Guide to the Google Sheets Extension
Utilize Climatiq-specific extension for Google Sheets to seamlessly convert your business activity data into carbon estimates across various activities, such as travel, energy usage, and fuel consumption.
Overview
Climatiq’s Google Sheets extension transforms your spreadsheets into a powerful environmental impact assessment tool. No coding is required, allowing you to quickly create proofs of concept and collaborate with your team for feedback before fully integrating Climatiq’s API or developing advanced features. The Add-In lets you visualize results directly in Excel and share detailed emission reports, streamlining approval for sustainability projects with reliable data.
Since this tool provides a simplified version of our API endpoints, we recommend reviewing our documentation or using the guided Postman collection if you are interested in accessing the full capabilities of the API.
Getting Started
Access to Climatiq's API generally requires a commercial subscription. However, for this Extension, we offer a free starter plan that includes up to 500 emission estimations per month, granting access to all advanced emission calculations, e.g. the emission estimations for travel, freight, energy and the Autopilot. Without this plan or a commercial subscription, functionality will be limited to basic estimations, i.e. General Estimates and General Search. You can sign up for the starter plan here (opens in a new tab). If you anticipate commercial usage or usage beyond the free starter plan limit, please reach out to our team (opens in a new tab).
Installation of the extension
You can add the extension to Google Sheets by installing it via the Google Marketplace (opens in a new tab). Once installed, it will be come available via the "Extension" menu item in the Google Sheets menu bar.
Setting the API key
To be able to use the formulas, you will need to set an API key to be used by the extension when calling Climatiq's API. You can get your API key by following these steps. Once you've obtained the key, you set it via the Extension menu (Extension > Climatiq > Set API key) in Google Sheets and you are ready to go.
The API key will be stored permanently for this specific sheet and other users using this file will also be able to make use of the formulas. This also means that you will have to set the key once for every new Google sheet in which you'd want to use this integration.
Support and Feedback
In case of questions, please reach out to the Climatiq team via the website chat or the support form (opens in a new tab). We also apperciate any feedback being shared through these channels.
General Concepts and Notices
To get the most out of the extension, it's important to familiarize yourself with the following concepts.
"ShowDetails" Flag
For all Estimation and Autopilot functions, you can choose whether to receive additional calculation details or just the estimated CO2e value in the response. Refer to the documentation for each formula to see which details are available. The additional details will be stored in the cells following the one containing the function.
Optional Parameters
Typically not all parameters are required when using the formulas. The documentation indicates which ones are required and which ones are optional. In case no value should be used for the optional parameters, please simply leave them empty, e.g. Climatiq_Calculate_Travel_Air(start, end, flightclass) as Climatiq_Calculate_Travel_Air("BER", "JFK").
Error Handling
In addition to common errors, formulas will return specific errors from the Climatiq API if an input is incorrect, or if the provided API key is invalid, or a suitable emission factor cannot be found by the API.
API Consumption and Recalculation of Results
By default, Google Sheets will re-calculate the results for formulas everytime an input changes or the file is reloaded. Every re-calculation will also count as a call to the Climatiq API. To avoid overconsumption of your subscribed API calls, it is recommended to copy-paste the values of the calculations into the cells as soon as the calculations are complete. To do this, you should select the cells with the calculation results, copy them and paste them back into these cells via Edit > Paste Special > Values only.
Documentation within the Extension
To see an overview of the available formulas in a sidebar within Google Sheets, you can open the documentation via the Extension menu (Extension > Climatiq > Show documentation).
Access to all functionalities
By default, when signing up for the Climatiq API, the initial access only covers the usage of the general estimation and search capabilities. For any advanced calculations, e.g. emission estimations for air travel, additional access needs to be granted for your API key. Otherwise the following error will be shown when trying to make use of an advanced features, that has not yet been enabled for your account:
Your authentication is valid, but you do not have access to this feature.
