Climate emergency: how to effectively reduce your carbon footprint?

The environmental transition concerns all of humanity, where it is becoming imperative to modify consumption patterns to reduce its carbon bill.

If the Ministry of Ecological Transition estimated at 9t/CO2e/French/year, it turns out that these official calculations did not include emissions linked to deforestation, to certain GHGs such as HFCs, PFCs and SF6, as well as the water vapor from aircraft contrails.

Based on ADEME data confirmed by Carbone 4, Greenly analyzed the 3 scopes (concerning direct and indirect emissions) of French people, bringing them to 9,9t/CO2e/French/year, i.e. almost one ton more: it would take 2,9 Earths if all of humanity consumed like France, and on May 5, 2022, France consumed what the Earth takes a year to produce. For comparison, it is 9 Terres for Qatar, 8,2 for Luxembourg and 5,1 for the United States. On an individual scale, the most emitting items concern transport, food, purchases of goods and services.

Reducing the Five Horsemen of Climate Change

Each French person can contribute to reducing their carbon footprint by 28% by applying everyday actions in the most emitting positions. To do this, all you have to do is rethink your consumption to aim for low carbon.

• Transport: it's 2,6 tCO2e per inhabitant, the private car represents nearly three quarters of the emissions linked to transport, followed by the plane. The most effective alternative is to favor soft mobility transport such as cycling for short distances (-0,32 tCO2e) or even public transport, which emits 98% less emissions than the car for an equivalent journey. Carpooling, thanks to the occupancy rate, reduces 0,27 tCO2e/person.year, whether the trip is short or long. 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.
• Food: With its 2,3 tCO2e per inhabitant, food is the second most emitting item. At the top of the list, meat consumption represents almost half, or 0,92 tCO2e, followed by dairy products and poultry (0,39 tCO2e), fruits and vegetables (0,24 tCO2e) and fishing. (0,12 tCO2e). Adopting an entirely vegetarian diet would reduce carbon emissions by a ton. The consumption of local products also has a positive impact since it reduces the carbon footprint by 0,17 tCO2e.
• Housing: Fossil energy consumption (gas and oil), whether for lighting or heating one's home, represents 1,9 tCO2e/inhabitant.year. Emissions related to construction and waste management contribute only to a small extent. By maintaining the temperature of your home at 19°, you save 0,16 tCO2e. The same goes for installing LED lighting to save 0,02 tCO2e.
• Goods and services: emitting 1,6 tCO2e, it is possible to reduce this footprint by buying 3 times less new clothes (-0,22 tCO2e) and all your second-hand household and high-tech appliances (-0,16 tCO2e ), as well as by adopting a zero waste behavior thanks to the bulk offered in several stores and by having a water bottle to limit plastic bottles (-0,09 tCO2e). Other levers can be activated to reduce positions such as banking by favoring responsible investments, or even to prefer more virtuous leisure activities.
• Public services: The carbon footprint of this item is estimated at 1,4 tCO2e per inhabitant. Because of the relative inability of individuals to act directly on these emissions, they are considered "incompressible" emissions.

For Tommy Catherine, carbon methodology expert at Greenly: “While individual actions play a role in reducing our carbon footprint, this study sheds light on systemic factors that contribute to our carbon footprint that have long gone unnoticed. Large-scale collective action is therefore necessary and this includes the decarbonization of industrial and agricultural companies, as well as the state. And it is possible, as demonstrated by a recent observation of the hole in the ozone layer, which has continued to rebuild since the banning of certain gases. »