCODE (opens in a new tab) of the format DE-BER for Berlin. The Locode must contain both country and location.		required

Coordinate Location

Coordinate Location AttributesRequired
longitude float
The longitude of the coordinate.		required
latitude float
The latitude of the coordinate.		required
country string
Climatiq automatically determines the country the coordinates are within. If you need to, you can override this selection by supplying a 2-letter country code.		optional

Response Location

The location that is returned to you in the API response will contain the following properties

Response Location attributes
name string
A human-readable name of the location.
latitude string or null
The latitude of the location. This is only returned if you have access to view coordinates. Please contact us if you need this enabled.
longitude string or null
The longitude of the location. This is only returned if you have access to view coordinates. Please contact us if you need this enabled.
confidence_score float
A confidence score between 0 and 1, determining how certain we are that the location matches your query. Only exists if the input location was a QueryLocation.

Notices

The notices array can contain these objects:

Notice attributes
severity string
Either warning or info. warning is for messages that might lead to inaccurate calculations. You should check these to make sure the results are fit for your intended purpose. info is for information that will help you understand the calculation result better.
message string
An explanation of the notice.
code string
A programmatic value you can use to disambiguate the different notice types.

The different possible values for code are as follows. You should not treat this list as exhaustive as more values may be added with time:

Notice code valuedescription
partial_inflation_adjustmentInflation adjustment was applied only partially, not covering the entire period.
no_inflation_adjustmentNo inflation adjustment was made to the procurement. This could be because there is no data for the spend_country or inflation data is missing for the entire period.
location_fallbackFactors or calculation methods for the exact location are not available, we have used a fallback location which we believe best covers the specified location.
routing_fallbackIt was not possible to find a route given the current parameters. A different routing mechanism was used instead.
Custom MappingsAutopilot (preview 2)