To enable these advanced features, you can sign up to a free starter plan, which covers up to 500 emission estimations monthly across advanced emission calculations. You can sign up for this plan here (opens in a new tab). And in case you are interested in large-scale usage of the integration, please reach out to our team (opens in a new tab).
Formulas
There are three sets of formulas available:
- Estimations: Easily calculate the emissions for different kinds of business activites, e.g. travel, shipping and energy usage based on detailed methodologies
- Autopilot: Leverage Climatiq's Autopilot to automate spend- and activity-based emission estimates
- Search: Look up emission factors, support regions, fuel types, and others in Climatiq's database
Estimations
General Emission
Calculate the total estimated emissions produced for a particular activity, in kgCO2e, using any emission factor in the Climatiq database.
Climatiq_Calculate(activityID, region, source, year, parameter_type, parameter_unit, parameter_amount, showDetails)
Parameters
| Name | Required | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
activityID | ✓ | Text | An ID describing the activity that to search for. Multiple emission factors can share the same activity_id, e.g. if they are from a different source or apply to a different region. You can search for activity_ids in the Data Explorer (opens in a new tab) or via the search formulas. |
region | ✕ | Text | Geographic region to which the emission factor applies. |
source | ✕ | Text | Desired emission factor source. |
year | ✕ | Number | Year in which the activity took place. |
parameter_type | ✓ | Text | Category of the consumption unit used, e.g. Money, Volume or Weight. See the full list here. |
parameter_unit | ✓ | Text | Specific unit of the consumed amount, e.g. usd for Money, l for Volume or kg for Weight. See the full list here. |
parameter_amount | ✓ | Number | Amount for which the emissions shall be calculated. |
showDetails | ✕ | True/False | Indicates if details on the used emission factor should be shared: Name, source and ID of the used emission factor. |
Examples
Air Travel
Calculate the total estimated emissions of air travel. The distance between the airports will be calculated using the great circle distance.
Climatiq_Calculate_Travel_Air(start, end, flightclass, showDetails)
Parameters
| Name | Required | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
start | ✓ | Text | IATA code for the departure airport |
end | ✓ | Text | IATA code for the destination airport |
flightclass | ✕ | Text | Flight class, can be empty, average,economy, business or first. |
showDetails | ✕ | True/False | Indicates if these details should also be shared: Distance, direct emissions, indirect emissions & notices. |
Examples
Road Travel
Calculate the total estimated emissions of road travel. The distance between the locations will be calculated by considering the actual rail network where possible. Otherwise the road distance will be used.
Climatiq_Calculate_Travel_Road(start, end, car_type, car_fuel, showDetails)
Parameters
| Name | Required | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
start | ✓ | Text | Start location, can be any type of free text |
end | ✓ | Text | Destination location, can be any type of free text |
car_type | ✕ | Text | Size of the care. Valid values are small, medium, large and average. |
car_fuel | ✕ | Text | Type of fuel used by the car. Valid values are: petrol, diesel, hybrid (cars with a battery that is recharged by the internal combustion engine), plugin_hybrid (cars with an internal combustion engine and a battery that can be plugged in), battery (for electric vehicles) and average. |
showDetails | ✕ | True/False | Indicates if these details should also be shared: Distance, direct emissions, indirect emissions & notices. |
Examples
Rail Travel
Calculate the total estimated emissions of rail travel. The distance between the locations will be calculated by considering the actual rail network where possible. Otherwise the road distance will be used.
Climatiq_Calculate_Travel_Air(start, end, showDetails)
Parameters
| Name | Required | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
start | ✓ | Text | Start location, can be any type of free text |
end | ✓ | Text | Destination location, can be any type of free text |
showDetails | ✕ | True/False | Indicates if these details should also be shared: Distance, direct emissions, indirect emissions & notices. |
Examples
Travel based on Spend
Calculate travel emissions based on spend-based data in any currency by using EXIOBASE emission factors. This calculation automatically takes inflation into account, if the year you spent the money was different than the year of the emission factor.
