If you’ve ever seen the stat that just 100 companies are responsible for over 70% of the world’s emissions, you may think that proves that your personal carbon footprint doesn’t matter when it comes to solving the climate crisis. But that’s simply not true.
For one, this oft-cited stat tends to get misrepresented. The oft-cited study from Carbon Majors shows that 100 fossil fuel producers have been responsible for 71% of global industrial greenhouse gas emissions since 1988. As a Sentient article points out, this focus on industrial emissions — primarily those from fossil fuels — is certainly a major component, but other sources of global emissions such as agriculture also play a major role in causing climate change.
Even if the stat did mean that 100 companies account for 71% of total emissions, that still doesn’t leave individuals off the hook.
The term carbon footprint was popularized from a 2004 marketing push from oil giant BP, with the company launching a carbon footprint calculator that some argue shifted the focus away from fossil fuel producers and toward consumers. However, carbon footprint calculators have become one of the most important tools we have to battle climate change because they help us see the carbon intensive product choices and behaviors throughout our lives. Even though many people want to live a lower-carbon lifestyle, their consumption patterns don’t always reflect that.
Altogether, household consumption contributes to over 60% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to a study published in the Journal of Industrial Ecology.
Use our carbon footprint calculator to see the carbon impact of your vehicle, public transportation, airplane, and home energy consumption.
Individual Carbon Footprint Choices Add Up
Albeit oversimplified, if no one bought things like gasoline or certain plastics, then fossil fuel companies would have little reason to emit. As profit-driven companies, they’re not going to extract petroleum if no one’s buying, for example.
As Richard Heede, co-founder and co-director of the Climate Accountability Institute (which collaborated with CDP on the aforementioned Carbon Majors report) said in a Vox interview: “to be clear, it’s the consumers that actually burn and demand the fossil fuels that these companies provide.”
Look at what happened during the early days of Covid, for example. In early April 2020, daily global carbon dioxide emissions dropped by around 17% compared to 2019 levels, with nearly half of the change due to reductions in surface transport, which includes cars, trucks, shipping, etc., according to a study published in Nature Climate Change.
Granted, it’s not necessarily fair or accurate to put all the responsibility on individuals. As Heede noted in the Vox article, for example, fossil fuel companies engage in behaviors like lobbying on behalf of their products.
Moreover, individuals don’t always have control over their choices, or at least have limited options, due to corporate and governmental policies.
For example, an individual might buy an electric vehicle to avoid gasoline, but they might rent their home and thus can only use public charging stations that still source electricity from fossil fuels.
But while companies have a significant responsibility to transition away from carbon-intensive products, there’s a chicken vs. the egg problem. Consumers need companies to offer more sustainable choices, but most companies won’t offer them on a widespread basis without assurance that consumers will buy them.
Governments could also mandate that companies make more sustainable changes, but they have their own “customers” to worry about in the form of voters. If individuals vote out politicians who pass climate regulation, that disincentivizes future politicians from promoting policy that helps the transition to a low-carbon economy.
Yet even when individual choices do prompt change — such as how consumers could stop buying products like shoes made from a high-emitting apparel company, until the company offers more sustainable options. In some cases, though, there’s no practical choice.
For example, the choice of building materials makes a significant impact on greenhouse gas emissions. Cement and concrete, due to the ways they’re produced, account for up to 9% of all human CO2 emissions per year, according to Scientific American. So, if a hospital decides it wants to build a new facility and tear down an old one, that could have a negative environmental impact, yet an individual having a medical emergency isn’t going to stop an ambulance from going to that hospital in favor of a low-carbon one, if that even exists.
These types of issues help explain why a recent World Resources Institute (WRI) study found that making more climate-friendly choices related to energy, transport, and food could reduce your GHG emissions by around 6.53 tonnes — more than offsetting the current individual average of 6.3 tonnes (granted, the average is skewed by lower-income individuals typically having much lower carbon footprints); yet in practicality, people only reduce about 10% of this amount.
So, individual choices and your personal carbon footprint do matter, but they don’t exist in a vacuum. Decisions by corporations and governments also make a significant impact, but they also need support from individuals. Thus, one of the best ways to get the ball rolling is by starting with yourself and then discussing the issues with your family and friends, much like any grassroots movement.
Once you know your carbon footprint calculation, you can buy carbon offsets that can counteract the impact of those emissions. You can start by offsetting 1,000 lbs of CO2e emissions for just $7.49 per month.
