Portal:Emission Factors
Emission Factors Portal
Welcome to the Emission Factors Portal
This portal serves as a central hub for reviewed databases related to emission factors. Here, you'll find a summary table of key databases, with links to detailed reviews.
Emission Factors Database Summary
| Database Name | Database Type | Regions | Free or Paid | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agribalyse | Activity-based | France | Free | Managed by the French Environment Agency (ADEME), is a public database that provides detailed life cycle assessment data for agricultural and food products. |
| Ecoinvent | Activity-based | Global | Paid | Comprehensive life cycle inventory data for carbon footprinting and sustainability assessments. |
| DESNZ Conversion Factors for Company Reporting | Activity-based | UK | Free | Official UK government emission factors for company reporting. Previously referred to as BEIS or Defra conversion factors. |
| EMEP/EEA Air Pollutant Emission Inventory | Activity-based | Europe | Free | Emission factors for the calculation of air pollutants, not given in CO2e. |
| GREET Model | Activity-based | USA | Free | Argonne National Laboratory’s tool for transportation emissions and life cycle analysis. |
| EPD Library | Activity-based | Global | Free | Library of verified Environmental Product Declarations to support lifecycle emission reporting. |
| Open CEDA | Spend-based | Global | Free | Comprehensive database of global emission factors for detailed international scope 3 reporting. |
| Base Empreinte | Activity & spend-based | France | Free | Managed by the French Environment Agency (ADEME). It focuses on carbon emissions related to various sectors, providing emission factors for a wide range of activities, products and services. |
| EEA Greenhouse Gas Emissions Intensity of Electricity Generation in Europe | Activity-based | Europe | Free | Generation emission factors for electricity in European countries. |
| Global Logistics Emissions Council (GLEC) | Activity-based | Global | Free | Globally recognized emission factors for freight transportation; covering road, rail, air, sea, and inland waterways. |
| Umweltbundesamt (UBA) Emission Factors | Activity-based | Germany | Free | The Umweltbundesamt (UBA), Germany’s Environment Agency, provides emission factors for various sectors, including energy, industry, transport, and agriculture. |
| OEKOBAUDAT | Activity-based | Global | Free | OEKOBAUDAT is a German government-managed database for environmental impacts and emissions associated with construction materials and buildings. |
| EPA GHG Emission Factors Hub | Activity-based | USA | Free | Regularly updated and easy-to-use set of default emission factors for organizational greenhouse gas reporting. |
| California Air Resources Board (CARB) | Activity-based | Global | Free | CARB maintains a list of the Global Warming Potential for the most common refrigerants regulated under their Refrigerant Management Program |
| Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF) European Building Emission Factor Database | Activity-based | Europe | Free | Emission factors for the calculation of the embodied emissions of commercial real estate and mortgages for financial institutions in Europe. |
| Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) | Activity-based | Netherlands | Free | List of emission factors including Tank-to-Wheel, Well-to-Tank and biogenic emissions |
| WRAP | Activity-based | Global | Free | Provides a repository of secondary emission factors for food and drink that organisations can use for scope 3 reporting. |
| Eora Global Supply Chain Database | Multi-regional Input-Output (MRIO) | Global | Paid | MRIO model that provides a time series of high-resolution IO tables with matching environmental and social satellite accounts for 190 countries. |
| Government of Canada GHG Emission Files | Government Database | Canada | Free | Canadian emission factors created following IPCC guidance for national reporting. Can be applied to some activities for organisational reporting. |
| AIB Residual Mix Factors | Activity-based | Europe & UK | Free | AIB publishes annual residual grid emission factors for European countries aligned to the reporting requirement under the market-based approach in the GHG Protocol scope 2 guidance. |
| Green-e Residual Emissions Rates | Activity-based | USA | Free | Emission rates that can be used to calculate scope 2 market-based emissions for US entities where electricity tariff information is not available. |
| International Energy Agency (IEA) Emission Factors | Activity-based | Global | Paid | Provides international electricity and heat generation emission factors. |
| IPCC Emissions Factor Database | Activity-based | Global | Free | To be used in calculation of anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases. |
| EEI CO2 Emissions Database | Activity-based | USA | Free | Database of market-based EFs for electricity suppliers in the US |
| The Inventory of Carbon and Energy (ICE) Database | Activity-based | UK | Free | The Inventory of Carbon and Energy (ICE) Database is an embodied carbon database for building materials. |
| Plastics Europe Eco-profiles Set | Activity-based | Europe | Free | Lifecycle inventories and Environmental Production Declarations for a large number of different plastics. |
| eGRID | Activity-based | USA | Free | eGRID separates electricity generation and emissions across several aggregation levels: Generator, Plant, State, and Subregion. |
| Full International and Global Accounts for Research in Input-Output Analysis (FIGARO) | Spend-based | Europe & G20 | Free | Includes aligned Input Output Tables, Supply-Use Tables, Globalisation Indicators and Environmental footprints (GHG emissions). |
| Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) Default Values | Activity-based | Global | Free & Paid | A policy tool implemented by the EU for carbon-intensive goods imported into the EU. |
| Electricity Info | Activity-based | UK | Free | A selection of datasets on UK electricity fuel mix and carbon intensity. |
| Carbon Database Initiative (CaDI) | Activity & spend-based | Global | Free | Country electricity EFs outside UK, USA, Canada and Australia are calculated by Carbonfootprint.com |
| EXIOBASE 3.8 | Spend-based | Global | Free | An environmentally extended multi-regional input‐output (EE MRIO) database providing spend-based emission factors covering a wide range of products and countries. |
| EXIOBASE 3.9 | Spend-based | Global | Paid | An environmentally extended multi-regional input‐output (EE MRIO) database providing spend-based emission factors covering a wide range of products and countries. |
| WIOD (or EEIO) | Spend-based | Global | Free | Includes aligned Input Output Tables, Supply-Use Tables, Socio Economic Accounts and links to external Environment Accounts (energy + carbon dioxide). |
| EPA Supply Chain GHG Emission Factors by NAICS-6 | Spend-based | USA | Free | Emission factors for the calculation of direct and indirect emissions associated with a U.S. commodity code per dollar. |
Emission Factors Advice
Quotes from emission factor database users
Josh Couchman, Carbon Consultant
Which Environmentally Extended Input-Output (EEIO) Database Should You Use?