Climatiq_Calculate_Travel_Spend(spend_type, currency, amount, location, year, showDetails)
Parameters
| Name | Required | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
spend_type | ✓ | Text | The type of travel associated with the expenditure. Valid values are: air, road, rail, sea, and hotel. |
currency | ✓ | Text | The currency in which the money unit is expressed. |
amount | ✓ | Number | The amount of money spent. |
location | ✓ | Text | The location where money was spent, can be any type of free text. |
year | ✕ | Number | The year in which expenditures occurred. |
showDetails | ✕ | True/False | Indicates if these details should also be shared: Distance, used emission factor name, source, region and notices. |
Examples
Freight Shipping
Calculate the total estimated emissions of freight shipping. The distance between the locations will be calculated by considering the actual transport network where possible. By calling our API directly, it's also possible to specify the individual shipment legs as well as the mode of transport used.
Climatiq_Calculate_IntermodalFreightTransport(start, end, mode, weight, weightUnit, showDetails)
Parameters
| Name | Required | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
start | ✓ | Text | Start location, can be any type of free text |
end | ✓ | Text | Destination location, can be any type of free text |
mode | ✓ | Text | Main mode of transport. Valid values are: air, road, rail and sea |
weight | ✓ | Number | Weight of the transported goods |
weightUnit | ✓ | Text | Unit of the weight. Valid values are: g, kg, t (metric ton), lb, ton (US short ton). |
showDetails | ✕ | True/False | Indicates if there details should also be shared: Distance & route. |
Examples
Procurement Emissions by Industry Classification Code
Estimate the emissions for a purchase using an industry classification code to identify the type of purchased goods or service. This calculation accounts for tax, trade and transport margins using per-sector and per-country margins from EXIOBASE, if no user-supplied margins are provided. It also corrects for currency exchange rates and inflation adjustments, using rates from the UN Treasury, supplemented with per-industry inflation numbers from Eurostat. You can find details on the methodology here.
Climatiq_Calculate_Procurement_ByClassification(scheme, code, region, year, currency, amount, showDetails)
Parameters
| Name | Required | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
scheme | ✓ | Text | The classification scheme used. Valid values are: mcc, unspsc, isic4 and nace2 |
code | ✓ | Text | Specific code of the classification. Please be aware that UNSPSC is only available up to a family level, i.e. the last four digits should be 0. |
region | ✓ | Text | The country in which the goods have been purchased, i.e. ideally the supplier country. Must be the 2-digit UN code. |
year | ✓ | Number | Year of purchase |
currency | ✓ | Text | Currency of spend, see all available currencies here. |
amount | ✓ | Text | Spend amount |
showDetails | ✕ | True/False | Indicates if these details about the calculation methodology should also be shared: Emission factor name, the applied margins for tax, trade, transport and inflation. |
Examples
Procurement Emissions by Activity ID
Estimate the emissions for a purchase using an activity ID to identify the type of purchased goods or service. This calculation accounts for tax, trade and transport margins using per-sector and per-country margins from EXIOBASE, if no user-supplied margins are provided. It also corrects for currency exchange rates and inflation adjustments, using rates from the UN Treasury, supplemented with per-industry inflation numbers from Eurostat. You can find details on the methodology here.
Climatiq_Calculate_Procurement_ByActivityID(activity_id, region, year, currency, amount, showDetails)
Parameters
| Name | Required | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
activityID | ✓ | Text | An ID describing the activity that to search for. Multiple emission factors can share the same activity_id, e.g. if they are from a different source or apply to a different region. You can search for activity_ids in the Data Explorer (opens in a new tab) or via the search formulas. |
region | ✓ | Text | The country in which the goods have been purchased, i.e. ideally the supplier country. Must be the 2-digit UN code. |
year | ✓ | Number | Year of purchase |
currency | ✓ | Text | Currency of spend, see all available currencies here. |
amount | ✓ | Text | Spend amount |
showDetails | ✕ | True/False | Indicates if these details about the calculation methodology should also be shared: Emission factor name, the applied margins for tax, trade, transport and inflation. |
Examples
Fuel
Estimate the emissions of fuel combustion. The calculation also provides details on the associated scope 3, i.e. the well-to-tank emissions. More options are available by directly calling our API.
