AI Impact Database

Name: AI Impact Database: environmental database for artificial intelligence
Creator: Projet Celsius
Published: 2026-10-31
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Environmental database for artificial intelligence · by Projet Celsius

Tool

Estimate my year

The footprint of your AI use over one year, calculated with the database.

Requests per day of use8

Days per week3

Deep research queries per year6

My year with AI

740 gCO2e

over one year, equivalent to 5.2 km by petrol or diesel car

Deep research tasks, 270 gCO2e, 37% of the year

Run the full calculation →

Photo Shixart1985, CC BY 2.0

Compare two entriesTwo uses, two occupations or two organisations, side by side.Download the databaseCSV and JSON, CC BY 4.0 licence, with a ready-made citation.

Main uses

Emissions from one use, from the lightest request to the heaviest.

Database structure

Each level is calculated from the levels below it.

Entries level by level

132 entries in 6 levels, plus 18 infrastructure entries kept separate

All entries

Entry typeServers:Show

Columns

AI Impact Database: 150 entries, CO2e calculated for servers worldwide.
		Unit


Re-read from cache1,000 tokens	0.015 gCO2e	1,000 tokens	0.032 Wh		convention
Read 1,000 tokens1,000 tokens	0.15 gCO2e	1,000 tokens	0.32 Wh	Watershed	published
Write 1,000 tokens1,000 tokens	0.44 gCO2e	1,000 tokens	0.96 Wh	Watershed	published
Write, with reasoning1,000 tokens	0.84 gCO2e	1,000 tokens	1.8 Wh		convention
Reasoningfactor	× 1.92	factor		PEReN and 3 others	measured

Write an email1 email	0.11 gCO2e	1 email	0.23 Wh		estimated
Quick question1 question	0.14 gCO2e	1 question	0.3 Wh	Google and 3 others	estimated
Write a page1 page	0.21 gCO2e	1 page	0.45 Wh		estimated
Proofread a page1 page	0.27 gCO2e	1 page	0.6 Wh		estimated
Translate a page1 page	0.27 gCO2e	1 page	0.6 Wh		estimated
Article of 1,000 words1 article	0.51 gCO2e	1 article	1.1 Wh		estimated
Conversation of 10 exchanges1 conversation	1.6 gCO2e	1 conversation	3.5 Wh		estimated

Analyse a spreadsheet1 analysis	1.3 gCO2e	1 analysis	2.8 Wh		estimated
Query a PDF1 question	2.2 gCO2e	1 question	4.7 Wh		estimated
Summarise 30 pages1 summary	2.2 gCO2e	1 summary	4.9 Wh		estimated

Handle a customer request1 request	0.56 gCO2e	1 request	1.2 Wh		estimated
Write meeting minutes1 set of minutes	0.66 gCO2e	1 set of minutes	1.4 Wh		estimated
Review a contract1 contract	2.7 gCO2e	1 contract	5.8 Wh		estimated
Prepare a lesson1 lesson	2.8 gCO2e	1 lesson	6.2 Wh		estimated
Presentation of 10 slides1 presentation	5.2 gCO2e	1 presentation	11 Wh		estimated

Question to Gemini1 question	0.11 gCO2e	1 question	0.24 Wh	Google	measured
Question to Claude1 question	0.14 gCO2e	1 question	0.3 Wh		estimated
Question to ChatGPT1 question	0.16 gCO2e	1 question	0.34 Wh	OpenAI	published
Le Chat, LCA1 answer	1.14 gCO2e	1 answer		Mistral AI	published


Index 1,000 pages1,000 pages	1.4 gCO2e	1,000 pages	3 Wh		estimated

Deep research1 search	45 gCO2e	1 search	99 Wh		estimated

AI overview of a search1 search	0.061 gCO2e	1 search	0.13 Wh		estimated
Web search (benchmark)1 search	0.14 gCO2e	1 search	0.3 Wh	Google	published
Web search with an AI1 search	1.3 gCO2e	1 search	2.7 Wh		estimated

Literature search1 search	13 gCO2e	1 search	29 Wh		estimated


Analyse an image1 image	0.16 gCO2e	1 image	0.35 Wh		estimated
Generate an image1 image	1.3 gCO2e	1 image	2.91 Wh	Luccioni et al.	measured

