Everything you need to know about your personal carbon footprint

Depending on our lifestyle, we emit more or less carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. Knowing your carbon footprint (CO2) enables you to correct certain consumption habits and reduce your carbon impact on the environment.

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What is a personal carbon footprint?

The Personal Carbon Footprint measures the impact of an individual’s activities on the planet. It enables us to calculate the carbon footprint of the person concerned, and to help them reduce or optimize their energy consumption, or even their lifestyle, in order to minimize their CO2 impact on the environment.
The results of the carbon footprint are expressed in kilograms or tons of CO2 equivalent. CO2 is the main greenhouse gas responsible for global warming. Emissions of other gases are therefore converted into carbon equivalents. This makes it possible to have a single unit of measurement.

Types of greenhouse gases

There are many different types of greenhouse gas. The main GHGs are :

  • Domestic (fuel, heating, electricity consumption, etc.) ;
  • The country’s domestic production ;
  • Imported production.

In other words, the carbon footprint is an analysis of the GHGs emitted by our various activities.
The other major issue concerns the methodology used to calculate emission factors. Who calculates them and how?

How do you calculate your personal carbon footprint?

To calculate your personal annual carbon footprint, there are a number of data to consider:

  • Transport: daily travel (car, bus, metro, streetcar or bicycle) and more exceptional travel, for example by plane or train;
  • Home and energy: type of dwelling (house, apartment), surface area, number of inhabitants, appliances used, type of energy, heating, insulation, etc. … ;
  • Consumption and lifestyle: diet, electronic devices used, expenditure on clothing and pharmaceutical, hygiene or beauty products, waste recycling, etc…

The CO2 emissions we emit (i.e. our personal carbon footprint) are always calculated using the following formula:
CO2 emissions = quantity consumed x emission factor.
We therefore collect the data we associate with an emission factor, enabling us to calculate its carbon equivalent.
To estimate your personal carbon footprint, there are now a large number of free online calculators.

Reduce your carbon footprint

Here’s the main advantage of tracking your carbon impact over time: you can easily identify your good (and not so good) actions. So that you can change your consumption habits, adopt good environmental habits and gradually reduce your impact.
If you want to do something for the climate, you need to reduce your carbon footprint through a few simple everyday gestures. Some ask for next to nothing, yet they help you turn to a greener lifestyle while saving money.

How can you reduce your carbon footprint on the move?

Getting around while supporting the development of less polluting means of transport can be a way of reducing your impact on the planet:

  • Choose public transport, walking, cycling or even an electric bike for short journeys: as well as reducing your ecological impact, exercise is good for your health. As for public transport in urban and suburban areas, it’s often adapted to local needs.
  • Think about carpooling: the more passengers in a car, the lower the CO2 emissions per passenger. Carpooling even reduces the risk of traffic jams at rush hour!
  • Take the train rather than the plane: the carbon footprint of a plane is very high, at 285 g CO2eq per kilometer traveled, compared with 14 g CO2eq per km traveled by train. Note that for destinations connected to high-speed lines, travelling by rail is often almost as quick as flying.

How can you reduce your carbon footprint on a daily basis?

Having a comfortable, energy-efficient home is another way of reducing your carbon footprint. For this, innovations within the home are unavoidable measures to reduce your ecological impact on a daily basis:

  • Choose a green energy supplier: an effective solution for responsible energy consumption.
  • Improve the energy efficiency of your home by carrying out regular energy renovation and thermal insulation work to prevent energy loss and reduce your bills.
  • Equip yourself with low-energy appliances: more costly to buy, they nevertheless enable you to significantly reduce your energy consumption, which in the long term offsets the initial price.

How can you reduce your digital footprint?

The digital sector accounts for 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions. And this figure is likely to double by 2025. The Internet in the world today represents: 9 billion devices (including 2 billion smartphones and 1 billion computers), 5 to 7 million connected objects, 45 million servers, 800 million network devices… Most of this digital pollution takes place at the hardware manufacturing stage. To combat this pollution, we need to use fewer IT objects and make them last longer. Finally, we also need to limit the use of very high definition video, which exacerbates digital pollution. They encourage the purchase of larger screens and require more energy to play, as they are heavier.

Global warming and everyone’s responsibility in this tragedy oblige everyone to minimize their carbon impact. However, this does not mean turning in on ourselves and our borders, and stopping all travel, which is a vehicle for peace – quite the contrary. To avoid unpleasant surprises during your travels, remember to take out travel insurance!

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