Emission factors

Emission factors are used to estimate the amount of CO₂ emitted by an activity. These values can be found in various databases provided by governments such as DBEIS, ProBAS and EPA or by private providers such as ecoinvent.

Emission factors indicate how much greenhouse gas is released through the consumption of a specific energy source. Consumption data is multiplied by specific factors based on the carbon content and calorific value.Due to their direct influence on carbon accounting, emission factors play a decisive role in how well companies meet regulatory requirements and implement their decarbonization measures.

The following is an excerpt of the available databases we offer at Tanso:

• Association of Issuing Bodies (AIB): Emission factors for electricity
• BAFA: a German database that provides emission factors for a CCF
• DBEIS: a UK-based database of emission factors that provides emission factors for a CCF
• Ecoinvent: One of the world’s most comprehensive LCI databases. Founded by Swiss research institutions including ETH Zurich, EPFL, Empa, Agroscope, and the Paul Scherrer Institute. It provides high-quality emission factors for a wide range of materials, processes, and energy systems.
• EPA: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency provides extensive emission factors for various fuels, industrial processes, transport activities, as well as waste and energy generation systems. The data is based on national surveys, measurement data, and comprehensive scientific studies.
• EPDs: EPDs or Environmental Product Declarations are life cycle assessments that are prepared by various companies for their products.
• Exiobase PxP: is a global, detailed multi-regional database of emission factors developed for a large number of countries, estimating emissions and resource removals by industry.
• GLEC: led by the Smart Freight Centre and is a group of companies, associations and programs supported by leading experts and is one of the best databases for logistics EFs.
• IDEMAT: is a compilation of LCI data from the Sustainable Impact Metrics Foundation, SIMF, a non-profit spin-off of Delft University of Technology
• Mobitool: a Swiss-based database of emission factors that provides factors for different types of passenger transportation
• Ökobaudat: is a database for emission factors based in Germany
• Tanso: The emission factors are calculated internally and referred to as “Tanso” emission factors. Several official external sources are combined to calculate these emission factors.
• UBA (German Environment Agency): The UBA database provides emission factors for various energy sources, fuels, transport modes, and other activities. It is based on publicly available, government-validated environmental and climate data and is updated regularly.
• UBA Austria: The Austrian Environment Agency publishes harmonized national greenhouse gas emission factors for Austria. The datasets cover electricity, district heating, fuels (e.g., natural gas, biomass, diesel, biofuels), and various transport modes (road and rail), and are based on official Austrian studies.