Create an image1 image	1.5 gCO2e	1 image	3.2 Wh		measured
Retouch a photo1 photo	1.6 gCO2e	1 photo	3.5 Wh		estimated
Create a large image1 image	5.9 gCO2e	1 image	13 Wh		estimated
Visual in 4 attempts1 visual	5.9 gCO2e	1 visual	13 Wh		estimated


Second of video1 second of video	7.6 gCO2e	1 second of video	16.7 Wh		estimated

Clip of 5 seconds1 video	45 gCO2e	1 video	99 Wh		measured
Clip of 10 seconds1 video	160 gCO2e	1 video	340 Wh		estimated

Video of 3 minutes1 project	8.4 kgCO2e	1 project	18 kWh		estimated


Transcribe one minute1 minute of audio	0.17 gCO2e	1 minute of audio	0.38 Wh		estimated
Synthesise one minute1 minute of voice	0.53 gCO2e	1 minute of voice	1.2 Wh		estimated

Voice mode, 1 minute1 minute	0.29 gCO2e	1 minute	0.62 Wh		estimated
Summarise a meeting1 meeting	14 gCO2e	1 meeting	30 Wh		estimated


Code suggestion1 suggestion	0.031 gCO2e	1 suggestion	0.069 Wh		estimated
Generate a function1 function	0.54 gCO2e	1 function	1.2 Wh		estimated
Have code reviewed1 review	0.59 gCO2e	1 review	1.3 Wh		estimated
Coding agent hour1 hour	310 gCO2e	1 hour	670 Wh		estimated

Specialised task1 task	0.00092 gCO2e	1 task	0.002 Wh	Luccioni et al.	measured
Automated workflow1 run	0.11 gCO2e	1 run	0.24 Wh		estimated
Browser agent1 task	5.3 gCO2e	1 task	12 Wh		estimated

Book written with AI1 project	340 gCO2e	1 project	750 Wh		estimated
End-to-end study1 project	540 gCO2e	1 project	1.2 kWh		estimated
Automated monitoring, 1 year1 project	7.6 kgCO2e	1 project	17 kWh		estimated
Application with an agent1 project	12 kgCO2e	1 project	27 kWh		estimated
Autonomous agent, 1 month1 month	57 kgCO2e	1 month	120 kWh		estimated
Agents talking to each other, 1 month1 month	210 kgCO2e	1 month	470 kWh		estimated


Human resources, 1 year1 person, 1 year	330 gCO2e	1 person, 1 year	720 Wh		estimated
Manager or executive, 1 year1 person, 1 year	370 gCO2e	1 person, 1 year	810 Wh		estimated
Accountant, 1 year1 person, 1 year	380 gCO2e	1 person, 1 year	830 Wh		estimated
Office worker, 1 year1 person, 1 year	590 gCO2e	1 person, 1 year	1.3 kWh		estimated
Executive assistant, 1 year1 person, 1 year	630 gCO2e	1 person, 1 year	1.4 kWh		estimated

Lawyer, 1 year1 person, 1 year	520 gCO2e	1 person, 1 year	1.1 kWh		estimated
Researcher, 1 year1 person, 1 year	680 gCO2e	1 person, 1 year	1.5 kWh		estimated
Communications officer, 1 year1 person, 1 year	800 gCO2e	1 person, 1 year	1.7 kWh		estimated
Consultant, 1 year1 person, 1 year	970 gCO2e	1 person, 1 year	2.1 kWh		estimated
Journalist, 1 year1 person, 1 year	2.1 kgCO2e	1 person, 1 year	4.6 kWh		estimated

Data scientist, 1 year1 person, 1 year	1.5 kgCO2e	1 person, 1 year	3.2 kWh		estimated
Developer, 1 year1 person, 1 year	2 kgCO2e	1 person, 1 year	4.3 kWh		estimated

Graphic designer, 1 year1 person, 1 year	1.4 kgCO2e	1 person, 1 year	3 kWh		estimated
Videographer, 1 year1 person, 1 year	3.4 kgCO2e	1 person, 1 year	7.4 kWh		estimated

Field-based occupation, 1 year1 person, 1 year	220 gCO2e	1 person, 1 year	480 Wh		estimated
Salesperson, 1 year1 person, 1 year	660 gCO2e	1 person, 1 year	1.4 kWh		estimated
Customer service officer, 1 year1 person, 1 year	960 gCO2e	1 person, 1 year	2.1 kWh		estimated

