You have probably seen the term "carbon intensity" on this site and elsewhere. It is one of the most important numbers for understanding your environmental impact.
The simple definition
Carbon intensity measures how much CO2 is released to produce one unit of electricity. It is expressed as grams of CO2 per kilowatt-hour (gCO2/kWh).
If a country's grid has a carbon intensity of 400 gCO2/kWh, that means every kilowatt-hour of electricity generated in that country releases 400 grams of CO2 into the atmosphere. The lower the number, the cleaner the electricity.
Why it varies by country
Every country generates electricity from a different mix of sources. Some countries rely heavily on coal and gas (high carbon intensity). Others use mostly nuclear, hydro, wind, or solar (low carbon intensity).
France has a carbon intensity of about 85 gCO2/kWh because roughly 70% of its electricity comes from nuclear power. Poland sits at over 700 gCO2/kWh because coal dominates its grid. The Netherlands is at about 284 gCO2/kWh, a middle ground reflecting its mix of natural gas and growing wind capacity.
This means the exact same activity, charging your phone, streaming a video, storing files in the cloud, produces vastly different emissions depending on where you are. An hour of streaming in France produces about a fifth of the carbon as the same hour in Poland.
Carbon intensity is not fixed
A country's carbon intensity changes throughout the day and across seasons. During a sunny afternoon, solar generation pushes the intensity down. On a cold, windless evening, gas and coal plants ramp up and the intensity rises.
This is why scheduling energy-heavy tasks during peak solar hours (typically midday) can genuinely reduce your carbon footprint. You are using electricity when the grid is at its cleanest.
Some countries have made dramatic progress in reducing their carbon intensity over time. The UK dropped from over 500 gCO2/kWh a decade ago to around 124 gCO2/kWh today, largely through investment in offshore wind and the closure of coal plants. This shows that grid decarbonisation is achievable when there is political commitment and infrastructure investment.
How it connects to digital emissions
Data centres and your personal devices consume electricity around the clock. The carbon footprint of any digital activity depends on two things: how much electricity it uses and the carbon intensity of the grid powering it.
This is why the same Google search produces about 0.2 grams of CO2 in Sweden but roughly 10 times that in India. The computation is identical. The electricity source is not.
For cloud services, the location of the data centre matters enormously. A file stored on a server in Sweden (grid intensity around 60 gCO2/kWh) has a far smaller carbon footprint than the same file stored in Australia (around 500 gCO2/kWh).
Why Kiran uses carbon intensity
When Kiran calculates your digital carbon footprint, it uses your country's grid carbon intensity to convert energy usage into CO2 emissions. This is the standard methodology used across the industry and recommended by international frameworks like the GHG Protocol.
It means your results are specific to where you live. A user in France cleaning 10 GB of files saves less CO2 than a user in India cleaning the same amount, because the underlying electricity is already cleaner in France. The cleanup is equally worthwhile in both cases, but the carbon numbers reflect reality.
Understanding carbon intensity helps you make sense of the numbers. It also explains why the single most impactful thing a country can do for digital emissions is clean up its electricity grid.