Beyond Carbon Footprint Calculators. New Approaches for Linking Consumer Behaviour and Climate Action

Mario Burgui-Burgui,Emilio Chuvieco

doi:10.3390/su12166529

Abstract

This paper presents a carbon footprint (CF) observatory recently developed within our research group. It aims to introduce a new concept of CF accountability, which focused not just on measuring CF, but also on making users reflect about and eventually change their lifestyles to reduce their personal emissions. With this conception, the CO2web observatory includes not only a CF calculator, but also the CF of different alternative consumption scenarios. Therefore, the user may be more aware of the impact of different personal decisions, such as emissions linked to different food, cars, home appliances or pets. In addition, the CF calculator provides quantitative comparisons of the emissions linked to current habits of users with those of similar cohorts, along with specific advices for those consumption sectors where emissions are significantly higher than their cohort’s average.

Highlights

Climate change is considered the greatest environmental challenge facing humanity today, with wide implications on social and ecological systems [1]
The different Conferences of Parties of the UN Framework for Climate Change have emphasized the need to take solid commitments to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but still trends are far from being optimal to avoid the 2 degree target agreed in the Paris agreement [2]
Several authors have shown that a large percentage of GHG emissions (60–70%) are related to personal consumption [3,4], which indicates the relevance of individual decisions on climate change mitigation, and the importance of linking Climate Action and Responsible Consumption, both included in the Sustainable Development Goals (Goals 13 and 12, respectively)

Summary

Introduction

Climate change is considered the greatest environmental challenge facing humanity today, with wide implications on social and ecological systems [1]. Several authors have shown that a large percentage of GHG emissions (60–70%) are related to personal consumption [3,4], which indicates the relevance of individual decisions on climate change mitigation, and the importance of linking Climate Action and Responsible Consumption, both included in the Sustainable Development Goals (Goals 13 and 12, respectively). The analysis of the impacts of personal decisions on GHG emissions is part of a growing concern of individual responsibility in climate action beyond governments, industry or NGO [5]. Among the different instruments to improve citizen awareness on climate change and mitigation measures, carbon footprint calculators (CFC) have become a popular tool, as they help educating about the impacts of daily habits on GHG emissions [6,7]. Several calculators are freely available on the web, showing the accumulated emissions of the user from different sectors: food, transport, house energy, clothing, etc. [7,9]

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Conclusion