{"id":17507,"date":"2020-09-08T11:07:20","date_gmt":"2020-09-08T09:07:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bonpote.com\/how-can-you-estimate-your-carbon-footprint\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T18:41:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T16:41:07","slug":"how-can-you-estimate-your-carbon-footprint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bonpote.com\/en\/how-can-you-estimate-your-carbon-footprint\/","title":{"rendered":"How can you estimate your carbon footprint ?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

How can you estimate your carbon footprint, or climate footprint ? How can you know if your lifestyle is compatible with a sustainable world ?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you are asking yourself this question, you made a considerable step forward and probably care a lot about the environment. Congratulations ! In order to make your life easier, I tried out several carbon footprint estimators and chose the ‘best’<\/em> one. The objective is to estimate your carbon footprint in only 5 minutes and to quickly get your priorities right in order to reduce it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foreword: definitions and objectives.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

What is the carbon footprint ?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The carbon footprint is a broad estimation of greenhouse gas emissions associated with a country’s consumption (final domestic demand), regardless of where the consumed goods and services were produced in the world. This approach is to be distinguished from the national greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inventory<\/strong>, which measures the overall GHG emissions of a territory (also called territorial approach). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The French government gives the following definition :“A country’s greenhouse gas emission inventory is to produce a diagnostic of the greenhouse gas emissions of public and private stakeholders, with a view to identifying and mobilizing avenues for reducing these emissions. These inventories are made using the protocols and recommendations defined by the IPCC.<\/strong>“<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To illustrate: In France, we import more products than we export, therefore our carbon footprint is higher than the national inventory In 2017, with 633 Mt CO2eq (the CO2eq unit measures the environmental impact of one tonne of all GHG in comparison to the impact of one tonne of CO2), the carbon footprint was higher than national GHG emissions. See more below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Source: Ministry of the Environment<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The target is to go from 10 to a maximum of 2 tons CO2eq\/year\/person ! <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If you’re only just discovering this number, you may be a bit shocked: we’re going to have to divide our emissions by an average of 5<\/span> ! In other words, divide the comfort you get through the consumption of energy by 5. Let’s quote the French national low carbon strategy<\/a>, page 43:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In 2015, the carbon footprint of French people per capita was slightly higher than in 1995: 11 tons of Co2 eq \/person. Trend wise, the carbon footprint of imports has risen by an average of 2% per year during the last 5 years, whereas the territorial emissions (directly emitted in metropolitan France)
have decreased by 2.5% per year. However, in order to respect +2\u00b0 Celsius as the upper limit for global warming, global carbon footprints have to reach an average of 2 tons of CO2eq\/person<\/strong> during the following decades.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

These two graphs give us a good idea of the efforts we have to make. First of all, the average carbon footprint per capita has been relatively stable for the last 20 years, compared to the national inventory (obviously, seeing as we have displaced our polluting industries elsewhere. Clever, isn\u2019t it?).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Source : Carbon footprint of French people, 2022 edition.<\/a> Official statistics published by the government<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And here’s the average carbon footprint of French people, and the final target. Using data from 2017; this graph from the “Do your part” study by Carbone 4 (a consulting firm which assists the transformation of organizations in their decarbonization and adaptation to climate change) illustrates the magnitude of efforts we have to make.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Source : Carbone 4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

NB: Depending on the sources, this number will vary from 9 to 12 tons CO2eq. It\u2019s important to take into account what year the data has been generated, and particularly keep in mind that the order of magnitude<\/a> is what counts here. Feel free to dig into it in order to get a better understanding of how these are calculated.<\/strong> Carbone 4 estimated that the average carbon footprint was 9.9 t CO2eq in January 2022<\/a>, which is close to the number of 10 tons used in this article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why you should calculate your carbon footprint:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Knowing a country\u2019s carbon footprint is one thing, knowing your own is another. Unsurprisingly; there are strong disparities according to your revenue: in France, households that earn the most also have the highest carbon footprint: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Source : Combet & Al, 2020<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n


Therefore, in order to have a sustainable lifestyle, you should focus your efforts according to your own carbon footprint.<\/strong> Ten tons per year is only an average: a vegetarian Breton only moving around on a bike does not have the same footprint as a Parisian spending his weekends in Marrakech once a month.<\/a> Obvously, it will be much less of a hassle for him to reduce his footprint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carbon footprint calculator, the final verdict !<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After trying out several calculators, I settled on what seems to me to be the best one yet: “Our climate gestures”<\/a> by Ademe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can check your carbon footprint by clicking on “Do<\/a> the<\/a> test<\/a>” – and\/or go to the end of this article to get the simulator directly embedded on this page. <\/p>\n\n\n\n