How to Get Carbon Footprints

Browser Extension

The CarbonGuru browser extension is the easiest way to get carbon footprints while you shop. It works with Firefox and Chrome on any e-commerce website.

Analyzing Individual Products

1. Navigate to any product page on an e-commerce website (Amazon, Target, Walmart, etc.)
2. Click the CarbonGuru extension icon in your browser toolbar
3. Click “Carbon Footprint” to submit the product for analysis
4. View the carbon footprint directly in the extension popup, showing:
   • Estimated CO2e emissions in kilograms
   • Cost to offset the carbon impact
   • Option to add offset/removal to your carbon cart
5. Click “View Details” to see the full analysis on CarbonGuru.io

Analyzing Shopping Carts

1. Go to your shopping cart on any e-commerce website
2. Click the CarbonGuru extension icon
3. Click “Carbon Footprint” – the extension will detect all items in your cart
4. Wait for processing – each item is analyzed individually
5. Review the cart summary showing:
   • Total carbon footprint for all items
   • Per-item carbon breakdown
   • Total offset cost
   • Quick offset/removal purchase options
6. Visit your Carbon Dashboard to view saved cart analyses

Analyzing Multi-Product Pages

CarbonGuru can analyze pages that list multiple products at once — category pages, search results, wishlists, and recommendation pages.

1. Navigate to a multi-product page such as a category listing, search results, wishlist, or “best sellers” page
2. Click the CarbonGuru extension icon in your browser toolbar
3. Click “Carbon Footprint” — the extension detects that the page contains multiple products
4. Wait for processing — each product on the page is analyzed individually
5. Review the results showing:
   • Per-product carbon footprint breakdown
   • Total carbon footprint for all listed products
   • Offset and removal costs for each item

Note: Multi-product analysis works best on pages with clearly listed products. Very long pages may take longer to process as each product is analyzed separately.

Analyzing Orders and Order History

The extension can analyze your past purchases directly from order pages on any retailer website — individual order confirmations, order history lists, and order detail pages.

1. Navigate to an order page on any retailer — this can be:
   • An individual order confirmation or detail page
   • Your order history or “My Orders” list
   • A shipping confirmation page
2. Click the CarbonGuru extension icon in your browser toolbar
3. Click “Carbon Footprint” — the extension detects the order content and extracts each item
4. Wait for processing — each item from the order is analyzed individually
5. Review the results showing:
   • Per-item carbon footprint for everything in the order
   • Total carbon footprint for the entire order
   • Offset and removal costs
6. Visit your Carbon Dashboard to view saved order analyses under “My On-line Order Items”

Tip: You must be logged in to the retailer’s website for order pages to load. If you see a login prompt instead of your order, sign in first and then click the extension again.

Analyzing Selected Text

Select text on any webpage and send it to CarbonGuru for analysis. For the best results, include the product name, a brief description, and the price or cost. You can select multiple products at once to analyze them as a group or compare items side by side. There are three ways to submit selected text:

Floating Button

1. Select text on any webpage by clicking and dragging
2. A small CarbonGuru tree icon appears near your selection
3. Click the tree icon to send the selected text for carbon analysis
4. View results in the extension popup

Right-Click Context Menu

1. Select text on any webpage
2. Right-click to open the context menu
3. Click “Get carbon footprint” from the menu
4. View results in the extension popup

Keyboard Shortcut

1. Select text on any webpage
2. Press the keyboard shortcut to trigger analysis instantly
3. View results in the extension popup

Tip: Text selection works great for analyzing products on pages the extension doesn’t automatically recognize, or for getting a quick carbon estimate from any text description. The extension automatically saves your analyses to your account, so you can review them later on the Carbon Dashboard.

Gmail Integration

Connect your Gmail account to CarbonGuru for carbon footprint analysis of your purchase emails. Gmail integration is available at two levels depending on your subscription.

Set up Gmail Integration if you haven’t already connected your account.

Email Analysis — Gmail API + Forwarded Messages (Plus)

CarbonGuru reads any selected Gmail messages for goods and services to analyze. Footprinting works best with purchase-related messages such as receipts, orders, and invoices with clearly identified items and price information.

1. In Gmail, click the Carbon Footprint button (tip: go to “Purchases” to pre-filter)
2. Select the messages to analyze — use convenience selectors such as “Last 10 days”, or choose specific messages
3. Review footprints, climate impact, and offsets immediately
4. Select offsets for your cart and confirm pricing without leaving Gmail
5. Go directly to checkout on CarbonGuru to purchase and complete your action

Gmail Auto-Scan (Pro)

Everything in Plus, and CarbonGuru automatically scans your inbox for new order confirmations and receipts. Purchase emails are detected and processed without manual selection.

1. CarbonGuru scans your inbox for order confirmation and shipping emails
2. Receipts are automatically processed — items are extracted and analyzed
3. Each email creates a session with all products from that order
4. Results appear in “My Email Items” on your Carbon Dashboard

Supported Email Types

• Order confirmations from major retailers
• Shipping notifications with product details
• Digital receipts from online purchases
• Subscription delivery confirmations

Email Forwarding

Don’t use Gmail? Forward receipts from any email account using your personal CarbonGuru email token. This works with Outlook, Yahoo, work email, and any other email provider.

