In our last article we talked about our carbon budget — this is what we should spend if we want to limit global warming to +1.5ºC by 2050. Now let’s talk about our actual spending: this spending is what we call our carbon footprint.

What is Carbon Footprint?

It’s the kind of footprint you won’t visibly see, yet leaves a much bigger mark on the planet than meets the eye. Your carbon footprint is basically the total amount of carbon emissions (CO2) you create from your day-to-day activities. It includes simple things like the energy you use, how you get around, and the things you buy or eat.

We now know our budget is 1.5T of CO2/year per capita. So, if your carbon footprint is 10T, then you are spending 8.5T more than you can afford in terms of a CO2 budget.

Is Our Carbon Footprint Only CO2? 

Mainly, but it’s not just that. Carbon footprint is actually calculated in CO2 equivalent (CO2eq.)

For instance, air-conditioning is not emitting any carbon dioxide, but hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). Livestock and landfills produce methane. Both hydrofluorocarbons and methane are greenhouse gases much more powerful than carbon dioxide.  

If we’re considering watching our carbon budget in order to limit global warming by limiting the greenhouse effect— then every gas affecting the greenhouse effect will be considered and converted into the CO2 equivalent. The conversion rate will then be based on the impact put upon the greenhouse effect.  

For example, 1g of methane emissions will be considered as 21g in CO2eq as methane is 21x more powerful than carbon dioxide on greenhouse effect.  

Source: CO2 equivalent.   

Estimate Your Carbon Footprint  

Your carbon footprint depends on your lifestyle and the public or private services of the country you live in.  

If we focus on lifestyle, the main categories impacting your carbon footprint are food, energy used in the house (for air-conditioning for instance), car, travel, and consumption in general.  

Depending on the energy mix of your country, the carbon footprint could be quite different. For example, using an electric car in a country where electricity is produced from oil generates CO2 emissions. For this reason, it is important to use a calculator that matches your country.

For the UAE, we found this one to be quite accurate: Calculate your personalised footprint

On average, an individual's carbon footprint in the UAE is about 22 tons of CO2 / year per person.   

Quite far from the budget of 1.5T / year per person, isn’t it?