Learn to calculate your environmental footprint

THE Environmental footprint is nothing more than the impact that our actions have on the Environment and compromise its regenerative capacity.. It is an indicator that measures direct and indirect emissions of greenhouse gases by a person, family or company. Thus, in this article, we detail what the environmental footprint is and explain how to calculate it in a simple and practical way. Also read: 7 tips to reduce your environmental footprint in financial operations

How to calculate?

Reducing consumption so as not to put pressure on the environment is an ambitious goal that calls for all of us. But, where should we start? The first step is to know what our activities for the Environment represent. And we only know what we can quantify. Yea, can quantify the “damage” that your behaviors do to the Environment. And it’s not a “seven-headed bug”. With the calculation of the environmental or carbon footprint it is possible to outline a viable strategy for reducing and neutralizing such as, for example, the use of alternative energies. environmental footprint calculators, available for free, You can know how much yours is. You just have to follow the instructions and enter the information that is being requested. The calculator does the rest. These calculators are based on metrics and use criteria globally accepted among experts. We leave you several suggestions.

United Nations Environmental Footprint Calculator

The United Nations Environmental Footprint Calculator is ready to use and available in three languages: English, French and Spanish. This calculator considers the following aspects: energy consumed in and by housing, in transport and consumption habits. Therefore, you need to provide information about your home, such as housing type, size and energy efficiency, as well as information about your usual mode of transport and lifestyle. For example, get ready to reveal how much meat and local products you consume and how you manage food waste or technological waste.This calculator compares your footprint with the per capita average for your country and the world. Therefore, it will ask you to choose the country where you are living and then estimate your carbon dioxide emissions based on the latest specific data for the country you have chosen.

Footprint Calculator

Footprint is a company specialized in map and reduce carbon emissions “at source”, as much as possible and offset unavoidable emissions through offsetting activities/investments. The objective is to make your activities have a zero carbon balance. In other words, carbon neutral. One of the activities to offset the environmental footprint is through “Carbon Offset Projects” that fight climate change and support underserved communities around the world. And this calculator, in addition to allowing you to calculate yours, also gives you the possibility to compensate for it. Just click on the ‘Offset’ button after finishing your calculation. This calculator covers the same aspects as the previous one, but in more detail. It also allows compare your result with the average of the country where you live. You already know: it only works if you tell the truth. Only then can you have a reliable idea of ​​what your carbon footprint is.

Go Parity Calculator

It is a national proposal. This calculator was developed by a company that specializes in managing sustainable and socially responsible investments. Your focus is on calculation of the carbon dioxide that the activities you carry out on a day-to-day basis imply. In addition, it can even offset this carbon through investments in projects that avoid the emission of carbon dioxide. Among the various projects that contribute to avoiding these emissions, solar energy projects for self-consumption, reforestation projects and energy efficiency projects stand out. Also read: Sustainable investing: investing and helping the planet

WWF calculator

The WWF calculator has a very significant “competitive advantage”: it is easy to use. Instead of asking you to enter exact data about how much energy you use or how many kilometers you drive in a given period and things like that, asks simple and multiple choice questions.Based on the answers, the application calculates a value automatically. Despite being an estimate, it can be one of the most reliable as well. After all, the objective is not to have the exact figure of how much our environmental footprint is, but an idea as close to reality as possible to then be able to act. It is also one of the most complete, since includes the four main categories of household consumption and asks several questions about each of them.

TerraPass Carbon Calculator

This new proposal, despite being equally user-friendly, has more limitations. The TerraPass Carbon calculator only covers the areas of transport and housing in their consumption estimates. Therefore, the result of the environmental footprint through this calculator runs the risk of being lower than the other calculators (with the four main categories of household consumption) mentioned above. Unless you know the partial environmental footprint for food and goods, services and leisure and add it to the result you get using this calculator, can be misled and convince themselves that their footprint is much smaller than it really is.

EPA calculator

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) carbon calculator is another proposal, albeit a more incomplete one. This is because leaves out some of the main sources of personal emissions, such as flights, food, goods, services and leisure.It only includes the consumption of energy at home and with the car and some questions about waste, in addition to being especially focused on the North American universe. The consequence? The results you get with this calculator may also fall short.

How to reduce the environmental footprint?

Now that you know how you can measure your environmental footprint, the next step is develop behaviors through which to reduce it. These are just a few suggestions.look for don’t make big trips. If you can be closer to your place of work and your places of leisure, you can significantly reduce your transport-related emissions. bicycle, walk more and prefer public transport to your car. produce your own energy or choose alternatives “cleaner”. And about food, why not reduce the consumption of meat and fish and introduce vegetarian dishess?Consider offsetting your emissions by investing in clean energy projects or others seeking to offset carbon emissions. You can do this in a variety of ways, directly or through investments, for example in green bondss. Also read: What are green bonds?