How to calculate your carbon footprint (for Indian households)
A step-by-step method for Indian households: multiply what you use (electricity units, LPG, fuel, flights, food) by a sourced emission factor, add it up, and understand how uncertain the answer is.
How do you calculate emissions from cars and two-wheelers?
There are two ways. The fuel method is more accurate.
Method 1: litres of fuel (preferred)
The India GHG Program (run by WRI India, CII and TERI) uses these IPCC-based fuel factors in its 2015 road transport paper:
| Fuel | Emission factor |
|---|---|
| Petrol | 2.27 kg CO2 per litre |
| Diesel | 2.64 kg CO2 per litre |
| CNG | 2.69 kg CO2 per kg |
Formula: litres per year × factor = kg CO2
Method 2: kilometres driven
If you only know distance, use the India GHG Program's per-km factors (2015, including a 10% uplift for real-world driving):
| Vehicle | kg CO2 per km |
|---|---|
| Scooter under 110 cc | 0.0368 |
| Motorcycle under 125 cc | 0.0319 |
| Small petrol car under 800 cc | 0.111 |
| Small CNG car under 800 cc | 0.068 |
| Petrol hatchback under 1,400 cc | 0.140 |
| Diesel hatchback under 1,400 cc | 0.126 |
| Diesel SUV under 2,500 cc | 0.210 |
These were built from manufacturer mileage figures in 2015, so they will not match every model. Heavy traffic and air-conditioning raise real fuel use.
For an electric vehicle, multiply the kWh used for charging by the CEA grid factor.
Sources: Central Electricity Authority, CO2 Baseline Database for the Indian Power Sector, User Guide Version 22.0 (August 2026); Central Electricity Authority, CO2 Baseline Database User Guide Version 21.0 (November 2025); Central Electricity Authority, CO2 Baseline Database User Guide Version 20.0 (December 2024); 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, Volume 2 Energy, Chapter 1; 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, Volume 5 Waste; India GHG Program (WRI India, CII, TERI), India Specific Road Transport Emission Factors, Version 1.0 (2015); Bharat Petroleum, Natural Gas Conversions (reproducing PPAC conversion basis); ICAO Carbon Emissions Calculator and methodology; Our World in Data, Which form of transport has the smallest carbon footprint? (UK DESNZ 2022 conversion factors); Our World in Data, Greenhouse gas emissions per kilogram of food product (Poore and Nemecek 2018, Science); Our World in Data, You want to reduce the carbon footprint of your food? Focus on what you eat, not whether your food is local; Our World in Data, CO2 emissions per capita (Global Carbon Budget)
This article was prepared with AI assistance and checked by the GreenEye team against the sources shown in each section.
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