Estimate your yearly carbon dioxide emissions from your car, home electricity, flights, and diet in metric tons of CO2.
Your carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases, measured in carbon dioxide equivalent, produced directly and indirectly by your lifestyle over a year. This calculator estimates the four largest personal contributors for most people: driving, home electricity, air travel, and diet.
This calculator uses commonly cited average estimates: about 8.887 kg of CO2 per gallon of gasoline burned; about 0.42 kg of CO2 per kWh of grid electricity (a US average, which varies significantly by region and energy mix); roughly 900 kg of CO2 per short-haul flight and 2,500 kg per long-haul flight (round trip); and annual dietary footprints ranging from about 1,500 kg (vegan) to 3,300 kg (meat-heavy), based on published lifecycle food-emissions research.
Driving 12,000 miles/year at 28 MPG produces about 3,807 kg of CO2. Using 900 kWh/month of electricity adds about 4,536 kg/year. Two short-haul and one long-haul flight add about 4,300 kg. An average diet adds 2,500 kg. That totals roughly 15.1 metric tons of CO2 for the year.
The biggest single-lever reductions usually come from driving less or switching to a more efficient or electric vehicle, reducing long-haul flights, and shifting a portion of your diet away from red meat. Since these figures are population averages rather than exact measurements, use this tool to compare scenarios and track relative progress rather than as a precise audit.
It sums estimated CO2-equivalent emissions from categories like transportation, home energy use, and diet, using standard emission factors for each activity.
Usually kilograms or metric tons of CO2-equivalent (CO2e) per year, which accounts for other greenhouse gases converted to an equivalent CO2 impact.
For most people, transportation (especially flying and driving) and home energy use are the largest contributors, though this varies by lifestyle and location.