Top Individual Ways to Reduce Carbon Footprint
If you’re looking for ways to reduce your carbon footprint, it’s important to consider what actions typically have the greatest impact. While some positive choices are better than none, realistic constraints, such as time and money, often mean that you — and the planet — are better off focusing on actions that slash carbon emissions the most.
For example, plastic straws have become a hot-button issue, but this is arguably a case of missing the forest for the trees. Research shows that some alternatives aren’t necessarily more sustainable, and regardless, plastic straws typically make up a fraction of overall plastic waste and emissions.
That’s not to say you should use straws with reckless abandon, but if you’re so focused on this issue, rather than the contents of your drink, for example, you could be missing a more significant source of environmental damage.
With that in mind, consider the following ways to reduce your carbon footprint that typically have a large impact, based on WRI research:
1) Drive less
An easy yet effective way to reduce a carbon footprint is to drive less. On average, more sustainable transit has a 14.3% potential reduction in global per capita emissions, according to WRI.
On the highest end of that scale — above a 30% reduction — is going completely car-free. While things like tackling food waste still matter, going car-free has 78 times more impact than composting, according to WRI.
That said, a more practical solution for many might be shifting to electric or hybrid vehicles that have better fuel economy, which could reduce emissions by over 16%. Even simply working from home more often than driving to an office could lead to more than a 6% emissions reduction.
2) Fly less
Similar to driving, flying less is also a direct, impactful way to reduce your carbon footprint.
While it’s technically true that air travel adds a small amount to the world’s carbon budget, that’s misleading, because flying is still limited to a fraction of the world’s population — around 11%, according to WRI. In terms of the actual carbon emissions from a flight, those tend to be some of the highest of any activity you could do. Some international flights even cause more emissions per passenger than what an individual in some parts of the world emits for the whole year.
So, when you can, consider cutting back on flying. Maybe there’s a national park a few hours away that you can drive to for a vacation, rather than flying to a remote island. Or maybe your work trip could really be handled over videoconference, saving time, money, and emissions.
3) Improve home energy usage
Your home can be a major source of emissions, but don’t make the mistake of thinking that changing a few lightbulbs will do the trick on its own. Just look at your energy costs as proof — yes, switching to LED lightbulbs is generally a good move, but that might only save you a few dollars per month.
Instead, some of the biggest contributors to your carbon footprint and energy bill tend to be areas such as energy use for heating, cooling, and cooking.
Shifting to renewable energy at home has an emissions reduction potential of over 16%, according to WRI. Even if you rely on an energy source like natural gas or oil, you can reduce the impact via a more energy-efficient home, such as with better insulation and more efficient appliances.
Renovations that improve energy efficiency could reduce per capita emissions by nearly 10%, according to WRI.
4) Eat more plant-based foods
What you eat and drink also has a big impact on the planet. Your carbon footprint might be lower if you switch to oat milk, for example, rather than just focusing on ditching straws. That’s not to say you can’t do both usually, but sometimes you have to prioritize certain sustainable practices, such as due to budget or time constraints.
Going vegan has an emissions reduction potential of over 13%, according to WRI. So that’s one of the best ways to reduce your carbon footprint.
However, practicality matters. Most people aren’t going to completely change how they eat overnight, but simply decreasing animal-based products has an emissions reduction potential of nearly 5%, according to WRI.
What About Emissions You Can’t Cut?
Realistically, you probably can’t cut your carbon footprint to zero, even by making these changes. Buying an electric vehicle that you charge via solar power is a big step, but even the production of those solar panels and the mining required to source minerals for an EV battery create carbon emissions. Or, maybe you’re trying to fly less, but work requires you to still take some trips.
In these types of cases, one way to minimize your environmental footprint is to buy carbon offsets. These are not meant to be a substitute for emission reductions, but buying carbon offsets can help you counteract the effects of those difficult-to-avoid emissions.
For example, you can buy a flight carbon offset, where funding goes toward projects such as to conserve forests or capture and destroy landfill methane. The idea is that even though your flight still produces emissions, your purchase of the carbon credit finances a carbon reduction or avoidance in another area. Without your funding, those emission savings might not have been possible.
To start moving toward neutralizing your carbon footprint, Terrapass offers a variety of solutions. Our simple carbon offset subscription — the Carbon Balanced Living Plan — starts at just $8.34 per month, or you can purchase specific types of individual carbon offset packages, like if you want to reduce the impact of an upcoming vacation.
By funding climate projects through Terrapass that can offset carbon emissions and spur social benefits like job creation; while also working on direct ways to reduce your carbon footprint, you can play a bigger role in solving the climate crisis.
Start reducing your carbon footprint today! View online solutions for Individuals and Businesses from Terrapass.
