UK hotel night: carbon footprint per room-night
Live factor value
10.4 kgCO2e per room-night
Source: UK DESNZ greenhouse-gas conversion factors, 2026 (revision 2). Factor set desnz-2026-r2.
The UK government publishes an official per-room-night emission factor for hotel stays — shown live below from the DESNZ 2026 set. It covers the energy a hotel uses to heat, cool, light and service one occupied room for one night, averaged across the UK hotel stock.
DESNZ publishes equivalent factors for around 38 other countries, and the differences are driven mostly by each country's electricity grid: a night in a country with a coal-heavy grid can be several times the UK figure. Our hotel calculator applies the right country factor automatically.
Worked example
A week's UK hotel stay (7 nights): 7 × 10.4 = 72.8 kgCO2e.
Measure your own with the free hotel calculator.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the carbon footprint of a UK hotel night?
- 10.4 kgCO2e per room-night in the DESNZ 2026 conversion factors — roughly the same as driving 60 km in an average car.
- Why do hotel factors differ by country?
- Mainly the local electricity grid's carbon intensity, plus climate-driven heating and cooling loads. DESNZ publishes per-country room-night factors for the UK and ~38 other countries.