Set up Email Forwarding – detailed step-by-step instructions and token management.

Getting Your Email Token

1. Visit the Gmail & Email Settings page
2. Find the Email Forwarding section and click “Generate Token”
3. Save your unique token (format: CG-XXXXXXXX)

Forwarding Receipts

1. Open your order confirmation email in your email client
2. Forward the email to: email_processing@carbonguru.io
3. Include your token (CG-XXXXXXXX) in the subject line
4. Processing begins automatically – usually within a few minutes
5. View results in “My Email Items” on your Carbon Dashboard

Tip: Set up an automatic forwarding rule in your email client to send all receipts to CarbonGuru automatically. See the detailed setup guide for instructions.

Online Orders

Paste order confirmation URLs directly into CarbonGuru to analyze your past purchases.

How to Submit Order URLs

1. Go to “My Orders” on any retailer website (Amazon, Target, etc.)
2. Find the order you want to analyze
3. Copy the order URL from your browser address bar
4. Visit the Analyze Carbon page on CarbonGuru
5. Paste the URL in the order URL field
6. Click “Analyze” to submit for processing
7. View results in “My On-line Order Items”

Note: Some retailers require you to be logged in for order URLs to work. The browser extension may work better for these cases.

File Uploads

Upload receipts, invoices, and other documents to extract product information and calculate carbon footprints.

Supported File Types

• PDF – Receipts, invoices, order confirmations
• Images (JPG, PNG) – Photos of receipts or product labels
• CSV/Excel – Product lists or inventory exports
• Text files – Plain text product descriptions

How to Upload Files

1. Go to the Analyze Carbon page
2. Click “Upload File” or drag and drop your file
3. Select the file type if prompted
4. Wait for processing – OCR extracts text from images/PDFs
5. Review extracted items and confirm product details
6. View results in “My Uploaded File Items”

Tip: For best results with images, ensure receipts are well-lit and text is clearly visible.

URL Submission

Submit product URLs directly without using the browser extension. Perfect for quick lookups or when the extension isn’t available.

How to Submit URLs

1. Copy the product URL from any e-commerce website
2. Go to the Analyze Carbon page on CarbonGuru
3. Paste the URL in the product URL field
4. Click “Analyze” to submit
5. View the carbon footprint once processing completes
6. Add to your offset cart if desired

Supported Websites

CarbonGuru works with thousands of e-commerce websites including:

• Major retailers: Amazon, Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Home Depot
• Fashion: Nordstrom, Zara, H&M, ASOS, Nike
• Specialty: REI, Sephora, Ulta, Wayfair, Chewy
• Grocery: Instacart, Whole Foods, Kroger
• And many more – try any product page!

Direct Text Entry

Paste product information, shopping lists, or invoice items directly into CarbonGuru. The country and currency are detected automatically.

How to Paste Content

1. Go to the Carbon Analysis Console
2. Find the “Analyze Pasted Content” section and paste or type your content into the text area
3. Include product names and prices — for example:
   • iPhone 15 Pro – $999
   • AirPods Pro – $249
   • MacBook Air – $1,299
4. Optionally add source info — expand “Add source info” to enter the retailer name or invoice number
5. Click “Analyze Content” to submit
6. Review your results — each item shows its carbon footprint, and you can click “View Detailed Results” for the full breakdown

Tips for Better Results

• Include prices — “Nike Air Max 90 – $130” gives a better estimate than “Nike shoes”
• Include materials — “100% organic cotton t-shirt” helps with accuracy
• Add weight or size — “5 lb bag of rice” provides important data
• List multiple items — you can paste several products at once for a combined analysis
• Paste from webpages — you can copy and paste HTML content directly from a shopping cart or product listing

Business Data Import

Upload accounting and financial records to analyze the carbon footprint of your business or personal spending. CarbonGuru auto-detects the file format, maps transactions to industry emission factors, and returns your original file enriched with carbon footprint data.

Supported File Formats

CarbonGuru accepts OFX/QFX, QIF, IIF, CSV, and XLSX files. The format is auto-detected on upload. The following sources and platforms are supported with dedicated parsers:

Banking and Financial Exports

• OFX / QFX — Open Financial Exchange (most banks and credit cards)
• QIF — Quicken Interchange Format
• Bank CSV — Chase, Amex, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Capital One, Citi, and other major banks
• Brex — Corporate card exports
• Ramp — Corporate card exports

Accounting Software

• QuickBooks — QBO and QBD CSV reports, IIF (QuickBooks Desktop) exports
• Xero — Bank transaction exports
• FreshBooks — Expense and invoice exports
• FreeAgent — UK accounting exports
• Wave — Transaction exports
• Sage — UK and EU accounting exports
• NetSuite — Saved search CSV exports
• Exact Online — Transaction exports
• DATEV — German/Austrian/Swiss (DACH) accounting exports
• Yayoi — Japanese desktop accounting exports
• Money Forward Cloud — Japanese cloud accounting exports

Payment Processors

• PayPal — Activity CSV downloads
• Stripe — Dashboard payment exports
• Square — Transaction exports
• Alipay — Consumer bill exports (China)
• WeChat Pay — Consumer bill exports (China)

E-Commerce Platforms

• Amazon — Order history exports
• Shopify — Orders CSV exports
• Coupang — Order history exports (Korea)

Files that don’t match a dedicated parser are processed using LLM-based column mapping, so most CSV and Excel files with transaction data will work even if they’re not listed above.

