What makes up a household's carbon footprint?

For individuals

A household footprint usually has five big parts:

1. Home electricity: fans, lights, fridge, air conditioners, water pumps. In India most grid electricity still comes from coal, so each unit (kWh) has a noticeable footprint.
2. Cooking fuel: LPG, piped natural gas, kerosene, firewood or electricity.
3. Travel: scooter, car, bus, train and flights.
4. Food: how it is grown, processed, transported and wasted.
5. Things you buy: clothes, phones, furniture, building materials, and services.

Illustrative example (not a measurement): a family uses 250 kWh of grid electricity a month and one 14.2 kg LPG cylinder a month.

Item	Yearly use	Emission factor used	Approximate CO2 per year
Grid electricity	3,000 kWh	0.675 kg CO2 per kWh (CEA CO2 Baseline Database, Version 22.0, August 2026, weighted average for FY 2025-26)	about 2,025 kg
LPG	12 cylinders = 170.4 kg	about 2.98 kg CO2 per kg LPG (IPCC 2006 Guidelines, Volume 2, default net calorific value 47.3 TJ/Gg and carbon factor 63,100 kg CO2/TJ)	about 510 kg
Total for these two items			about 2.5 tonnes

This covers only electricity and cooking gas. Travel, food and purchases would add more. The electricity factor changes every year as more solar and wind power joins the grid, so always use the latest CEA version when you calculate your own numbers.

For businesses

Companies usually describe their footprint using three "scopes" set out in the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard:

• Scope 1: direct emissions from sources the company owns or controls, such as boilers, furnaces, diesel generators and company vehicles.
• Scope 2: indirect emissions from the electricity, steam or heat the company buys.
• Scope 3: all other indirect emissions in the value chain, such as purchased goods, transport by suppliers, business travel, employee commuting and the use of sold products.

For many businesses, scope 3 is the largest part. Our article on scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions explains each in detail.