Carbon Footprint
Your Carbon Footprint - Understanding Your Impact
Before thinking about what we can do, it helps to understand our individual impact. The internationally recognised way of measuring this is the carbon footprint.
My Carbon Calculator
Slide the bars to match your everyday life. Then see your footprint grow!
How far does your family drive in a normal week?
Greener than the car!
Miles you cycle each week instead of driving.
Cycling = 0 CO₂e — the cleanest way to travel.
Total hours in a plane each year.
Days a week you eat meat.
A typical UK home uses about 55 kWh a week.
Clothes, gadgets, toys, etc.
General waste, not recycling.
Your footprint over a...
In one year you'd release about
3.7 tonnes
of CO₂e 🌳
Below the UK average. Brilliant work!
That's like the work of 177 mature trees soaking up CO₂ for a year. 🌳
Where it comes from
- Car1.1 tonnes
- Bus/Train52 kg
- Cycling0 kg
- Flights361 kg
- Food954 kg
- Home energy547 kg
- Shopping521 kg
- Waste146 kg
Rough estimates based on UK government conversion factors. Real footprints vary, but small changes add up to big ones!
What Is a Carbon Footprint?
- The average UK adult carbon footprint is just over 7.5 tonnes of CO₂ per year (UK Government figures).
- Including all greenhouse gases (CO₂, methane, nitrous oxide and fluorinated gases), this rises to 7.7 tonnes CO₂e per year.
- CO₂e = Carbon Dioxide Equivalent - the standard way of measuring all greenhouse gases together.
Where Do UK Emissions Come From?
UK
GHG sources
- Domestic Transport31%
- Buildings & Product Uses22%
- Agriculture13%
- Industry11%
- Electricity Supply10%
- Fuel Supply7%
- WasteLearn more6%
- LULUCF0.1%
- For more on cutting household waste, see Resource Demand & Waste or the UK Government's UK waste data.
Source: HM Government DESNZ 2025 provisional greenhouse gas emissions.
Key insight
Transport and Buildings combined account for over 53% of UK emissions. These are the sectors where you and I have the most direct influence.
International Transport
- UK Domestic Transport GHGs (2025): 112,900,000 tonnes
- International Aviation & Shipping (2025): 36,000,000 tonnes
- Total UK Transport GHGs: 148,900,000 tonnes - 36.56% of all UK emissions
Now that you know where the emissions come from, here's what you can do about it.