If I add a radiative forcing uplift to air freight, what must I disclose?

The Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol lets you apply a radiative forcing multiplier to air freight emissions in carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e), and says that if you do, you should disclose the specific factor used. Write down that you applied it, the number, where it came from and what it multiplied, so a buyer can compare your figure with others.

What the GHG Protocol says

In its Scope 3 Calculation Guidance for Category 4 (upstream transportation and distribution), the note under the emission factors is short. For air travel emission factors, multipliers or other corrections to account for radiative forcing may be applied to the global warming potential (GWP) of the emissions arising from aircraft transport. If applied, companies should disclose the specific factor used.

The same note appears under both the fuel-based and the distance-based method. So it is a choice, not a requirement. The requirement only starts once you make the choice: the number you used has to be visible.

What to write down next to the figure

• That a radiative forcing multiplier was applied, in plain words, not hidden inside a factor.
• The value of the multiplier, for example 1.5, not 'the standard uplift'.
• The factor set it came from, with its edition or year.
• What it was applied to: the aircraft emissions for the air legs only. Sea and road legs in the same shipment are not uplifted.
• The figure without the multiplier, if you can give it. A buyer who reports without one can then compare like for like.

When a forwarder or airline gives you the number

Ask three questions before you copy it into your inventory. Does it include a radiative forcing multiplier? What is the multiplier? Which year's factors were used? If the answer to the first is yes and nobody can give you the multiplier, you cannot disclose it, and the number is hard to defend.

Use one basis for every air shipment in the year. A report where half the air legs carry the multiplier and half do not will not match any other company's.

Example: one air shipment, with and without a multiplier (example figures)

• Cargo: 2.5 t gross weight, 7,000 km: 2.5 x 7,000 = 17,500 tonne-km
• Example air factor, without multiplier: 0.60 kg CO2e per tonne-km
• Without multiplier: 17,500 x 0.60 = 10,500 kg CO2e
• With an example multiplier of 1.5: 10,500 x 1.5 = 15,750 kg CO2e
• Disclosure line: 'Air freight includes a radiative forcing multiplier of 1.5 from [factor set, year]. Without it: 10.5 t CO2e.'

Example numbers only. The multiplier is not a recommended value; use the one your factor source publishes.

What Senseible does here

Senseible reads weight, distance and mode from freight records and shows the factor behind each line, which is the part a buyer will ask you to disclose. Whether to add a radiative forcing multiplier is your choice, and you state it in your method note.

• Should flight emissions include radiative forcing?
• Air freight: actual or chargeable weight
• Supplier emissions evidence

Sources: GHG Protocol, Technical Guidance for Calculating Scope 3 Emissions, Category 4 (Chapter 4), emission factor notes

Last reviewed 2026-11-04. Re-check the Category 4 note if the GHG Protocol revises its Scope 3 guidance.