01
Estimate
Participants model their activity with the browser-based estimator and, when release-ready, the privacy-first extension.
For higher education
Make AI’s environmental impact visible—without watching people.
Carbon Canvas is developing voluntary AI sustainability pilots for colleges and universities. Participants receive transparent, range-based estimates. Institutions receive aggregate cohort insights designed for learning and decision support—not surveillance or formal carbon accounting.
Voluntary by designClear consent and participant choice.
Conversation content excludedNo prompts, replies or files in reporting.
Ranges, never false precisionEvery estimate carries its uncertainty.
Methodology in publicVersioned assumptions that reviewers can inspect.
What
A time-bounded AI energy literacy pilot.
A founding pilot gives a course, department or voluntary campus cohort a practical way to explore the energy behind everyday generative AI use while testing the methodology and participant experience with your institution.
02
Learn
A facilitated briefing explains infrastructure, uncertainty, responsible use and why provider transparency matters.
03
Reflect
The institution receives an aggregate pilot summary, limitations and practical recommendations—never conversation content.
Why now
AI adoption is moving faster than institutional visibility.
Colleges and universities are building responsible-AI policies and sustainability plans, yet the environmental dimension of everyday AI use remains difficult to observe and explain.
In June 2026, Jisc and EAUC published practical guidance to help post-16 institutions understand AI’s environmental impacts, ask better questions and act despite uncertainty. Carbon Canvas addresses the same transparency gap through education and honest estimation.
Important boundary
Carbon Canvas is not affiliated with or endorsed by Jisc or EAUC. Our estimates do not replace provider telemetry, a life-cycle assessment or reporting-grade carbon accounting.
Why Carbon Canvas
Built around the questions institutional reviewers will ask.
What is collected?
Usage metadata needed for an estimate. The pilot design excludes prompt, response and file content.
How certain is it?
Outputs are ranges with confidence reasons because model, hardware, batching and serving location are often unknown.
Can we inspect it?
The methodology, sources, version and deliberate limitations are public before an institution commits.
Founding pilot
Explore a pilot with your institution.
Founding pilots are being scoped with sustainability offices, IT teams, teaching and learning centres, libraries and responsible-AI groups. The exact cohort, duration, privacy terms and deliverables are agreed before participation begins.
A proposed pilot can include
- Discovery and pilot design session
- Participant-facing privacy and methodology briefing
- Individual or cohort scenario baseline
- Voluntary extension access when release-ready
- AI energy literacy workshop or methodology briefing
- Aggregate pilot summary with uncertainty and limitations
- Institutional debrief and next-step recommendations
Carbon Canvas is currently recruiting design partners. A pilot start date is confirmed only after product readiness and institutional review.
Thank you.
Your pilot inquiry has been received. Carbon Canvas will follow up using the email you provided.
Review the methodology →Your contact details are used only to respond to this inquiry. See the privacy policy.