Sustainability methodology

Every number behind the badge, published.

Offset Verified is a substantiated claim, not a slogan. This page is the methodology: how token usage becomes energy, water, CO2e, and a dollar restitution target, with the coefficients in the open.

Coefficients version 2026-08-31
The claim

What Offset Verified means.

It means

The organization measured its AI usage from provider records, Eniyan converted that usage into a resource restitution target using the published method on this page, and the organization funded evidence-backed offsets, reviewed by our team, that fully cover the cumulative target.

It does not mean

Carbon neutral, net zero, or environmentally harmless. The badge verifies a specific, bounded act of restitution: covering the estimated replacement cost of the power and water the organization's AI workloads consumed. The dollar target is a utility replacement cost, not a carbon-credit price.

The method

From tokens to a dollar target, in five steps.

Eniyan never observes your inference. The inputs are the usage exports your AI providers already give you.

  1. 1Usage: your team uploads provider usage exports (token counts by model and month). Each model is mapped to a size class.
  2. 2Energy: tokens convert to watt hours using the per-class rates below, output tokens weighted 4:1 over input, then multiplied by the 1.2 datacenter overhead factor.
  3. 3Water: facility energy converts to liters at 1.0 liters per kWh.
  4. 4Emissions: energy converts to CO2e at the period's grid intensity (370 gCO2e per kWh when no regional rate is on file).
  5. 5Restitution target: the energy and water are priced at current utility rates averaged across the eight highest-concentration US datacenter states, giving a dollar figure that would replace what was consumed.
The registry

The coefficients, verbatim.

Conservative point estimates, versioned in code. Every footprint row is stamped with the version that computed it, and version bumps never rewrite finalized periods.

Model classWh per 1,000 tokensTypical members
Frontier2.5the largest reasoning models
Large1.0mainstream flagship models
Medium0.35mini, flash, and haiku class models
Small0.10nano and embedding models
Output token weight4:1

Output tokens are weighted four times input tokens around each class blend (reference mix 20% input, 80% output).

Datacenter overhead (PUE)1.2

Power usage effectiveness multiplier applied to model energy.

Water use (WUE)1.0 L/kWh

On-site water use effectiveness per facility kWh.

Grid intensity fallback370 gCO2e/kWh

US average, consumption based. Used when no period rate rows exist.

Utility price sourcesEIA + municipal

Commercial retail electricity prices pulled monthly from the US EIA open data API; water from curated municipal rate schedules.

Pricing regionsVA, TX, AZ, OH, OR, IA, GA, NV

Averaged across the US states with the highest datacenter concentration.

Integrity

The rules that keep the badge honest.

Imports are the source of truth: footprints that count toward the badge come only from provider usage exports your team uploads. Estimated usage is always labeled as an estimate and never counts.
Periods freeze when they finalize: once a past month's import-backed footprint is finalized, later coefficient or price updates never rewrite it. A reviewed badge keeps its math.
Offsets need evidence: every offset submission carries documentation and is reviewed by the Eniyan team before it counts. Approved offsets must cover the cumulative restitution target.
The badge fails closed: if new verified usage pushes the target above your approved offsets, the badge lapses immediately and publicly until the balance is covered again.

Every verified organization gets a public badge page showing its status, the import-backed totals behind it, and this methodology. If a badge lapses, the public page says so. Talk to us about enabling Sustainability for your organization.