Climatiq_Calculate_Fuel(fuel_type, amount, amount_unit, region, year, showDetails)
Parameters
| Name | Required | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
fuel_type | ✓ | Text | Type of fuel burned, e.g. biodiesel, cng, fuel_gas, etc. You can make use of our search formula to get a list of available fuel types. |
amount | ✓ | Number | Amount of fuel burned. |
amount_unit | ✓ | Text | Unit of provided amount |
region | ✕ | Text | The country in which the fuel have been purchased. Must be the 2-digit UN code. |
year | ✕ | Number | Year of the fuel consumption |
showDetails | ✕ | True/False | Indicates if these details about the calculation methodology should also be shared: Overall co2e, combustion emissions, wtt emissions and notices. |
Examples
Electricity
Estimate the emissions of electricity usage. If desired, the formula also provides details on the associated scope 3, i.e. the well-to-tank, transmission and distribution losses and their well-to-tank emissions. More options are available by directly calling the API - refer to the documentation for details.
Climatiq_Calculate_Electricity(amount, region, year, connectionType, calculationType, supplier, energy_source, recs, includeScope3, showDetails)
Parameters
| Name | Required | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
amount | ✓ | Number | Amount of electricity consumed in kWh. |
region | ✕ | Text | The country or region in which the electricity has been consumed. Must be the 2-digit UN code. |
year | ✕ | Text | Year of the electricity consumption |
connectionType | ✕ | Text | Either the electricity was delivered via the "grid" or via a direct line. Default is grid. |
calculationType | ✕ | Text | Indicates whether the location-based or market-based value should be returned, default is location-based. |
supplier | ✕ | Text | Available where the region is GB or a US state, a supplier ID can be provided to use market factors for that supplier. Use the respective search formula to find available suppliers. |
energy_source | ✕ | Text | The source that electricity is generated from. Valid values are renewable or specific fuel types such as natural_gas, coal, biomass and nuclear. |
recs | ✕ | Number | Quantity of RECs (Renewable Energy Certificates) to apply for market-based emission calculations. |
includeScope3 | ✕ | True/False | Indicates if the scope 3 emissions should be considered in the calculation, default is false. |
showDetails | ✕ | True/False | Indicates if details should also be shared: Overall co2e, combustion emissions, wtt emissions and notices. |
Examples
Cloud Computing - Virtual Machines
Estimate the emissions for using virtual machines provided by the common cloud providers (AWS, GCP and Azure), including both the embodied emissions (meaning the emissions related to the manufacturing and disposal of the physical components, expressed per CPU hour over the expected lifetime of the hardware) and the electricity usage of the different components. More options are available by directly calling our API.
Climatiq_Calculate_CloudVMs(vm_type, region, provider, duration, duration_unit, showDetails)
Parameters
| Name | Required | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
vm_type | ✓ | Text | The specific virtual machine instance type you are using. |
region | ✓ | Text | The region that is relevant for the calculation, as specified by the cloud provider. |
provider | ✓ | Text | The provider used, valid values are: aws, azure and gcp. |
duration | ✓ | Number | How long the machine is running for. |
duration_unit | ✓ | Text | The unit the duration value is in. Valid values are ms, s, m, h, day, year. |
showDetails | ✕ | True/False | Indicates if details about the calculation methodology should also be shared: Overall emissions, the memory usage energy emissions, the cpu usage energy emissions and the embodied emissions. |
Examples
CBAM
Calculate total estimated emissions produced for a particular Combined Nomenclature (CN) code, for use with CBAM reporting.
