# How do I calculate the carbon footprint of paper envelopes?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/paper-envelope-carbon-footprint-per-kg

Envelopes are mostly paper: take the paper mill's figure per tonne for the grade used, add adhesive, window film and ink, then add cutting, folding, gumming and printing energy per kg of envelopes made.

## Material

- Kraft or maplitho paper.
- Gum or self-seal adhesive.
- Window film and printing ink if used.

## Process

- Die cutting the blanks.
- Folding, gumming and drying.
- Printing and packing.

## Per kg

Report per kg, or per thousand envelopes by size. Recycled paper usually lowers the figure.

## Worked example: plant energy per kg (one month)

- Electricity: 8,000 kWh x 0.710 = 5,680 kg CO2
- Kg dispatched: 40,000
- Plant total: 5,680 / 40,000 = 0.142 kg CO2 per kg
- Add paper, adhesive and ink for the full figure

Inputs are illustrative; use your own bills and production records.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible reads the plant's electricity bills (CEA grid factor 0.710 kg CO2 per kWh, CO2 Baseline Database version 21.0) and fuel invoices (IPCC 2006 defaults) into a fingerprinted Scope 1 and 2 record, the plant-level input to a per-unit figure. Bought-in materials go to the supplier evidence trail; product reports are self-declared drafts.

- [Product carbon footprint calculator](https://senseible.earth/calculators/product-carbon-footprint)
- [Paper bag footprint](https://senseible.earth/answers/paper-bag-carbon-footprint-per-bag)
- [Offset printing footprint](https://senseible.earth/answers/offset-printing-carbon-footprint-per-tonne-of-print)
- [Paper mill footprint](https://senseible.earth/answers/paper-mill-carbon-footprint-per-tonne)
- [Paper industry](https://senseible.earth/industries/paper)

Sources: [GHG Protocol Product Standard](https://ghgprotocol.org/standards), [ISO 14067:2018, Carbon footprint of products (iso.org)](https://www.iso.org), [IPCC 2006 Guidelines, Volume 2 Energy (fuel defaults)](https://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/2006gl/vol2.html), [CEA CO2 Baseline Database, version 21.0](https://cea.nic.in/cdm-co2-baseline-database/?lang=en)

Last reviewed 2026-10-21.