โ—‰ LIVE
wikipedia.org โ†’ 0.18g COโ‚‚/visit ยท A+
โ—‰ ABOUT GS carbon

The internet's carbon footprint
is measurable. And fixable.

GS carbon is an tool that makes digital sustainability measurable. We analyze websites, report emissions in GHG Protocol format, and use AI to make the data actionable for everyone from developers to sustainability officers.

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3.7%
of global COโ‚‚ from internet
๐Ÿ“Š
SWD v4
Carbon methodology
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GS-carbon AI
DeepSeek R1 open source model
โ”€โ”€ MISSION

Making digital emissions
visible and actionable

Every website transfer consumes energy. Data centers, network backbones, and user devices all draw power โ€” and most of that power still comes from fossil fuels. The internet emits as much COโ‚‚ as the aviation industry.

GS carbon makes that invisible cost visible. By measuring, benchmarking, and reporting digital carbon, we help developers, product teams, and sustainability officers make informed decisions about the web they build.

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Science-based methodology
Built on Sustainable Web Design v4 and GHG Protocol โ€” the same standards used for corporate sustainability reporting.
๐Ÿ†“
Free and open
No paywalls. Analyze any public website instantly. The full methodology is documented and auditable.
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AI-powered insights
GS-carbon translates raw carbon data into plain-language (through DeepSeekR1 open source model) recommendations any team member can act on.
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Public ESG reports
Generate shareable sustainability pages for your site โ€” perfect for ESG disclosures, RFPs, and press pages.
โ”€โ”€ HOW IT WORKS

The carbon calculation
methodology

STEP
01
Transfer Size Analysis
We measure the total bytes transferred for a full page load โ€” HTML, CSS, JavaScript, fonts, images, and third-party resources. This is the primary input to the carbon calculation.
FORMULA
transferSize = ฮฃ(html + css + js + fonts + images + other)
STEP
02
Energy Calculation
Using the Sustainable Web Design v4 model, we calculate kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity consumed across 4 system segments: data centers (15%), networks (14%), end-user devices (52%), and hardware production (19%).
FORMULA
energyPerVisit = (transferSize / 1GB) ร— 0.81 kWh/GB
STEP
03
COโ‚‚ Conversion
Energy is converted to grams of COโ‚‚ using grid carbon intensity (gCOโ‚‚/kWh). Green-hosted sites use a lower intensity factor (50 gCOโ‚‚/kWh) vs grey grid (442 gCOโ‚‚/kWh global average). Location-aware intensity applied when available.
FORMULA
co2 = energy ร— carbonIntensity ร— hostingFactor
STEP
04
GHG Scope Attribution
Emissions are attributed across GHG Protocol scopes: Scope 1 (direct โ€” zero for digital), Scope 2 (electricity for servers and networks), Scope 3 (user devices, hardware manufacturing, CDN infrastructure).
FORMULA
total = scope1 + scope2 + scope3
Energy constants: 0.81 kWh/GB total system energy ยท Data center: 15% ยท Network: 14% ยท Devices: 52% ยท Production: 19% ยท Grid intensity: 442 gCOโ‚‚/kWh (global avg) ยท Green hosting: 50 gCOโ‚‚/kWh
โ”€โ”€ STANDARDS & REFERENCES

Built on open standards

Sustainable Web Design v4 โ†—
Wholegrain Digital / TGWF
Core methodology for calculating website carbon emissions from transfer size.
GHG Protocol Corporate Standard โ†—
WRI / WBCSD
Framework for categorizing emissions into Scope 1, 2, and 3 categories.
Green Web Foundation โ†—
The Green Web Foundation
Database of 600+ verified green hosting providers used for hosting checks.
UN SDGs โ†—
United Nations
Sustainable Development Goals alignment โ€” SDG 7, 9, 12, and 13.
ISO 14064 โ†—
International Organization for Standardization
International standard for quantifying and reporting greenhouse gas emissions.
โ”€โ”€ TECH STACK

How GS carbon is built

Framework
โ—†Next.js 15 (App Router)
โ—†TypeScript
โ—†React 19
Database
โ—†MongoDB Atlas
โ—†Mongoose ODM
โ—†Connection pooling
AI / LLM
โ—†Open Router
โ—†DeepSeek R1 Open Source
โ—†Context injection
Carbon Engine
โ—†SWD v4 Methodology
โ—†CO2.js library
โ—†GHG Protocol
Green Data
โ—†Green Web Foundation API
โ—†IP Geolocation (ipapi.co)
โ—†ASN database
Export
โ—†Server-rendered HTML
โ—†Browser Print โ†’ PDF
โ—†JSON API
โ”€โ”€ FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Estimates are based on the Sustainable Web Design v4 methodology, which provides order-of-magnitude accuracy. Real-world figures vary based on actual server infrastructure, user device mix, geographic distribution, and caching behavior. We mark all reports as 'estimated' data quality. For regulatory-grade accuracy, pair with real hosting invoices and CDN logs.
A site is green-hosted when its primary hosting provider is verified by the Green Web Foundation as running on 100% renewable energy. We cross-reference the server's IP and ASN against a database of 600+ certified providers. Providers like Cloudflare, Google Cloud, Hetzner, and Vercel qualify. Traditional shared hosts typically don't.
The rating reflects overall sustainability posture. It starts from 100 and factors COโ‚‚/visit (primary driver), green hosting (+10), compression (+5), caching (+5), CDN (+5), HTTPS (+5), and penalties for oversized JavaScript and images. Lower COโ‚‚/visit maps to fewer penalty points. The thresholds match the Website Carbon Calculator benchmark.
Scope 1 is direct emissions โ€” zero for websites (no fuel burned). Scope 2 covers electricity consumed by servers, CDN nodes, and network infrastructure. Scope 3 covers indirect emissions including user device energy consumption (52% of total), hardware manufacturing, and the carbon embedded in producing the devices that access your site.
GS carbon provides a useful baseline and generates GHG-aligned reports, but self-reported digital emissions are typically a small portion of overall corporate carbon accounts. For CSRD or formal sustainability disclosure, use our estimates as a starting point, then validate with actual hosting energy invoices and work with a certified emissions verifier.
Yes. The chat interface and AI summarization features use GS-carbon AI through (DeepSeek R1 open source model). The full report context โ€” COโ‚‚ metrics, page composition, hosting data, ESG figures, recommendations โ€” is injected as a system prompt, giving GS-carbon complete knowledge of your specific analysis.
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