# How does a government office or department calculate its carbon footprint?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/government-office-carbon-footprint-calculation

Start with what the office controls: diesel for official vehicles and generators as Scope 1, and electricity for its buildings as Scope 2 at 0.710 kg CO2 per kWh. Add official travel and major purchases as Scope 3 later. Departments with many buildings should report each site separately, then total.

## Records to collect

- Electricity bills for each building.
- Fuel slips for official vehicles and generators.
- Travel claims for flights and trains.
- Refrigerant refills for air conditioners.

## Boundary

Buildings shared with other departments: count the share on your bill or meter. Contractors running services keep their own fuel, which you can add as Scope 3.

## 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, and labels estimates as estimates.

- [Bank branch footprint](https://senseible.earth/answers/bank-branch-carbon-footprint-calculation)
- [NGO carbon footprint](https://senseible.earth/answers/ngo-carbon-footprint-how-to-start)

Sources: [GHG Protocol Corporate Standard](https://ghgprotocol.org/corporate-standard), [CEA CO2 Baseline Database, version 21.0](https://cea.nic.in/cdm-co2-baseline-database/?lang=en)

Last reviewed 2026-10-23.