How It Works

1. Upload your file — CarbonGuru detects the format automatically
2. Transactions are mapped to industry sectors and emission factors
3. Carbon footprints are calculated for each transaction
4. Download the enriched file — your original data with added cg_ columns for carbon footprint (kg CO2e), climate impact cost ($), and industry sector

Privacy: Uploaded files are retained for 30 days and then automatically deleted. Transaction data mapped to products is saved to your account for ongoing access.

AI Agents

Use CarbonGuru directly inside your favorite AI assistant. Ask questions in natural language and get real carbon footprint data — no browser extension required.

Claude (MCP Connector)

CarbonGuru connects to Claude via the Model Context Protocol (MCP). Once connected, Claude can analyze products, scan your Gmail, search your carbon history, get offset quotes, and more — all through conversation.

Getting Connected

1. Open Claude at claude.ai
2. Add the CarbonGuru connector — search for “CarbonGuru” in the MCP connector directory, or add it manually with the URL: https://carbonguru.io/mcp
3. Authorize access — sign in with your CarbonGuru account when prompted. If you don’t have an account, ask Claude to set up demo access for you.
4. Start asking — try “What’s the carbon footprint of a MacBook Pro?” or “Scan my Gmail for recent purchases”

What You Can Do

• Analyze products by URL — paste any product page link and get a carbon footprint
• Analyze shopping carts — get per-item and total footprints for an entire cart
• Scan Gmail — connect your Gmail and scan order confirmations for carbon impact
• Upload financial records — send a CSV or bank export for carbon analysis
• Search your history — find past analyses and compare footprints
• Get offset quotes — see what it would cost to offset your purchases
• Explore emission factors — look up carbon intensity for any industry sector
• Analyze text — describe a product or paste a receipt and get the footprint

Example Prompts

• “Analyze https://www.patagonia.com/product/mens-better-sweater-jacket/25528.html”
• “What’s the carbon footprint of everything in my Amazon cart?”
• “Connect my Gmail and scan my recent orders for carbon footprints”
• “I want to offset my last 3 purchases — what would that cost?”
• “Here’s my QuickBooks export — what’s the carbon footprint of my business spending?”

Scopes and Permissions

CarbonGuru uses OAuth 2.0 to protect your data. When you connect, you authorize four scopes:

• carbon:read — view your analyses, history, and account info
• carbon:analyze — submit products, carts, emails, and files for analysis
• carbon:commerce — manage your offset cart and purchase offsets
• carbon:reference — look up emission factors, industry sectors, and NAICS codes

You can revoke access at any time from your Account Settings.

Troubleshooting

• Connection fails — make sure you’re signed in to your CarbonGuru account. If you don’t have one, ask Claude to “request demo access” with your email address.
• “Scope not authorized” — disconnect and reconnect the CarbonGuru connector to re-authorize with the required scopes.
• Gmail scan returns no results — Gmail access requires a separate authorization step. Ask Claude to “connect my Gmail” and follow the link to authorize.
• Slow responses — product URL analysis fetches and processes the page in real time, which can take 10-30 seconds for complex pages. Text and history queries are faster.
• Analysis looks wrong — carbon footprints are estimates based on product category, materials, weight, and price. More product detail yields better estimates. Try analyzing the same product by URL for the most accurate result.

Combine with Slack

If you also have Claude’s Slack connector enabled, you can use CarbonGuru and Slack together in the same conversation. Claude reads from Slack, analyzes with CarbonGuru, and posts results back — no extra setup required.

• Procurement screening — “Analyze the carbon footprint of the product links in #procurement from this week”
• Expense report analysis — “Take the bank CSV in #finance and run a carbon analysis on it”
• Team carbon dashboard — “Post a summary of my carbon footprint by sector to #sustainability”
• Receipt analysis — “Analyze the order confirmation that was shared in #team-purchases”
• Budget-based offsetting — “We have $500 in our sustainability budget — what can we offset from our recent purchases? Post the plan to #green-team”

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ChatGPT

CarbonGuru is also available as a ChatGPT Custom GPT. Open the CarbonGuru GPT and start asking about carbon footprints — it connects to the same analysis engine and your same CarbonGuru account.

Demo Access

Don’t have a CarbonGuru account? You can try it free. When using Claude or ChatGPT, just ask to “set up demo access” with your email address. You’ll receive an activation email with a 24-hour demo token that gives you full access to analyze products, scan emails, and explore emission data.