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What is carbon footprint?

A carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases emitted by the energy and raw material consumption of a person, organisation or event. It is measured in the volume of CO2 emitted.

Per capita emissions in the USA are estimated at around 16 tons per year. That includes CO2 produced directly by an individual’s household, and emissions created by products they consume. The rough split is 70/30 between the two.

Carbon footprint is measured based on an index called global warming potential. It’s defined by scientists at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and allows researchers around the world to base their work on the same frame of reference.

Calculating carbon footprint allows us to understand the impact of a product, service or organisation on the planet. The higher the figure, the worse the impact is and the greater the need to reduce it. It’s mainly down to this that the index has become more popular across the world.

Carbon offset schemes allow individuals and companies to invest in environmental projects to counter their own carbon footprint. For example, a household which invests in a reforestation program which reduces carbon emissions by 16 tons, would have offset its entire carbon footprint for a year.

In 2019, the UN announced that over 60 countries have committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2050. That requires reducing emissions through a range of measures.

The carbon footprint index does however have some limits. It doesn’t take into account waste production, water pollution, land pollution or the depletion of natural resources for example. It’s certainly a useful indicator, but there are other measures for environmental impact which are more far-ranging.

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