# How much CO2 does a desalination plant emit per kL of water?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/desalination-plant-electricity-co2-per-kl

Divide the plant's electricity by kL of product water and multiply by 0.710 kg CO2 per kWh. Seawater reverse osmosis uses far more energy than brackish water treatment, and energy recovery devices cut it. Use your plant meter, not a textbook figure.

## Records

- Intake, high pressure and product pumps on their own meters.
- Product water volume, not intake volume.
- Chemicals for pretreatment and cleaning go to Scope 3.

## Buying desalinated water

If you buy the water, the plant's figure per kL is your Scope 3 Category 1 factor; ask for it with the period stated.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible reads electricity bills (CEA grid factor 0.710 kg CO2 per kWh, CO2 Baseline Database version 21.0) and diesel, LPG and gas invoices (IPCC 2006 defaults) into a dated, fingerprinted Scope 1 and 2 record for each site. Intensity per unit uses the activity count you enter, and estimates are labelled as estimates.

- [RO plant electricity per kL](https://senseible.earth/answers/ro-plant-electricity-per-kl-process-water)
- [Water treatment chemicals](https://senseible.earth/answers/water-treatment-chemicals-scope-3)

Sources: [CEA CO2 Baseline Database](https://cea.nic.in/cdm-co2-baseline-database/?lang=en), [GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard](https://ghgprotocol.org/corporate-value-chain-scope-3-standard)

Last reviewed 2026-10-22.