api
Sourced carbon emission factors + audit-traced calculations an AI can cite.
What it can do
What data it sees
Do you need an account
An API key from the service settings is required
Sourced carbon emission factors + audit-traced calculations an AI can cite.
How to connect
How to connect api to Claude
The server address to paste into Claude settings:
https://mcp.greencalculus.com
- Open Claude (claude.ai or the desktop app).
- Go to Settings → Connectors.
- Click Add custom connector.
- Paste the server address copied below into Remote MCP server URL and click Add.
- In a chat, click + → Connectors and switch the new connector on.
Custom connectors are available on Free, Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans (Free is limited to one). On Team and Enterprise an organization Owner adds the connector first under Organization settings → Connectors.
Authorization
After you click Add, a sign-in window for the service opens. Sign in with your own account and approve access. Claude never sees your password.
How to connect api to ChatGPT
The server address to paste into ChatGPT settings:
https://mcp.greencalculus.com
- Open ChatGPT in a browser (chatgpt.com). A Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise or Edu plan is required.
- Turn on developer mode once: Settings → Apps → Advanced settings → Developer mode.
- Open Settings → Connectors and click Create.
- Fill in the form: Name (anything), Description (one line about what the service does), MCP server URL (copy it below).
- Under Authentication choose OAuth if the service requires sign-in, otherwise None. Click Create.
- In a new chat open + → Apps/Connectors and enable the connector.
OpenAI has renamed this section before (Connectors → Apps/Plugins). If the label differs, search settings for "developer mode". On Business/Enterprise workspaces an admin must allow custom connectors first.
Authorization
On first use ChatGPT opens the service's sign-in window. Sign in and approve access.
How to connect api to Cursor
The server address to paste into Cursor settings:
https://mcp.greencalculus.com
Fastest: click Open in Cursor below and confirm the prompt.
Manually:
- In Cursor open Settings → Cursor Settings → MCP and click Add new global MCP server.
- Paste the JSON copied below into
~/.cursor/mcp.json(per project:.cursor/mcp.jsonin the repo root). - Save the file. The server appears in the MCP list; authorize it there if asked.
Authorization
If the service needs sign-in, an authorize button appears next to the server in the MCP list.
Server tool list (12)
Raw names from tools/list. Only developers need these.
| lookup_factor | Look up a single greenhouse-gas emission factor by its canonical key. Returns the value plus an audit envelope: provenance (publisher, exact source reference, retrieval date, LICENCE and whether it may be redistributed, with the attribution the licence requires) and verification (whether the per-gas components sum to the headline, the GWP set, and the source note stating what the publisher did NOT provide). If the key does not exist you get candidate keys back rather than a dead end. Use search_factors first if you do not know the key. |
| search_factors | Find emission factors by section, key prefix, or free text. Returns each match with its key, name, section, VALUE, unit and gas — enough to choose between them or read a few numbers without a second call. For one factor's full audit envelope (publisher, exact source reference, retrieval date, licence, verification) call lookup_factor; for several, call lookup_factors. |
| lookup_factors | Look up SEVERAL emission factors by key in one call, each with the same audit envelope lookup_factor returns — provenance (publisher, exact source reference, retrieval date, licence, redistribution) and verification. Use this instead of calling lookup_factor in a loop: a portfolio or a multi-country comparison is one call, not one per factor. Keys that do not exist come back in `not_found` rather than failing the batch. |
| calculate_activity | Turn activity data into greenhouse-gas emissions: emissions = activity × factor. Give an amount + unit and a factor key; the unit engine converts to the factor basis (MWh→kWh, tonne→kg, gallon→litre, mile→km) and returns the emissions with the working, the GHG Protocol scope, and the source. Use search_factors / lookup_factor to find the factor key. |
| calculate_embodied | Whole-life embodied carbon for materials, per EN 15978. Give a material key + quantity (+ optional boundary A1-A3 / A1-A4 / A1-A5 / A1-C); it assembles the declared lifecycle modules (A1-A3, B, C1-C4, D) into stages, totals the boundary, reports module D separately, and flags any missing stage as not-assessed (never zero). Find material keys via search_factors (section "materials"). |
| calculate_pcaf | Compute PCAF Part A financed emissions for a portfolio. Returns each holding's attribution factor and financed emissions, the portfolio total, the outstanding-weighted data-quality score, and the audit trail (formula + PCAF source). |
| calculate_electricity | GHG Protocol Scope 2 for purchased electricity, both methods. Always returns location-based (grid-average) emissions; also returns market-based when you supply a contractual supplier_factor (e.g. a green tariff / REC = 0) or a market_factor_key (residual mix). Find grid keys via search_factors (section "grid"). |
| calculate_freight | Freight & logistics emissions (Scope 3 Cat 4 & 9), GLEC tonne-km method: emissions = tonnes × km × factor. Find mode factors via search_factors (section "freight" or "freight_detailed"), e.g. freight.road_hgv.tonne_km. |
| calculate_spend | Spend-based (EEIO) Scope 3 screening: emissions = spend × economic-intensity factor. Spend must be in the factor's own currency/year (no FX). Find sector factors via search_factors (section "spend_based"), e.g. spend_based.us.naics6.541511.custom_computer_programming_services. |
| calculate_business_travel | Business travel emissions (Scope 3 Cat 6), distance method: emissions = km × passengers × factor. Air factors come in with_rf / without_rf (radiative forcing) variants. Find factors via search_factors (section "business_travel"). |
| resolve_factor | Find the best emission-factor key(s) for a plain-language description — the hardest step is picking the right key out of ~16,000. Returns ranked matches, each carrying the key, value, unit and a confidence score; feed the chosen key to a calculate_* tool or lookup_factor. Prefer this over guessing a key. PUT THE COUNTRY IN THE DESCRIPTION. Geography is read from the description text itself, not from a separate field — "diesel per litre" and "diesel per litre France" resolve differently, and omitting the country will quietly return a factor from somewhere else marked "geo_match":"proxy". ACT ON THE LABEL. Every candidate carries label: "accept" or "review", plus "why". "accept" means confidence >= 0.85 and no demotion applied — right about nine times in ten. "review" means the answer may be usable but something is off (low confidence, only one term matched, a proxy country, or a gate demoted it); confirm it before adopting the number rather than using it silently. Roughly half of CORRECT answers are also flagged "review" — that is the intended trade, so treat "review" as "check this", not "discard this". A MISS MAY EXPLAIN ITSELF. When nothing matches, or the only matches are from the wrong country, the response may carry an "absence" object saying WHY. classification "structural" means no publisher issues this anywhere — STOP, do not retry with reworded queries and do not substitute a different country without saying so. "not_yet_sourced" means a publisher exists and we have not ingested it (the publisher is named). "refused" means we found the data and declined it, with the reason. "coupled" means this reads empty only because a related family is empty. Use explain_absence to ask the same question directly. |
| explain_absence | Ask why a factor is NOT in the corpus. The reasoned counterpart to coverage: where a country reports zero rows for an inventory family, this says whether that is the world's limit or our backlog. Five classifications: "structural" (no publisher issues this anywhere — stop looking, and do not silently substitute another country), "not_yet_sourced" (a publisher exists and is named; it is our backlog), "refused" (we found it and declined — the reason is stated), "held_not_counted" (we DO hold it — see we_hold for the key), "coupled" (empty only because another family is empty). Each record names the publisher checked, the route tried, a confidence and a review date, and reports stale:true once past review. These are authored judgements about what the world publishes, not values derived from our data. Call this before concluding that a gap is permanent, and before telling a user to look elsewhere. |