With the CO₂ price calculator, users can quantify their personal emissions from transport and heating, the resulting costs, and the potential financial relief available to their household. It not only illustrates how different CO₂ price levels would affect individual budgets, but also simulates options for redistributing government revenues - for example, via a per capita rebate or a reduction in electricity prices, for example.

Link to the free CO₂ calculator: https://co2-preis-rechner.rwi-essen.de/

Users can also compare their financial outcomes with those of other household types. Additionally, they receive practical suggestions on how to reduce CO₂ emissions and costs through behavioural changes or home renovation measures. The tool also contributes to scientific research, as anonymised usage data feeds into further academic analysis.

This new CO₂ price calculator expands PIK's suite of useful online tools designed to help users gain a clearer understanding of CO₂ pricing. As early as 2021, the then Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) - which became part of PIK in early 2025 – developed an online calculator showing the impact of various national CO₂ price levels for average households. In addition, the MCC-developed platform Carbon Pricing Incidence Calculator presents these policy instruments in an international context. While the other two tools focus on the systemic and global dimensions of climate policy, the new calculator by PIK and RWI aims to make costs tangible to individual households.