"When choosing a free EEIO database, two of the best options are EXIOBASE (3.8) and FIGARO. Both offer multi-regional input-output (MRIO) data for environmental footprinting, but there are a few things you may want to consider when deciding between them."
Data Recency & Updates
"- FIGARO provides data for 2022, with an update released in 2024, making it the most up-to-date option.
- EXIOBASE is based on 2019 data, last updated in 2021.
- Adjusting older data for inflation can approximate more recent years, but this does not account for structural industry changes, which may be significant in sectors undergoing rapid transformation (e.g., energy, transport, technology)."Credibility & Citation
"- FIGARO is produced by Eurostat, ensuring high reliability and official backing.
- EXIOBASE is widely cited in both academia and industry, making it a recognized standard in research and corporate reporting."Granularity & Disaggregation
"- EXIOBASE is more highly disaggregated, meaning it provides finer sectoral breakdowns. However, greater disaggregation does not necessarily mean greater accuracy - smaller categories can introduce extreme values due to methodological assumptions made during the disaggregation process.
- FIGARO is somewhat more aggregated, but this can reduce noise and make results more stable."Which One Should You Use?
"- If latest data accuracy is critical (e.g., recent policy impacts, pandemic/post-pandemic shifts), FIGARO is likely the better choice.
- If official European data is a priority for consistency with Eurostat methodologies, FIGARO is a strong choice.
- If you need greater sectoral detail and are comfortable with the potential for more extreme values, EXIOBASE may be preferable.
- If you’re looking for a widely accepted dataset for academic research or corporate reporting, EXIOBASE has stronger precedent, but this is mainly because FIGARO is newer.
- If you aren't familiar with EEIO database and calculating emission factors from them, EXIOBASE may be a better choice because pre-calculated emission factors available via Climatiq.
There is no clear winner - comparisons between the two have been inconclusive. The right choice depends on your specific use case and whether recency, granularity, or institutional backing is more important for your analysis."
Philippe Pernstitch, Carbon Consultant
"In general, we aim to use emission factors with the highest geographic relevance. For the UK, US, Canada, Australia and France, this means using the respective government EF data. Elsewhere, we use IEA for electricity and occasionally fuels. For other activities, where we do not have geographically specific EFs, our default tends to be Defra, although for US clients we may apply EPA to their international activities, as well. Quite commonly, we will adapt our EF selection to individual client requirements.
For spend-based calculations, we use the EPA EEIO set for the US. Elsewhere, we are currently using WIOD but are in the process of selecting a replacement multi-regional EEIO set that is supported and maintained on an annual basis. This might be CEDA, SWC MRIO or Exiobase."
Christopher McClurg, Carbon Consultant
"Generally, I use EFDBs provided by the national government of my client. For most of my clients that are US based that means I use the EPA GHG Emission Factors Hub and the supporting Supply Chain GHG Factors. Similarly, for my Canadian clients I use the Government of Canada’s emissions factors from their data catalogue."
"There are some gaps in these sources though. Specifically, when calculating emissions from bio-based fuels I rely on DEFRA’s [DESNZ] emissions factors for both Scope 1, and Biogenic emissions calculations. Also, there are some refrigerants that are not provided by the EPA GHG Hub, and in those circumstances, I resort to the list of High Global Warming Potential Refrigerants that is maintained by CARB, the California Air Resources Board. Finally, when calculating emissions from food and beverage purchases, I use the University of Michigan’s dataFIELD."