Christmas Tree Carbon Footprint Calculator: Real vs Artificial

Your details

Select the type of tree you use, or compare both side by side.
Larger trees have proportionally more biomass and higher production emissions.
Landfill disposal releases methane as the tree decomposes, raising CO2-eq emissions significantly.
Total round-trip distance driven by car to buy or collect the tree.
miles
Carbon footprintModerate footprint
8.5kg CO2-eq

Total CO2-equivalent emissions for your tree this year (or lifetime annual average for artificial trees)

Real tree footprint8.5kg CO2-eq
Artificial tree footprint (this year)4kg CO2-eq
Transport emissions5.02kg CO2-eq
Artificial tree break-even5years
Annual CO2 saving vs real tree4.5kg CO2-eq
Real tree13.5
Artificial tree9

Annual CO2 saving: 4.5

  • Total footprint (kg CO2-eq)
  • Transport share (kg CO2-eq)
Real tree8.5
Artificial tree (annual)4

Your real tree footprint is 8.5 kg CO2-eq.

  • Your real tree emits about 8.5 kg CO2-eq this year when composted or wood-chipped.

Next stepThe single biggest lever is disposal: choose composting or a local authority chipping scheme over landfill to cut the real tree footprint by up to 75%.

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