Cisco Systems — carbon factors
Reference emission factors relevant to the Networking Equipment sector, curated from authoritative published sources. Use these to estimate spend-based or activity-based emissions where the firm's own disclosures don't cover a category, or to spot-check disclosed figures against the consensus range.
The spread shown for each factor is the range across published sources for the sector — not Cisco Systems's own values. A wide spread means the published sources disagree (use with caution); a tight spread is a well-established consensus. Cisco Systems's own disclosed figures live on the Ratios tab. (Plotting where Cisco Systems sits within each distribution is on the roadmap.)
Spend-based (per currency unit) 2 categories · 4 factors
Multiply spend (in the stated currency, in the stated reference year) by the factor to estimate kgCO2e for that category of procurement. Spend-based factors carry material uncertainty but are useful when you have no activity data.
Computer manufacturing, spend-based
| Value | Unit | Geo | Year | Scope | Source | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.0580 0.0350 – 0.0900 | kgCO2e/USD | US | 2022 | Cradle → gate S1 · S2 loc · S3↑ | useeio_v1_3 purchaser · USD 2022 | USEEIO commodity 334111. NAICS 334111. Purchaser price (with margins). Multiply 2022 USD spend × value to get kgCO2e. |
| 0.0458 0.0277 – 0.0711 | kgCO2e/GBP | US | 2022 | Cradle → gate S1 · S2 loc · S3↑ | useeio_v1_3 purchaser · GBP 2022 | USEEIO commodity 334111, converted USD→GBP at static rate (0.79). For production, recompute with the accounting-period FX rate. |
Laptop, sector average
| Value | Unit | Geo | Year | Scope | Source | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 280 150 – 500 | kgCO2e/unit | GLOBAL | 2024 | Cradle → grave | boavizta_2025 | Mean across common business laptop SKUs in the Boavizta database. Wide range reflects screen size, RAM/SSD config, and manufacturer methodology differences. |
| 300 200 – 400 | kgCO2e/unit | GLOBAL | 2024 | Cradle → grave S3↑ | boavizta_2025 | Use when you have a count of laptops but not the SKUs. Wide uncertainty band (±33%). |
Product unit 5 categories · 10 factors
Per-product-unit factors (e.g. one laptop, one kg of milk). Use for purchased goods — multiply by units procured.
Apple MacBook Air 13" M3
| Value | Unit | Geo | Year | Scope | Source | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 150 120 – 200 | kgCO2e/unit | GLOBAL | 2024 | Cradle → grave | boavizta_2025 | |
| 283 230 – 330 | kgCO2e/unit | GLOBAL | 2024 | Cradle → grave S3↑ | boavizta_2025 | PER published for the 15" M3; 13" assumed marginally lower. Post-mitigation figure Apple publishes is 158 kg. |
Apple MacBook Pro 16" M3 Max
| Value | Unit | Geo | Year | Scope | Source | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 430 320 – 540 | kgCO2e/unit | GLOBAL | 2024 | Cradle → grave | boavizta_2025 | Manufacturing typically ~75% of total. Use-phase depends on assumed grid mix. |
| 506 400 – 650 | kgCO2e/unit | GLOBAL | 2023 | Cradle → grave S3↑ | boavizta_2025 | Apple PER (Product Environmental Report). Baseline manufacturing emissions before Apple applies low-carbon manufacturing electricity netting. Use this for cross-vendor comparison. The 4-yr-use assumption and US grid mix are baked in. |
Dell Latitude 7440
| Value | Unit | Geo | Year | Scope | Source | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 355 208 – 703 | kgCO2e/unit | GLOBAL | 2023 | Cradle → grave S3↑ | boavizta_2025 | Manufacturing 89%, Use 7.5%, Transport 3.1%, EoL 0.4%. Wide uncertainty band reflects PAIA Monte-Carlo run. |
| 290 200 – 400 | kgCO2e/unit | GLOBAL | 2024 | Cradle → grave | boavizta_2025 | Dell uses PAIA. ±50% uncertainty per Dell PCF disclaimers. |
HP EliteBook 840 G11
| Value | Unit | Geo | Year | Scope | Source | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 280 190 – 380 | kgCO2e/unit | GLOBAL | 2024 | Cradle → grave | boavizta_2025 | |
| 200 150 – 280 | kgCO2e/unit | GLOBAL | 2024 | Cradle → grave S3↑ | boavizta_2025 | Mainboard 41% / SSD 20% / Display 20% of manufacturing emissions. Use-phase 23% is notably higher than Apple/Dell because NA grid is dirtier than EU. |
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12
| Value | Unit | Geo | Year | Scope | Source | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 285 226 – 383 | kgCO2e/unit | GLOBAL | 2022 | Cradle → grave S3↑ | boavizta_2025 | Mean 285, std dev 59, 95th percentile 383. US use-phase assumed. |
| 250 170 – 350 | kgCO2e/unit | GLOBAL | 2024 | Cradle → grave | boavizta_2025 |
Reference factors are curated from the published sources at the indicated vintage and refreshed manually as new releases land. Apply with care: spend-based factors carry material uncertainty (often ±50%); activity-based factors require the right unit basis (e.g. gross vs net CV for natural gas, with-RF vs without-RF for air); product PCFs differ in lifecycle scope between vendors (Apple uses post-mitigation, others use pre-mitigation — we have aligned to pre-mitigation baselines for laptops). Re-check against the citation before any external-facing calculation.