Secondary school pupil, 1 year1 pupil, 1 year	150 gCO2e	1 pupil, 1 year	340 Wh		estimated
Teacher, 1 year1 person, 1 year	260 gCO2e	1 person, 1 year	570 Wh		estimated
Student, 1 year1 student, 1 year	490 gCO2e	1 student, 1 year	1.1 kWh		estimated


Free personal use, 1 year1 person, 1 year	340 gCO2e	1 person, 1 year	750 Wh		estimated
ChatGPT Business, 1 year1 subscription, 1 year	1 kgCO2e	1 subscription, 1 year	2.2 kWh		estimated
Vibe Pro, 1 year1 subscription, 1 year	1.2 kgCO2e	1 subscription, 1 year	2.6 kWh		estimated
Claude Pro, 1 year1 subscription, 1 year	1.3 kgCO2e	1 subscription, 1 year	2.8 kWh		estimated
Microsoft 365 Copilot, 1 year1 subscription, 1 year	1.3 kgCO2e	1 subscription, 1 year	2.9 kWh		estimated
ChatGPT Plus, 1 year1 subscription, 1 year	1.4 kgCO2e	1 subscription, 1 year	3 kWh		estimated
Google AI Pro, 1 year1 subscription, 1 year	2.1 kgCO2e	1 subscription, 1 year	4.6 kWh		estimated
Perplexity Pro, 1 year1 subscription, 1 year	6.3 kgCO2e	1 subscription, 1 year	14 kWh		estimated
GitHub Copilot, 1 year1 subscription, 1 year	29 kgCO2e	1 subscription, 1 year	63 kWh		estimated
ChatGPT Pro, 1 year1 subscription, 1 year	91 kgCO2e	1 subscription, 1 year	200 kWh		estimated
Claude Max, 1 year1 subscription, 1 year	120 kgCO2e	1 subscription, 1 year	270 kWh		estimated


Very small business (5)1 organisation, 1 year	480 gCO2e	1 organisation, 1 year	1.1 kWh		estimated
SME of 50 people1 organisation, 1 year	12 kgCO2e	1 organisation, 1 year	27 kWh		estimated
Mid-cap company of 500 people1 organisation, 1 year	150 kgCO2e	1 organisation, 1 year	320 kWh		estimated
Large company (5,000)1 organisation, 1 year	1.4 tCO2e	1 organisation, 1 year	3.2 MWh		estimated

Team of 12, 1 year1 team, 1 year	7.1 kgCO2e	1 team, 1 year	15 kWh		estimated

Website translation1 service, 1 year	690 gCO2e	1 service, 1 year	1.5 kWh		estimated
Data analysis1 service, 1 year	1.4 kgCO2e	1 service, 1 year	3.1 kWh		estimated
Process automation1 service, 1 year	5.5 kgCO2e	1 service, 1 year	12 kWh		estimated
Training with an AI tutor1 service, 1 year	6.5 kgCO2e	1 service, 1 year	14 kWh		estimated
Content production1 service, 1 year	16 kgCO2e	1 service, 1 year	34 kWh		estimated
Automated customer service1 service, 1 year	28 kgCO2e	1 service, 1 year	61 kWh		estimated
Document assistant1 service, 1 year	34 kgCO2e	1 service, 1 year	75 kWh		estimated
Meeting transcription1 service, 1 year	36 kgCO2e	1 service, 1 year	78 kWh		estimated
Licences for everyone1 service, 1 year	130 kgCO2e	1 service, 1 year	290 kWh		estimated
Retraining a model1 service, 1 year	350 kgCO2e	1 service, 1 year	760 kWh		estimated
Coding agents, one team1 team, 1 year	1.8 tCO2e	1 team, 1 year	4 MWh		estimated
AI feature of a product1 service, 1 year	3.7 tCO2e	1 service, 1 year	8.1 MWh		estimated
Hosted model1 service, 1 year	4.8 tCO2e	1 service, 1 year	10 MWh		estimated


Village (2,000)1 territory, 1 year	380 kgCO2e	1 territory, 1 year	820 kWh		estimated
Town (20,000)1 territory, 1 year	3.8 tCO2e	1 territory, 1 year	8.2 MWh		estimated
Town (100,000)1 territory, 1 year	19 tCO2e	1 territory, 1 year	41 MWh		estimated
Large city (500,000)1 territory, 1 year	94 tCO2e	1 territory, 1 year	210 MWh		estimated
Metropolis (2 million)1 territory, 1 year	380 tCO2e	1 territory, 1 year	820 MWh		estimated

