Email Carbon Calculator

The Email Carbon Calculator

Find out the carbon footprint of your email campaigns.

Estimate your email campaign carbon footprint:

We'll calculate the annual impact based on your selected frequency

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Average Email

4g CO₂

Carbon emitted per standard email

With Attachments

50g CO₂

Carbon emitted with large attachments

Global Impact

300M tons

Annual CO₂ from emails worldwide

How we calculate your email carbon footprint

1

Email Size

We estimate the size of your email including all content and attachments

2

Server Energy

We calculate the energy used by servers to process and store your email

3

Recipient Count

We factor in the number of recipients to calculate total carbon impact

Server Energy Methodology

Our server energy calculations are based on a comprehensive model that accounts for the entire email lifecycle:

Data Center Energy

We use industry-standard metrics of 0.008 kWh per GB of data processed in modern data centers, accounting for server operations, cooling systems, and network infrastructure.

Transmission Energy

Email transmission across networks consumes approximately 0.002 kWh per GB of data, factoring in routers, switches, and transmission infrastructure.

Storage Calculations

We estimate 0.001 kWh per GB per month for email storage, multiplied by an average retention period of 36 months across all recipients' inboxes.

Carbon Conversion

Energy consumption is converted to carbon emissions using a global average of 442g CO₂ per kWh, adjusted based on regional energy grid carbon intensity where possible.

Formula

Total CO₂ = Email Size (GB) × Recipients × (Data Center + Transmission + Storage) × Carbon Factor

Email Carbon Journey

1
Composition

Email created and stored on sender's server

2
Transmission

Email sent through network infrastructure

3
Reception

Email received and processed by recipient servers

4
Storage

Email stored in recipient inboxes for months

Composition Energy

When you create an email, your device and the email server consume energy. The server processes the email, validates addresses and prepares it for sending. This consumes approximately 0.003 kWh per email, depending on size and complexity.

Attachments significantly increase energy consumption

Our methodology is regularly updated based on the latest research and industry data on data center efficiency and energy consumption patterns.

Frequently asked questions

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