Understanding carbon: Making emissions information relevant

This paper examines methods of communicating and presenting information to individuals about transport and travel related carbon emissions for use in online journey planning and smartphone applications. It examines four methods of framing transport related emissions and the effect of these on ease of understanding and the potential to alter respondents’ mode of transport. On-line carbon calculators provide users with information about the carbon emissions that result from the selection of one mode of transport over another. Each reflects an approach currently used by on-line carbon calculators. Results indicate that there is a strong correlation between understanding of methods and likelihood of altering mode choice.

► Significant preferences exist for various methods of disseminating emissions information.
► Non-contextualized numerical information is widely perceived as the easiest method to understand.
► Likely influence of mode change is linked to ease of understanding methods of presenting carbon.
► Understanding and influence of methods show significant variance with regard to age and gender.