A carbon footprint is the total quantity of greenhouse gases (GHG) produced to sustain a person’s lifestyle and activities, both directly and indirectly. Carbon footprints are often quantified in equivalent tons of CO2 over the course of a year and can be linked to a person, a company, a product, or an event, among other things.
Definition
A carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases (including CO2 and methane) that are generated through our actions, and the actions embedded in the obtention of goods and services, i.e.: to buy a new phone has a strong carbon footprint coming from different sources like logistics, materials, etc.
The average carbon footprint of an “individual” is around 4 tons of CO2 per year. The US has one of the highest rates in the world with 16 tons of carbon dioxide.
How to calculate a carbon footprint?
The carbon footprint is a critical tool for determining how a person’s actions affect global warming. This is why, at the very least on an individual scale, everybody who wishes to successfully contribute to reducing global warming must quantify and manage their personal carbon footprint.
There are two main aspect that we need to consider when calculating the carbon footprint:
Direct emissions: These are greenhouse gases that are under the control of the individual (fuel consumption of their vehicles, fossil fuels consumed by home heating systems).
Indirect emissions: are the results of a person’s activity (manufacture of goods and services consumed by households).
How can I calculate my carbon footprint?
The Personal Carbon Footprint attempts to quantify an individual’s environmental impact. When calculating your yearly personal carbon footprint, you should focus on several aspects:
Transportation: everyday travels (car, bus, metro, or bicycle) and more unusual trips, such as by airplane or train.
House and energy: the kind of housing (house, apartment), its surface area, the number of occupants, the electrical equipment used, the energy consumption generated, the type of heating utilized, and so forth.
Consumption and lifestyle: Food, waste management, etc.
Although calculating one’s own carbon footprint can be challenging, Oxychain can help by providing an approximate estimate depending on the household, the efficiency of your appliances, how much you drive or fly, what you eat, and how much you recycle.
How to reduce your carbon footprint?
There are variety ways to reduce your carbon footprint including:
- Avoid polluting car journeys (choose to walk, cycle or use public transport)
- Reduce the number of animal products you consume.
- Eat locally sourced and produced food
- Recycle or compost organic waste.
- Reduce what you need
- Reuse as much as possible
- Choose products with little packaging
- Using energy-efficient appliances
Individuals and businesses may also offset their CO2 emissions by acquiring carbon credits, the proceeds of which go directly to projects that are working towards sustainability and regenerative practices.
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About Oxychain: Oxychain is an on-chain solution to create interoperability between the carbon markets and the digital world with software infrastructure for on-chain compensation. Oxy Labs, the company behind it, aims to bring transformative solutions to the conventional Carbon Markets with focus on capillarity, accessibility and interoperability.
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>> Related blog: 4 easy ways to reduce your carbon footprint now