Carbon footprint explained
What is a Carbon Footprint?
A carbon footprint is an estimate of the amount of carbon (more specifically the amount of carbon dioxide equivalents) that a person emits each year based on their lifestyle. All of us have a carbon footprint and in the UK almost all of us need to reduce it dramatically over the next decade. It’s important because the amount of carbon we all emit is directly related to the amount of global warming and climate change that we will see.
Your Impact
The Progress page shows your carbon footprint which is based on the information inputted in the footprints section. It will also show how this compares to the average footprint, and how far there is to go to reach the 2030 target, consistent with limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
On Giki Zero Pro, you will also see the average carbon footprint within your organization.
How can Giki Zero help me reduce my Carbon Footprint?
Giki Zero helps you understand your personal footprint which is an important first step in discovering ways to reduce it. It does this by guiding you through a series of easy to understand questions that will estimate the overall impact that you have where you can provide as little, or as much, information as you want.
You will then be able to see your environmental footprint and understand how your home, transport, food, purchases and services all contribute.
With better information about your footprint you can then choose the steps which suit your lifestyle and budget to help reduce your impact over time. Decide on the steps you want to take, rated on impact and ease, and Giki Zero will help you turn those commitments into climate positive changes.
How do you calculate carbon footprints?
Many of the decisions we make have a carbon footprint. We look at over 30 different areas, from electricity usage to financial services and from diet to miles driven, in order to work out the carbon impact of each of these decisions. We can then add up the impact from all these different areas to provide an estimate of a person’s overall carbon footprint. See our extensive methodology for a complete guide to how we do it.