# Which grid emission factor should I use for my country's electricity, and how do I cite it?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/which-grid-emission-factor-to-use-by-country

Use your own country's official grid factor for the year you used the power, and name its publisher. It tells you the carbon dioxide (CO2) released for each kilowatt hour (kWh) from the grid. Multiply your kWh by it. India's figure is 0.675 kilograms of CO2 per kWh for financial year (FY) 2025-26.

## What a grid factor is

Everyone on one grid shares the same power. It is like a shared water tank filled from many wells, some clean and some muddy. The grid factor is the average amount of CO2 released to make each kWh in that tank. Your bill tells you how many kWh you drew. The factor turns that into CO2.

The sum is kWh x factor. Check the unit before you start: 0.675 tonnes per megawatt hour (MWh) and 0.675 kilograms per kWh are the same number, because a MWh is 1,000 kWh and a tonne is 1,000 kilograms.

## How to choose the factor

1. Look first for your own government's published factor: the energy ministry, grid regulator or environment ministry. If your region publishes its own, use that before the national one. A national figure beats a world average.
2. Pick the year that matches the power you used. This step is my reading, not a rule in the sources below: if the figure for that year is not out yet, use the latest published one and say so.
3. Check what the number counts. Is it CO2 only, or CO2e (CO2 equivalent, which adds the smaller amounts of other gases)? Does it count only what power plants send out, or also what is lost on the wires before it reaches you? Do not mix two kinds in one report.
4. Write down the publisher, the year, the unit and the date you looked, so the next person can find the same figure.

## Location-based and market-based: which one first

The Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol Scope 2 Guidance names two ways to count electricity. In its words, a location-based method "reflects the average emissions intensity of grids on which energy consumption occurs". It is the grid factor above, like pricing a meal at the street's average.

A market-based method counts the electricity you chose to buy, or the lack of choice. Its factors come from contractual instruments, which include certificates, direct contracts and supplier emission rates. If you hold none, the guidance points to a residual mix, which is the grid average with other buyers' green claims taken out.

The guidance says companies with any operations in markets that offer such instruments shall report both and label each. Only if none of your sites is in a market with such instruments do you report the location-based figure alone. Otherwise report both. Without contracts, the market-based figure comes from the residual mix, or the grid average where none exists, and you say so.

## The official figures bill upload applies today

- India: 0.675 kilograms of CO2 per kWh for FY 2025-26 and 0.710 for FY 2024-25, from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA). It is CO2 only.
- Turkey: 0.434 kilograms of CO2e per kWh for 2023, from the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources. The form calls it the generation factor and prints 0.430 for CO2 alone. It also prints consumption-point factors that add losses and imports: 0.436 CO2e (transmission-connected) and 0.469 CO2e (distribution-connected). Senseible applies 0.434.
- Malaysia: 0.740 kilograms of CO2e per kWh for 2024, Energy Commission, marked provisional, for Peninsular Malaysia only. The same table prints 0.539 for Sabah and 0.199 for Sarawak.
- South Africa: 0.960 kilograms of CO2e per kWh for 2024, the national generation grid emission factor. The report prints transmission loss (0.021) and distribution loss (0.071) factors separately. They are for Scope 3 and are not added to 0.960 for Scope 2.
- Mexico: 0.444 kilograms of CO2e per kWh for 2024 (the notice prints it as tonnes per MWh, the same number), in the notice from the Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) for emissions from electricity use.
- Any other country: enter your own government's official figure. Senseible has no factor to apply for you there.

## How to cite it

One line is enough: 'Grid factor, [country], [year], [number] [unit], [publisher], [document name], accessed [date]. Location-based.' Keep the document or a saved copy of the page. Figures get revised, and a buyer may ask which version you used.

## Example: the same 50,000 kWh in three countries

- India, FY 2025-26: 50,000 x 0.675 = 33,750 kilograms of CO2, which is 33.75 tonnes
- Mexico, 2024: 50,000 x 0.444 = 22,200 kilograms of CO2e, which is 22.2 tonnes
- South Africa, 2024: 50,000 x 0.960 = 48,000 kilograms of CO2e, which is 48.0 tonnes

The 50,000 kWh is an example quantity. The gap shows why you use your own country's figure and not another's. India's is CO2 only and the other two are CO2e, so do not compare them as if they were the same kind.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible reads fuel invoices and electricity bills into monthly records. For electricity it applies the official figures listed above. For a country not listed it has no factor to apply, so the figure you enter is your own official one.

- [India's factor for FY 2025-26](https://senseible.earth/answers/india-grid-emission-factor-2025-26)
- [Which CEA version for which year](https://senseible.earth/answers/which-cea-grid-factor-version-for-which-year)
- [Is the CEA factor CO2 or CO2e?](https://senseible.earth/answers/is-cea-grid-factor-co2-or-co2e)
- [Grid factors for overseas subsidiaries](https://senseible.earth/answers/foreign-subsidiary-grid-factor-group-report)
- [Residual mix in India](https://senseible.earth/answers/residual-mix-factor-india-market-based-scope-2)

Sources: [GHG Protocol, Scope 2 Guidance](https://ghgprotocol.org/sites/default/files/standards/Scope%202%20Guidance_Final_Sept26.pdf), [Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, electricity emission factors information form, 2023](https://enerji.gov.tr/Media/Dizin/EVCED/tr/%C3%87evreVe%C4%B0klim/%C4%B0klimDe%C4%9Fi%C5%9Fikli%C4%9Fi/EmisyonFaktorleri/2023_Turkiye_Elektrik_UretimiveElektrik_Tuketim_Noktasi_Emisyon_Faktorleri.pdf), [Malaysia Energy Commission, Grid Emission Factor in Malaysia 2022-2024 (Provisional)](https://myenergystats.st.gov.my/documents/d/guest/grid-emission-factor-gef-in-malaysia-2022-2024-provisional-), [South Africa, 2024 Grid Emission Factors Report, Government Gazette notice 7891](https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/202609/55353gon7891.pdf), [Mexico, Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT), notice of the 2024 national electric system emission factor](https://www.gob.mx/cms/uploads/attachment/file/981194/aviso_fesen_2024.pdf)

Last reviewed 2026-11-07. Re-check each country's figure when its government publishes a new year. Malaysia's 2024 figure is provisional and its source says it may be updated. India's figure is explained on the linked India page.