GOOGLE SAYS FLIGHT SEARCH TOOL CAN HELP YOU FLY ‘GREENER'

A basic search for flights will give an estimate of how many kilograms of carbon dioxide the flight will spew from start to finish.

Searching for flights on Google just got “greener.”

A new search feature rolled out this week tells users which flights have lower carbon emissions, giving them the ability to choose flights based on carbon emissions just as they would price or the number of layovers.

A basic search for flights will give an estimate of how many kilograms of carbon dioxide the flight will spew from start to finish. Users can prioritize their search by emissions, much like they can by price, if desired. Flights with emissions below the median get highlighted in green.

Google said the estimates are a combination of data from the European Environmental Agency and flight-specific information it gets from airlines and other providers. That data could include an aircraft’s age, model and configuration, the speed and altitude it flies at and the distance between the flight’s origin and destination.