Does Anyone Know How to Calculate Carbon Footprint?
I want to know so I (and you) can make a difference
Note to Intertwine Readers: As we look for solutions to climate change, we are all faced with making changes in our personal choices and decisions about how we live on the planet. One part of that is consideration of our “carbon footprint.” But what is that? How do we measure it? And how do we know when we are changing it for the positive—or more importantly, that we are getting the biggest bang for our lifestyle-change buck. Here is an article that starts to look at that.
I am wondering if anyone knows how to calculate carbon footprint.
Don’t get me wrong… I know what they do today. The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) provides a primer on carbon footprint. Take the total emissions in a region — say a country, state, or city — and divide it by the population. That gives you a per capita amount of carbon emitted.
Interesting… and completely useless.
The article provides details that show why. First, that average per capita carbon footprint varies wildly based on where you live. Live in Wyoming? Your per capita carbon footprint is 104 tons of CO2 per year. Live in New York? It is less than 8 tons. So, if you live in Wyoming and you are concerned about your carbon footprint, what does this imply? The best thing you could do for the planet is to move to New York — your carbon footprint will go down by 92%! Wow!
What a bunch of nonsense.
Most Carbon Is Out of Our Control
In reality, what this shows is that the way we think about carbon footprint has no impact whatsoever on climate change. The article tries to illustrate the differences between these and other states, and unsurprisingly, if also unwittingly, illustrates how personal lifestyle choices are nearly irrelevant to calculating the number.
Why is the carbon footprint of New Yorkers so low? According to the article, it is because most people work in financial services, the concentration of people in New York City makes mass transit highly viable, and New York’s higher cost of electricity disincentivizes usage. Think about that. If you live in New York, none of those factors are within your personal control. Not one. You might choose to work in financial services, but your carbon footprint is low because so many of your neighbors do so, not because you do. Mass transit is virtually the only way to get around the city so millions of people use it all the time. And when was the last time you got to determine the rate you and your neighbors pay for electricity? Hence, your apparent carbon footprint is reduced because of the choices other people make.
Consider this. If you live in upstate New York where you have all the same challenges as those in Wyoming — rural area, long driving distances, cold weather, mountainous — this calculator suggests that your carbon footprint is radically lower than those who live in Wyoming. It is not because your lifestyle is 92% more efficient than those in Wyoming — it is because your emissions are balanced by those of the more efficient city and those in Wyoming are not. Concerned New Yorkers and concerned Wyoming residents who live the exact same carbon-reducing lifestyles to reduce emissions by 20% in their personal lives appear to be having radically different impacts. One amounts to a reduction of 1.6 tons of carbon, whereas the other is over 20 tons for the exact same lifestyle. If you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you.
The article also states that both Texas and California have reduced per capita emissions measures because they adopted renewable sources of electricity. The two states have converted a huge portion of their electric generation to wind and solar, thereby accounting for the overall reduction in their emissions.
So, How Can I Calculate My Carbon Footprint?
The linked UCS page also connects to a carbon footprint calculator. I used it to calculate mine. It asks a bunch of questions about the state you live in, lifestyle, food habits, driving and transportation habits, etc. then spits out “your carbon footprint.” Except, it is not my carbon footprint because the single biggest factor in the calculation is the state I live in. Additionally, it tells me nothing about the actual numbers or how they are calculated. Literally, it just spits out a number.
As a consumer, and as a thinker about climate solutions, I would like to know what factors in my life a) I can control, b) will make a difference, and c) how much that difference will be. Unfortunately, UCS and other calculators I have seen don’t provide that information.
Why do these numbers matter to me? Because like most people concerned about climate change, I am willing to take action to reduce my impact. If I need to make sacrifices, I want them to count. I want them to matter. I want them to make a difference. Yet looking as I might for a way to calculate my carbon footprint that reflects the actual impacts of actions I could take, I find none. And now, I think I know why: No one actually knows how to calculate carbon footprint. Per capita is a false statistic. Averages tell me nothing. What we all need to know to make good choices in a personal lifestyle is this: How much difference will x vs. y make in my situation? No one can tell you that, so we all run the risk of doing the wrong things — i.e., making huge personal sacrifices with minimal impact.
Do you really want to have a huge impact on climate? Here’s my challenge: Close this gap. Figure out a way to calculate carbon footprint that reflects reality. Show people the truth of their actions and impacts rather than basing it on irrelevant averages that distort and confuse. Don’t tell someone in Wyoming that going vegan will save twenty times the carbon emissions as their counterpart in Upstate New York doing the exact same thing. That’s absurd. Help us see what we can control and what we cannot control about our carbon emissions. Help us assess the real impact of changes we can make instead of exaggerated averages that mean nothing.
And if you happen to know of a model that can do exactly this, please send the link. I’d love to see it.
— Anthony Signorelli
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I do understand your argument though. Carbon footprint calculators that guilt you with generalisations and factors out of your control don’t empower you to make a difference personally. I’m saying Mike Berners-Lee’s book ‘How Bad Are Bananas?’ was intended to arm the individual with the info they need to reduce the greenhouse emissions of their lifestyle.
The 2010 edition aimed to help readers get down to a 10 tonne CO2 (e) lifestyle and the recent edition aims for 5T.
The (e) means equivalents. I’ve explained more in some of the earlier articles on my Substack, but in essence he uses CO2(e) to incorporate other emissions beside CO2 into the calculations, as they too have a climate effect. It’s a standardising unit.
But because you see the principles at work and the book also estimates embodied emissions and shipping emissions, ( eg electric vehicles have a heavy initial footprint because of manufacture), it gives you the thinking tools to apply these facts to your own life. For each item discussed there is a range eg an Apple from your backyard vs one purchased regionally in season vs one imported out of season.
Driving a small vehicle vs a large one etc etc