Île-de-France, inhabitants1 territory, 1 year	3.2 ktCO2e	1 territory, 1 year	7 GWh		estimated
France, inhabitants1 territory, 1 year	13 ktCO2e	1 territory, 1 year	28 GWh		estimated
European Union, inhabitants1 territory, 1 year	77 ktCO2e	1 territory, 1 year	170 GWh		estimated
World, inhabitants1 territory, 1 year	640 ktCO2e	1 territory, 1 year	1.4 TWh		estimated

Aged 65 and over1 population, 1 year	270 tCO2e	1 population, 1 year	600 MWh		estimated
Public employees1 population, 1 year	640 tCO2e	1 population, 1 year	1.4 GWh		estimated
Pupils and students1 population, 1 year	1.5 ktCO2e	1 population, 1 year	3.4 GWh		estimated
Under 251 population, 1 year	2.2 ktCO2e	1 population, 1 year	4.8 GWh		estimated
Aged 25 to 641 population, 1 year	4.1 ktCO2e	1 population, 1 year	8.8 GWh		estimated
Office workers1 population, 1 year	4.6 ktCO2e	1 population, 1 year	10 GWh		estimated


Vibe, per day1 day	210 kgCO2e	1 day	450 kWh		estimated
Gemini app, per day1 day	300 tCO2e	1 day	650 MWh		estimated
ChatGPT, per day1 day	410 tCO2e	1 day	880 MWh	ADEME	published
AI assistants worldwide, per day1 day	1.1 ktCO2e	1 day	2.4 GWh		estimated


Grid electricity1 kWh	458 gCO2e	1 kWh		Ember	published

PUE of the data centrefactor	× 1.10	factor		Watershed and 6 others	convention

Data centres, world1 year	415 TWh	1 year		IEA	published
Data centres, France1 year	4 to 5 TWh	1 year		Projet Celsius and 1 other	published
AI in data centres1 year	100 to 174 TWh	1 year		Projet Celsius and 2 others	published
Data centres, United States1 year	180 TWh	1 year		IEA	published
Data centres, China1 year	100 TWh	1 year		IEA	published
Data centres, Europe1 year	70 TWh	1 year		IEA	published
Data centres, Ireland1 year	7.66 TWh	1 year		CSO	measured


Water for electricity generation1 kWh	0.004 to 17 L	1 kWh		LBNL and 1 other	published

On-site water1 kWh	1.15 L	1 kWh		Google and 3 others	published


Meta1 year	6 MtCO2e	1 year	18.4 TWh	Meta	published
Microsoft1 year	12 MtCO2e	1 year	37 TWh	Microsoft	published
Google1 year	15 MtCO2e	1 year	43.6 TWh	Google	published
Top four cloud providers1 year	110 TWh	1 year		IEA	published


Manufacturing per GPU hour1 GPU hour	35 gCO2e	1 GPU hour		GreenIT	estimated
H100 hour1 GPU hour	410 gCO2e	1 GPU hour	900 Wh	Epoch AI	estimated
Manufacturing a server1 server	1.31 tCO2e	1 server		Nvidia	published

Training a model1 training run	552 tCO2e	1 training run	1.29 GWh	Patterson et al.	published

Chip manufacturing1 year	450 ktCO2e	1 year	984 GWh	Greenpeace	published


Digital footprint of one person (benchmark)1 person, 1 year	434 kgCO2e	1 person, 1 year		ADEME	published
Footprint of one person1 person, 1 year	8.3 tCO2e	1 person, 1 year		Insee and SDES	published
Digital sector in France (benchmark)1 year	29.5 MtCO2e	1 year	51.5 TWh	ADEME	published
Digital sector worldwide1 year	567 MtCO2e	1 year	1,180 TWh	ITU and World Bank	published
Electricity use of one person1 person, 1 year	6.7 MWh	1 person, 1 year		RTE	estimated

Version 0.4 of 13 November 2026, CC BY 4.0 licence

Calculated values depend on where the servers are located; published values are reproduced as they are. An empty source means that the database calculated the value from its own factors. An entry that falls under several topics is filed here under one only, its main topic: a topic page may therefore list more entries.

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Version 0.4 of 13 November 2026 · 150 entries · 118 sources · licence CC BY 4.0

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