Carbon Emission Calculator
Estimate the carbon emissions produced by training or running an AI model.
About Carbon Emission Calculator
The carbon footprint of an AI workload is a function of how much energy it consumes and how carbon-intensive the electricity grid powering it is. This calculator multiplies energy use (kWh) by the grid's carbon intensity (grams of CO2 per kWh) to estimate total emissions, and translates the result into an equivalent driving distance for intuitive comparison. Choosing a renewable-heavy region or data center can cut emissions by an order of magnitude for the same energy usage.
Formula
co2_kg = (energy_kwh × carbon_intensity_g_per_kwh) / 1000
- energy_kwh
- Total energy consumed in kilowatt-hours
- carbon_intensity_g_per_kwh
- Grid carbon intensity in grams CO2 per kWh
Worked example
With the default values below, Carbon Emission Calculator returns CO2 Emissions of 2,375.00. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.
Inputs used
- Energy Consumptionaccepts 0–100,000,000 kWh
- 5,000 kWh
- Grid Carbon Intensityone of Global Average (475 g/kWh), US Average (386 g/kWh), EU Average (251 g/kWh), Renewable-Heavy Grid (50 g/kWh), Coal-Heavy Grid (820 g/kWh)
- Global Average (475 g/kWh)
Results
- CO2 Emissions
- 2,375.00 kg CO2
- CO2 Emissions
- 2.3750 tonnes
- Equivalent Car Travel
- 19,792 km
Step by step
- 1CO2 emissions= 2375.00 kg CO2
- 2Equivalent driving distance= 19792 km
Assumptions and limits
- The result is derived only from the 2 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
- In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
- Figures are rounded for display to 4 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.
How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does data center location matter?
Significantly — a renewable-heavy grid can emit roughly 1/16th the CO2 per kWh compared to a coal-heavy grid, so choosing a green region for training can be one of the highest-leverage emissions reductions available.
Where do I get my actual energy consumption figure?
Use the Energy Consumption Calculator (AI) to derive kWh from GPU count, TDP, hours run, and data center PUE, then feed that result into this calculator.
Do cloud providers publish their grid carbon intensity?
Major providers (AWS, GCP, Azure) publish regional carbon intensity and renewable energy percentages for their data centers, which you can use in place of the presets here.