https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-022-03319-w
Regular Article
The carbon footprint of proposed 
Higgs factories
1
CERN, 1 Esplanade des Particules, 1217, Meyrin, Switzerland
2
LPNHE, IN2P3-CNRS, 4 Place Jussieu, 75005, Paris, France
3
University of Geneva, 24 rue du Général-Dufour, 1211, Geneva, Switzerland
Received:
13
September
2022
Accepted:
22
September
2022
Published online:
10
October
2022
The energy consumption of any of the Higgs factory projects that can credibly operate immediately after the end of LHC, namely three linear colliders (CLIC, operating at 
GeV; and ILC and 
, operating at 
GeV) and two circular colliders (CEPC and FCC-ee, operating at 
GeV), will be everything but negligible. Future Higgs boson studies may therefore have a significant environmental impact. This note proposes to include the carbon footprint for a given physics performance as a top-level gauge for the design optimisation and, eventually, the choice of the future facility. The projected footprints per Higgs boson produced, evaluated using the 2021 carbon emission of available electricity, are found to vary by a factor 100 depending on the considered Higgs factory project.
© The Author(s) 2022
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