Research and analysis

Assessing the carbon impacts of AI in transport decision-making

A simple tool to help decision-makers balance the carbon impact of AI against its benefits when developing transport solutions.

• From: Department for Transport
• Published: 30 July 2026

Documents

Introducing TRACE: transport AI carbon evaluator – making the carbon impacts of AI visible in decision making

PDF, 1.33 MB, 25 pages

This file may not be suitable for users of assistive technology.

Request an accessible format.

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email webmasterdft@dft.gov.uk. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

Details

This research developed a tool, called the transport  artificial intelligence (AI) carbon evaluator (TRACE) to support decision-making. TRACE enables users to:

• estimate the carbon impact of an AI application
• compare it with an alternative approach that would achieve the same outcome

It considers: 

• energy use 
• hardware 
• wider transport effects
• expected benefits 

The tool provides structured estimates to support:

• early decision-making on transport solutions
• users to compare options consistently

Published 30 July 2026