See how Ducky divides climate footprint into categories and subcategories that are used in all our applications
An individual's carbon footprint is split into five main categories. Each main category is an aggregation of several levels of fine-grained categories. We have also established two distinct sets of categories for different uses: source-type and purpose-type.
Source-type categories
These are used to trace the origins of a portion of someone’s footprint. Source-type categories are typically used in our databases and to perform calculations. Source-type categories are distinguishable in that each has its own calculation unit: calories for food, kilometers for transport, kilowatt hours for energy, and money for goods and services. The public category is unique in that it simply describes the portion of public spending that can be attributed to an individual, and the value cannot be influenced directly by individual action. Further levels (2, 3) are defined where they’re useful, for instance in Convert endpoint specifications and variables can be seen in the technical API documentation.
Lvl |
Category name |
Variable name |
Description |
0 |
Energy |
energy |
|
1 |
District heating |
districtHeating |
|
1 |
Electricity |
electricity |
|
1 |
Fuel oil |
fuelOil |
|
1 |
Gas |
gas |
|
1 |
National household average |
nationalHouseholdAverage |
|
1 |
Solar panels |
solarPanels |
|
1 |
Wood |
wood |
|
0 |
Food and drink |
foodAndDrink |
|
1 |
Beverages |
beverages |
|
1 |
Dairy and eggs |
dairyAndEggs |
|
1 |
Seafood |
seafood |
|
1 |
Grain |
grain |
|
1 |
Meat and meat products |
meatAndMeatProducts |
|
1 |
Misc |
misc |
|
1 |
Produce |
produce |
|
1 |
Vegan products |
veganProducts |
|
0 |
Goods and services |
goodsAndServices |
|
0 |
Public services |
publicServices |
|
1 |
County |
county |
|
1 |
Municipality |
municipality |
|
1 |
National |
national |
|
0 |
Transport |
transport |
|
1 |
Private car |
privateCar |
Weighted average of all four-wheeler private vehicles based on propulsion type |
2 |
Electric car |
electricCar |
Electric car |
2 |
Hybrid car |
hybridCar |
Hybrid car |
2 |
Fossil car |
fossilCar |
Gasoline or diesel car |
1 |
Average shared car |
sharedCarAverage |
Weighted average of all four-wheeler cars belonging to a car collective based on propulsion type |
2 |
Shared car |
sharedCar |
Average of all four-wheeler cars belonging to a car collective |
3 |
Fossil shared car |
fossilSharedCar |
Gasoline or diesel car belonging to a car collective |
3 |
Electric shared car |
electricSharedCar |
Electric car belonging to a car collective |
3 |
Hybrid shared car |
hybridSharedCar |
Hybrid car belonging to a car collective |
1 |
Taxi |
taxi |
Weighted average of taxis based on propulsion type |
3 |
Fossil taxi |
fossilTaxi |
Taxi running on gasoline or diesel |
3 |
Hybrid taxi |
hybridTaxi |
Taxi powered by a hybrid propulsion system |
3 |
Electric taxi |
electricTaxi |
Taxi powered by electric motor |
1 |
Average motorbike |
motorbikeAverage |
Weighted average of motorized two-wheeler vehicles based on propulsion type |
2 |
Motorbike |
motorbike |
Average of motorized two-wheeler vehicles |
3 |
Fossil motorbike |
fossilMotorbike |
Gasoline or diesel motorbike |
3 |
Electric motorbike |
electricMotorbike |
Electric motorbike |
1 |
Bus |
bus |
Average of all bus journeys and different propulsion types |
2 |
Short-distance bus |
busShort |
Weighted average of short bus trips based on propulsion type |
3 |
Short-distance biogas bus |
bioGasBusShort |
Intra-city bus running on biogas |
3 |
Short-distance diesel bus |
dieselBusShort |
Intra-city bus running on diesel |
3 |
Short-distance electric bus |
electricBusShort |
Intra-city bus powered by an electric motor |
3 |
Short-distance hybrid bus |
hybridBusShort |
Intra-city bus powered by a hybrid engine |
2 |
Long-distance bus |
busLong |
Intercity bus trips |
1 |
Micromobility |
micromobility |
Average of micromobility transportation modes |
2 |
Walking or cycling |
walkBike |
Walking/cycling |
2 |
Electric bike |
electricBike |
Private electric bicycle |
3 |
Electric scooter |
electricScooter |
Electric scooters (Lime, bolt etc.) |
1 |
Average train |
trainAverage |
Weighted average of trains based on propulsion type |
2 |
Train |
train |
Average of trains |
3 |
Diesel train |
dieselTrain |
Train powered by diesel engine |
3 |
Electric bus |
electricTrain |
Train powered by electricity |
1 |
Flight |
flight |
Weighted average of passenger flights based on passenger volume |
2 |
Domestic flight |
flightDomestic |
Less than 500 km |
2 |
Continental flight |
flightContinental |
Between 500 km and 2000 km |
2 |
Global flight |
flightGlobal |
More than 2000 km |
1 |
Boat |
boat |
Average of maritime transport modes (cruise, motorboats, ferry) |
2 |
Cruise boat |
cruiseBoat |
Cruise boat for long journeys |
3 |
Electric motor boat |
electricMotorBoat |
High-speed boat powered by electric motor |
3 |
Fossil motor boat |
fossilMotorBoat |
High-speed boat powered by fossil fuel |
3 |
Car passenger on a ferry |
ferryCarPassenger |
Passenger traveling by car on a ferry |
3 |
Foot passenger on a ferry |
ferryFootPassenger |
Foot passenger on a ferry |
Purpose-type categories
These are used to calculate footprint from monetary transactions or display footprint numbers to an end user, splitting carbon footprint into relatable categories. We currently only use purpose-type categories in some cases, where the raw source data is unhelpful for a user.
Lvl |
Category name |
Variable name |
0 |
Energy |
energy |
1 |
Appliances |
appliances |
1 |
Cabin |
cabin |
1 |
Heat |
heat |
1 |
Light |
light |
1 |
Water |
water |
0 |
Food and drink |
foodAndDrink |
0 |
Goods and services |
goodsAndServices |
1 |
Clothes and shoes |
clothesAndShoes |
1 |
Education |
education |
1 |
Furniture and equipment |
furnitureAndEquipment |
1 |
Housing and maintenance |
housingAndMaintenance |
1 |
Personal purchases |
personalPurchases |
1 |
Personal services |
personalServices |
1 |
Services |
services |
1 |
Transport |
transport |
0 |
Public services |
publicServices |
0 |
Transport |
transport |
1 |
Holiday |
holiday |
1 |
Leisure |
leisure |
1 |
Work |
work |