Carbon Footprint Calculator

This calculator estimates your annual footprint from five inputs: miles driven and your car's fuel economy, short- and long-haul flights, monthly electricity use, and diet. It adds a flat 2 tonnes for everything else you buy (clothes, electronics, services), then shows the total, a breakdown by category and how you compare with the 4.7-tonne global average.

It is designed to show which parts of your life matter most, not to produce an audit-grade number. Electricity is converted at 0.4 kg CO₂ per kWh, close to the US grid average; if your power comes from a cleaner grid or a renewable tariff, your real figure for that line is lower. Enter your own share of household electricity, not the whole bill, if you live with others.

To put a price on the biggest levers, compare your driving with the EV vs gas cost calculator, or check what your appliances use with the electricity cost calculator.

The gasoline factor is the US EPA's published value. The flight allowances are in the range of an economy round trip once the extra warming effect of emissions at altitude is included, as in the UK government's conversion factors; count a return journey as one flight. Business and first class have a much larger footprint per passenger because the seats take more space. Diet figures are broad averages consistent with large food life-cycle studies; your real number depends on how much you eat and waste. This page also replaces the former flight carbon footprint calculator.

Approximate figures using the factors on this page. They are rounded and meant for comparison, not reporting.

Count each round trip as one flight. Short-haul means roughly under three hours each way, such as New York to Chicago or London to Rome; long-haul covers transatlantic and intercontinental routes. Very long routes like US to Australia produce more than the 1.6 t allowance, so count them as two long-haul flights for a fairer estimate.

Per passenger, flying emissions depend heavily on seat class and how full the plane is. A business-class seat is commonly estimated at around three times the footprint of economy on the same route, and a first-class seat more. Connections add a takeoff and landing, which are the most fuel-intensive phases, so a nonstop flight is usually lower than the same trip with a stop. To compare the time cost of routes, use the flight time calculator.

• Home energy: switching to a renewable electricity tariff or adding solar can take most of the electricity line out, and heat pumps cut heating emissions in most climates.
• Driving: emissions scale directly with gallons burned. Halving annual miles or doubling mpg each halves the driving line; an EV charged on an average grid is typically lower again.
• Flying: one long-haul round trip at 1.6 t is more than many people in lower-income countries emit in a year.
• Food: moving from heavy meat to vegetarian saves about 1.6 t on these figures; cutting beef and lamb specifically gives most of that benefit.
• Offsets: they do not reduce your own emissions, and quality varies widely. Reduce first, then offset what remains with a certified scheme if you choose to.