Cycle to Work Carbon Calculator

Cut your commute's carbon.

See how much CO₂ you'd save by switching your daily commute to a bike and what that saving means in real-world terms. Small changes can make a big difference!

Your commute

One-way distance

5miles

Cycle commutes per week

5per week

Current commute mode

Petrol car

Diesel car

Bus

Rail

Underground

Tram

Annual saving

563

kg CO₂e per year

Switching a 5-mile petrol-car commute to cycling cuts 563 kg of CO₂e from your annual emissions.

2.40 kgper cycling day

3,781 kmcycled per year

Mature trees absorbing CO₂ for a year

1.6

Return flights London → Barcelona

352

Days of average UK household electricity

1.7

Laptops (lifecycle)

Turn your commute into a measurable Scope 3 reduction.

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Methodology

Transport emissions factors from UK Government Greenhouse Gas Reporting Conversion Factors (DESNZ, 2024) on a well-to-wheel basis: petrol car 170g, diesel car 165g, bus 100g, rail 35g, Underground 28g, tram and light rail 35g per passenger-km.
Cycling at 21g CO₂e/km including bike manufacturing amortised over the bike's lifetime and additional food calories burned, per the European Cyclists' Federation (ECF) lifecycle analysis.
Flight equivalents use DESNZ 2024 passenger flight factors — domestic 0.244, short-haul 0.155, long-haul 0.146 kg CO₂e per passenger-km — applied to London Heathrow great-circle distances. Excludes radiative forcing uplift.
Everyday item equivalents use published lifecycle estimates: hamburger 3 kg (Our World in Data), T-shirt 6 kg (Carbon Trust), pair of jeans 33 kg (Levi Strauss lifecycle study), smartphone 70 kg and laptop 330 kg (manufacturer environmental reports), new car manufacturing 6,000 kg (ICCT).
Tree equivalent based on a mature tree absorbing approximately 21 kg of CO₂ per year (UN/forestry consensus range 20–25 kg).
UK household electricity based on Ofgem 2024 typical domestic consumption (~7.4 kWh per day) at the DESNZ 2024 grid intensity (~0.21 kg CO₂e/kWh) = approximately 1.6 kg per day.
Distance converted at 1.609 km per mile, multiplied by 2 for round-trip and by your number of cycle commutes per year (times per week × 47 working weeks). The displayed equivalent automatically selects the most relatable item from each database based on the user's annual saving.

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