Learn how Ecomiles calculates CO₂ emissions avoided for each mode of sustainable transport and the conversion rate per kilometer or mile.
You’ve already started your sustainable travel journey, logged trips by walking, train, and bike, and probably noticed that each trip earns a different amount of Ecomiles.
That naturally leads to the question: how does the Ecomiles calculation work?????
At Ecomiles, we follow trusted and certified carbon-emissions methodologies, validated by well-known organizations such as Verra and KPMG.
Simply put, the CO₂ avoided on a sustainable trip is calculated by comparing that same route to one made with a combustion-powered vehicle.
Still sounds a bit confusing?
No worries, let’s break it down with a simple table to make it easier to understand.
Mode of Transportation | Ecomiles earned per KM | Ecomiles earned per mile | Co2 Avoided per KM | CO₂ Avoided per mile |
Walking | 0.400 | 0.644 | 0.400 | 0.644 |
Bicycle | 0.400 | 0.644 | 0.400 | 0.644 |
Eletric Bicycle | 0.390 | 0.628 | 0.390 | 0.628 |
Eletric Motorcycle | 0.350 | 0.563 | 0.350 | 0.563 |
Subway | 0.320 | 0.515 | 0.320 | 0.515 |
Eletric car | 0.312 | 0.502 | 0.312 | 0.502 |
Bus | 0,305 | 0.491 | 0.305 | 0.491 |
Ethanol-Powered Motorcycle | 0,310 | 0.499 | 0.310 | 0.499 |
Ethanol-Powered Car | 0,294 | 0.473 | 0.294 | 0.473 |
Carpool ( 2 people) | 0.200 | 0.322 | 0.200 | 0.322 |
Carpool (3 people) | 0.267 | 0.430 | 0.267 | 0.430 |
Carpool (4 people) | 0.300 | 0.483 | 0.300 | 0.483 |
Carpool (5 people) | 0.320 | 0.515 | 0.320 | 0.515 |
Each mode of transportation has a base amount of CO₂ avoided per kilometer, calculated by comparing that trip to the same route taken with a combustion-powered vehicle. This avoided CO₂ is converted into the app’s currency, called Ecomiles.
For example, on a 10 km bicycle trip, you would earn 4 Ecomiles (10 × 0.4).
The same logic applies to miles.
On a 6.2-mile bicycle trip (equivalent to 10 km), you would also earn 4 Ecomiles, using the Ecomiles value per mile shown in the table.
Trips also go through additional checks, such as travel time, distance, speed, and the difference between start and end points , but we’ll leave those details for another blog post.