Ferry travel (foot passenger): carbon footprint per passenger-km
Live factor value
0.01871 kgCO2e per passenger-km
Source: UK DESNZ greenhouse-gas conversion factors, 2026 (revision 2). Factor set desnz-2026-r2.
Walking aboard a ferry is one of the lowest-carbon ways to cross water: the official DESNZ 2026 foot-passenger factor, live below, is in the same league as rail. The ship sails anyway to carry freight and vehicles, and a walk-on passenger adds almost nothing to its fuel burn.
Driving aboard rewrites the arithmetic: the car-passenger factor is roughly seven times the foot-passenger figure, because your allocation now includes moving the vehicle deck's tonnage. Dover–Calais on foot with a train either side beats the same crossing with a car — and both beat flying the route.
Worked example
Dover to Calais as a foot passenger (~42 km): 42 × 0.01871 = 0.8 kgCO2e.
Measure your own with the free travel calculator.
Frequently asked questions
- Is the ferry lower-carbon than flying?
- As a foot passenger, dramatically — the per-km factor is comparable to rail. With a car aboard the gap narrows but the ferry still wins on like-for-like distance.
- Why does taking a car on the ferry cost so much more?
- The published car-passenger factor allocates part of the vehicle deck's weight and space to you — about seven times the foot-passenger figure in the DESNZ 2026 tables.