What is the ECO Calculator?

The ECO Calculator is a web-based calculator which calculates the CO₂equiv. emissions produced during the transportation of parcel consignments by road and in the air in order to compare the effects of the two transport modes on climate change.

How does the ECO Calculator work?

The ECO Calculator calculates the emissions which are relevant to the greenhouse effect and are caused by the transportation of parcels between 98 European cities in 36 countries. The ECO Calculator can therefore be used exclusively to calculate the emissions from international consignments (the country of origin and country of destination may not be identical). National consignments are excluded from the calculation as it can be assumed that these are generally transported by road and not by aeroplane.

The ECO Calculator is capable of calculating the emissions produced by road transportation and air transportation separately. However, the main focus of the illustration generated is to highlight the difference in the impact between road transportation and air transportation which is relevant to the greenhouse effect. Let us take the route Marseille - Liverpool as an example: according to the ECO Calculator, the CO₂equiv. value emitted per parcel is 2 kilograms for transportation by road, whereas 16.1 kilograms are calculated for transportation by aeroplane. This means that with air transportation on the route from Marseille - Liverpool eight times more CO₂equiv. greenhouse gases are emitted than with transportation by road. The ratio always stays the same, whether ten, 20 or 30 parcels are sent.
 
The emissions which are produced as a result of collecting and delivering a parcel are not included in the calculation. All of the emissions calculations start from the DPD depot in the chosen city. This decision is based on the assumption that the emissions which are caused by collection and delivery are of similar levels for both road and air transportation. DPD has its own depots in the majority of the 98 cities which are chosen here. If this is not the case, the emission calculator automatically chooses the nearest depot.