Google is setting up an independent advisory board to manage its Travel Impact Model (TIM), an open-source tool for predicting the per-passenger carbon emissions produced by an upcoming flight.
Google hands over its tool for estimating flight emissions to an independent advisory group
Google will still handle the technical details of the Travel Impact Model, but the new group will oversee governance and major improvements.
Google will still handle the technical details of the Travel Impact Model, but the new group will oversee governance and major improvements.
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is transportation editor with 10+ years of experience who covers EVs, public transportation, and aviation. His work has appeared in The New York Daily News and City & State.
Previously, Google drove decisions about TIM, but now, the company says it will merely manage the technical aspects of the model while all the major decisions will be handled by the new independent advisors. The advisory panel, which is comprised of airline industry executives, regulators, climate experts, and consumer advocates, will convene on a regular basis to weigh possible changes to the model.
According to Google, the panel will “discuss and approve updates to the model by incorporating the latest scientific knowledge in the field of flight emissions forecasting.”
Google uses data from third parties like airline companies to make its estimates. Details like airplane model type, route, speed, and altitude as well as the number of passengers on each flight factor into the model.
Travel booking sites like Google Flights, Expedia, Booking.com, and others use TIM to predict the environmental impact of individual flights in the hopes of helping customers make more sustainable choices. The Travalyst coalition, which includes those groups along with Amadeus, Travelport, Trip.com Group, Tripadvisor, and Visa, has been working with Google on developing TIM.
Google’s management of TIM has not been without controversy. Last year, Google Flights dropped the inclusion of contrails, the icy clouds that can trap heat as they trail an aircraft, from its emissions calculations. Contrails don’t contain CO2, but they are thought to contribute to the travel industry’s impact on global warming.
The new advisory panel will be chaired by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), a nonprofit that helped uncover Volkswagen’s Dieselgate scandal in 2014.
“Climate-conscious consumers understand that which flight you choose matters. But they want and need data to make informed decisions,” Rachel Muncrief, the ICCT’s acting executive director, said in a statement. “We are delighted to partner with Google to help establish the TIM as the global standard for providing accurate, transparent, and consistent emissions information to consumers at the point of booking.”
Here’s a list of all the other members:
- Jill Blickstein, vice president, sustainability, American Airlines
- Tim Johnson, director, Aviation Environment Federation
- Jane Ashton, sustainability director, easyJet
- Achilleas Achilleos, strategic programme officer, European Union Aviation Safety Agency (non-voting board observer)
- Kevin Welsh, executive director, environment and energy, Federal Aviation Administration (non-voting board observer)
- Marc Stettler, reader in transport and the environment, Imperial College London
- Daniel Rutherford, aviation program director, International Council on Clean Transportation (non-voting secretariat representative)
- Caroline Drischel, head of corporate responsibility, Lufthansa Group
- Steven Barrett, professor of aeronautics and astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Andrew Chen, principal, aviation decarbonization, Rocky Mountain Institute
- Sally Davey, chief executive officer, Travalyst
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