Upload & Use Private Emission Factors

The EarthEmission API provides a wide range of public emission factors, but sometimes you may require custom emission factors for specific activities for your project that can't be shared publicly - say a licensed dataset or footprints provided from suppliers. EarthEmission allows you to securely add private emission factors via an uploader in our dashboard, making them available to you right alongside any of the currently available emission factors in our /estimate, /batch and /search endpoints.

Upload Private Emission Factors via the EarthEmission Dashboard

1. Log in to your EarthEmission Dashboard. Log in to your EarthEmission account and click on the Private Factors item in the sidebar.
2. Click on Add emission factors This takes you to the file uploader where you can upload your emission factors
3. (Optional) Download the sample CSV file Download the template file and replace the single row of dummy data with your emission factors; see Appendix A for a summary of the fields that are accepted by the uploader. Then click “Choose file”, browse to where you have saved the CSV you wish to upload and double click.
4. Submit the CSV file Based on the data structure provided in the template file, upload your custom private factors by using the provided form and click Submit
5. Wait for the private emission factors to be validated The uploader will check the file for errors before adding the emission factors in the file to your list of private emission factors
6. Replace a private emission factor You can replace or change factors simply by selecting the factor and deleting it, then uploading a replacement.

Using Your Private Factors

To use a private emission factor in an estimate:

1. Make a request to the /estimate endpoint. Make an POST request to the /estimate endpoint including your Emission Factor Activity ID in the activity_id field:

  curl --request POST \
    --url https://beta4.api.EarthEmission.io/estimate \
    --header 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY' \
    --data
    {
        "emission_factor": {
            "activity_id": "other_materials-type_custom_material",
            "data_version": "^3",
            "region": "DE"
        },
        "parameters": {
            "weight": 10,
            "weight_unit": "kg"
        }
    }'

2. Get the estimation result for your emission factor in the response

{
    "co2e": 72.358,
    "co2e_unit": "kg",
    "co2e_calculation_method": "ar4",
    "co2e_calculation_origin": "source",
    "emission_factor": {
        "name": "Bananas",
        "activity_id": "bananas",
        "id": "192bea15-55d7-4eab-9571-6ca0a2d3dea6",
        "access_type": "private",
        "source": "EarthEmission",
        "source_dataset": "",
        "year": 2022,
        "region": "DE",
        "category": "Other Materials",
        "source_lca_activity": "cradle_to_gate",
        "data_quality_flags": []
    },
    "constituent_gases": {
        "co2e_total": null,
        "co2e_other": null,
        "co2": null,
        "ch4": null,
        "n2o": null
    },
    "activity_data": {
        "activity_value": 10.0,
        "activity_unit": "kg"
    },
    "audit_trail": "selector"
}

This reports that 3.4 kgCO2e were emitted as a result of the production of 10 kg of bananas, based on the emission factor uploaded.

Appendix: Data Structure For Private Emission Factors

Summary of the fields that are accepted by the uploader (* denotes required fields; the uploader will check these fields for errors)