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Reducing your carbon footprint by 28% is possible! In any case, this is what a new survey carried out by the Greenly application confirms. If you want to take up the challenge, you will first have to tackle transport, housing and food.
According to this new survey unveiled on Thursday February 2 by the CO2 emissions calculation application Greenly, the average carbon footprint of a French person is 9.9 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year. A higher estimate than that of the Ministry of Ecological Transition (8.9 t CO2 eq in 2021), because it takes into account additional carbon emission items, in particular those linked to deforestation or the aviation sector. So how do you reduce your carbon footprint to fall below this average?
Let’s start with transport: if you have a car, be aware that this type of mobility alone represents almost three quarters of the emissions linked to this sector, or 2.6 tCO2e per inhabitant, according to Greenly estimates. By replacing the car with a bicycle or public transport (which emit 98% less than the car for an equivalent journey) to make short-distance journeys, you can reduce your carbon footprint by 0.32 tCO2e, says Greenly . Carpooling is also a good option, since it saves 0.27 tCO2e per person per year. For travel, choosing the train over the plane reduces the carbon footprint by 0.27 tCO2e. “The train saves 99% of CO2 emissions compared to an equivalent journey by plane and car”says the survey.
With its 2.3 tCO2e per inhabitant, food is the second most emitting item. Unsurprisingly, the consumption of red meat represents almost half of the carbon footprint linked to this specific item: 0.92 tCO2e, compared to 0.39 tCO2e for dairy products and poultry, and 0.24 Co2e for fruit. and vegetables. “Adopting to an entirely vegetarian diet would reduce carbon emissions by a ton”furthermore specifies the survey.
Last item of expenditure, but not least: housing. If we take into account the consumption of fossil energy used for lighting or heating our homes, the carbon footprint linked to our consumption of gas, fuel oil or electricity represents 1.9 tCO2e per inhabitant and per year. . The solutions to reduce this footprint will probably not surprise anyone, as we have been told so many times since the onset of the energy crisis: maintain the temperature of your home at 19° and equip yourself with LED bulbs, which would respectively save 0 .16 tCO2e and 0.02 tCO2e.