Climatiq_Calculate_CBAM(cn_code, production_region, weight, weight_unit, showDetails)
Parameters
| Name | Required | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
cn_code | ✓ | Text | The combined nomenclature code for the imported goods. |
production_region | ✓ | Text | The region the goods were produced in. If you specify "ROW" then this will return the EU default factors |
weight | ✓ | Number | The weight of the imported goods in the defined unit. |
weight_unit | ✓ | Text | Unit of the weight. Valid values are: g, kg, t (metric ton), lb, ton (US short ton). |
showDetails | ✕ | True/False | Indicates if details should also be shared (overall co2e, estimated costs, the emission factor name, direct emissions, indirect emissions and notices). |
Examples
Autopilot
Autopilot is an AI-powered calculation endpoint designed to automate spend- and activity-based emission estimates. It uses a proprietary natural language processing (NLP) model paired with Climatiq’s scientific expertise to streamline complex emission calculations, making carbon insights accessible to non-experts.
Autopilot significantly reduces the time and manual effort spent identifying the appropriate emission factors and mapping activity data. Capable of ingesting any taxonomy and unstructured data, this feature matches raw text content to the correct emission factors and delivers accurate and compliant emission estimates.
Leveraging a built-in expert review mechanism and machine learning, Autopilot's matching algorithm consistently refines its precision. This is achieved through active feedback and continuous improvement of the underlying NLP model.
General Estimation
Calculate total estimated emissions produced for a particular activity, in kgCO2e, using free-text input. The best matching emission factor will automatically be selected and used for the calculation.
Climatiq_Calculate_Autopilot(text, domain, parameter_type, parameter_unit, parameter_amount, year, region, region_fallback, showDetails)
Parameters
| Name | Required | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
text | ✓ | Text | The free-form input text, such as an activity name, service or material name. |
domain | ✓ | Text | Defines the scope of emission factors to be searched. Use general for all open emission factors, exiobase for only EXIOBASE factors and general_and_ecoinvent to also include ecoinvent. |
parameter_type | ✓ | Text | Category of the consumption unit used, e.g. Money, Volume or Weight. See the full list here. |
parameter_unit | ✓ | Text | Specific unit of the consumed amount, e.g. usd for Money, l for Volume or kg for Weight. See the full list here. |
parameter_amount | ✓ | Number | Amount for which the emissions shall be calculated. |
year | ✕ | Number | Year in which the activity took place. |
region | ✕ | Text | Geographic region to which the emission factor should apply. |
region_fallback | ✕ | True/False | Year in which the activity took place. |
showDetails | ✕ | True/False | Indicates if details on the used emission factor should be shared: Name, source and ID. |
Examples
Suggest
Return a number of autopilot suggested estimates for a particular calculation. You can adjust the number of suggestions to return. Suggestions are ordered by the most likely match first.
Climatiq_Calculate_Autopilot_Suggest(results, text, domain, parameter_type, parameter_unit, parameter_amount, year, region, region_fallback, flatten, showDetails)
Parameters
| Name | Required | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
results | ✓ | Number | The maximum number of suggestions to receive. Autopilot will return as many suitable suggestions as it can find, up to the max number requested, or at most 20 suggestions. |
text | ✓ | Text | The free-form input text, such as an activity name, service or material name. |
domain | ✓ | Text | Defines the scope of emission factors to be searched. Use general for all open emission factors, exiobase for only EXIOBASE factors and general_and_ecoinvent to also include ecoinvent. |
parameter_type | ✓ | Text | Category of the consumption unit used, e.g. Money, Volume or Weight. See the full list here. |
parameter_unit | ✓ | Text | Specific unit of the consumed amount, e.g. usd for Money, l for Volume or kg for Weight. See the full list here. |
parameter_amount | ✓ | Number | Amount for which the emissions shall be calculated. |
year | ✕ | Number | Year in which the activity took place. |
region | ✕ | Text | Geographic region to which the emission factor should apply. |
region_fallback | ✕ | True/False | Year in which the activity took place. |
flatten | ✕ | True/False | Indicates if the calculation details of the matches shoudl also be shared, i.e. estimated emissions and the details of the used emission factor (name, source, Climatiq UUID) |
showDetails | ✕ | True/False | Indicates if details on the used emission factor should be shared: Name, source and ID. |
Example - Flattened
Example - Not Flattened
Request Review
Request a human review of a particular calculation.
