🚚 CO2 emissions of freight shipments with Carbon Interface API and GPT-4o

Description

Tags*: Sustainability, Supply Chain, AI Agent, CO2 Emissions, Carbon Interface API, Logistics, Automation

Context

Hi! I’m Samir — a Supply Chain Engineer and Data Scientist based in Paris, and founder of LogiGreen Consulting.

I help logistics teams reduce their environmental footprint by combining AI automation and carbon estimation APIs.

This workflow is part of our green logistics initiative, allowing businesses to track the CO₂ emissions of last-mile or regional shipments.

> Automate carbon tracking for shipping operations with n8n!

📬 For business inquiries, feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn

Who is this template for?

This workflow is designed for logistics coordinators, transportation planners, or sustainability officers who want to estimate and record emissions for B2B shipments.

Let’s imagine your carrier sends a shipment confirmation email after a pickup is scheduled:



An AI Agent reads the email and extracts structured data: addresses, distance, cargo weight, and delivery time.

The Carbon Interface API is then called to calculate CO₂ emissions based on weight and distance, and the results are stored in a Google Sheet.

How does it work?

This workflow automates the process of tracking CO₂ emissions for scheduled shipments:

📨 Gmail Trigger captures shipment confirmation emails
🧠 AI Agent parses the shipment info (pickup, delivery, weight, distance)
🚚 Carbon Interface API estimates CO₂ emissions
📊 Google Sheets is used to store shipment metadata and carbon results

Steps:

💌 Trigger on new shipment confirmation email
🧠 Extract structured shipment info with AI Agent
📋 Store metadata in Google Sheets
⚙️ Call Carbon Interface API with weight and distance
📥 Append estimated CO₂ emissions to the shipment row

What do I need to get started?

You’ll need:

A Gmail account to receive shipment confirmation emails
A Google Sheet to track shipment data and CO₂
A free Carbon Interface API key
OpenAI access for using the AI Agent parser
A few sample emails from your logistics provider to test

📺 Learn More with n8n Tutorials

Get hands-on experience with automation through my comprehensive n8n tutorial playlist, featuring 18+ complete, step-by-step videos and ready-to-use templates.

Next Steps

🗒️ Use the sticky notes in the n8n canvas to:

Add your Gmail and Carbon Interface credentials
Try with a sample shipment confirmation email
Check your Google Sheet to verify emissions and timestamps

This template was built using n8n v1.93.0
Submitted: June 7, 2025