What the number is
For a tracked shipment, TrackJet estimates CO₂e from great-circle distance between resolved endpoints and a per-vertical emission factor (air, ocean, road/post). The result is labelled an estimate everywhere it appears — in the UI and in the API field names.
What it is good for
- Order-level footprint indications for your customers.
- Aggregated reporting ("our tracked shipments this quarter ≈ X tCO₂e") where directional accuracy is enough.
- Comparing modes: the air-vs-ocean gap is far larger than any model error.
What it is NOT
- Not a measured value: real routing, load factors and equipment are unknown to any tracker.
- Not a substitute for a carrier's primary data when you need audit-grade Scope 3 numbers.
- Never silently fabricated: a shipment whose endpoints cannot be resolved shows no estimate instead of a guess.
Method, openly
Distance is haversine (documented as great-circle, which understates real routed distance), factors are published per vertical, and the calculation runs entirely on TrackJet's own data — no third-party estimate API behind the curtain. Methodology questions: contact us.
Get it programmatically
The same factors back the on-page calculator, the REST API and an MCP tool. Via the MCP server:
``bash curl -s https://trackjet.world/mcp -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{ "jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 1, "method": "tools/call", "params": { "name": "estimate_carbon", "arguments": { "mode": "air", "weight_kg": 250, "distance_km": 6800 } } }' ``
Response (abridged):
``json { "mode": "air", "inputs": { "weight_kg": 250, "distance_km": 6800 }, "factor_kg_co2e_per_tonne_km": 0.602, "tonne_km": 1700, "co2e_kg": 1023.4, "methodology": "GLEC Framework v3 / ISO 14083 default modal intensity factors (well-to-wheel).", "is_estimate": true } ``
Every response carries is_estimate: true and the methodology string, so a downstream report can label the figure honestly. Valid modes are air, ocean, road, rail; TrackJet verticals map air_cargo → air, container/bol → ocean, parcel/post_ems → road.