Climatiq_Calculate_Autopilot_RequestReview(text, domain, parameter_type, parameter_unit, parameter_amount, year, region, region_fallback, reason)
Parameters
| Name | Required | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
year | ✕ | Number | Year in which the activity took place. |
text | ✓ | Text | The free-form input text, such as an activity name, service or material name. |
domain | ✓ | Text | Defines the scope of emission factors to be searched. Use general for all open emission factors, exiobase for only EXIOBASE factors and general_and_ecoinvent to also include ecoinvent. |
parameter_type | ✓ | Text | Category of the consumption unit used, e.g. Money, Volume or Weight. See the full list here. |
parameter_unit | ✓ | Text | Specific unit of the consumed amount, e.g. usd for Money, l for Volume or kg for Weight. See the full list here. |
parameter_amount | ✓ | Number | Amount for which the emissions shall be calculated. |
year | ✕ | Number | Year in which the activity took place. |
region | ✕ | Text | Geographic region to which the emission factor should apply. |
region_fallback | ✕ | True/False | Year in which the activity took place. |
reason | ✕ | Text | Optional reason or explanation for the review request. |
Examples
Search
Search Emission Factors
Search the emission factor database of Climatiq. Please be aware that this might only return a subset of results (depending on the number of results specified). The search works in the same way as our Data Explorer (opens in a new tab)- The formula returns a table of results, so make sure the surrounding cells are empty when using this formula.
Climatiq_Search_EmissionFactors(query, numberOfResults, sector, category, source, region, unit_type)
Parameters
| Name | Required | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
query | ✕ | Text | A free-text query that will match ids, names, descriptions, etc. of emission factors. This uses fuzzy matching, so your query does not need to be precise. |
numberOfResults | ✕ | Number | The number of results to be shared. The maximum value is 500. |
sector | ✕ | Text | Filters by emission factor sector. Refer to the Data Explorer (opens in a new tab) for a list of available options. |
category | ✕ | Text | Filters by emission factor category. Refer to the Data Explorer (opens in a new tab) for a list of available options. |
source | ✕ | Text | Filters by emission factor source. Refer to the Data Explorer (opens in a new tab) for a list of available options. |
region | ✕ | Text | Filters by emission factor region. Refer to the Data Explorer (opens in a new tab) for a list of available options. |
unit_type | ✕ | Text | Filters by emission factor unit type, e.g. Money or Volume. Refer to the Data Explorer (opens in a new tab) for a list of available options. |
Examples
Available Regions
Find available regions for a specific query. At least one of the parameters needs to be set.
Climatiq_Search_Regions(query, sector, category, source)
Parameters
| Name | Required | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
query | ✕ | Text | A free-text query that will match ids, names, descriptions, etc. of emission factors. This uses fuzzy matching, so your query does not need to be precise. |
sector | ✕ | Text | Filters by emission factor sector. Refer to the Data Explorer (opens in a new tab) for a list of available options. |
category | ✕ | Text | Filters by emission factor category. Refer to the Data Explorer (opens in a new tab) for a list of available options. |
source | ✕ | Text | Filters by emission factor source. Refer to the Data Explorer (opens in a new tab) for a list of available options. |
Examples
Available Electricity Suppliers
Find available electricity suppliers for a specific region to be used for the electricity emission estimation. Currently only available for GB and US regions.
Climatiq_Search_AvailableElectricitySuppliers(region)
Parameters
| Name | Required | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
region | ✕ | Text | Filters by emission factor region. Refer to the Data Explorer (opens in a new tab) for a list of available options. |
Examples
Available Fuel Types
Pulls a list of fuel types available to be used in the fuel emissions formula for a specific unit type.
Climatiq_Search_AvailableFuelTypes(unit_type)
Parameters
| Name | Required | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
unit_type | ✕ | Text | Filters by emission factor unit type, e.g. Money or Volume. Refer to the Data Explorer (opens in a new tab) for a list of available options. |
Examples
