What is Carbon Footprint?

The overall amount of greenhouse gases (including carbon dioxide and methane) released into the Earth’s atmosphere as a result of our actions is known as a carbon footprint (Wiedmann & Minx, 2008). It includes ejection from fossil fuel ignition in manufacturing, heating, and transportation. Other greenhouse gases like methane, nitrous oxide, or chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are also frequently included in the carbon footprint idea.

It mostly considers carbon dioxide emissions. Just like an actual footprint, it’s a mark you leave upon the environment not with your shoes but with every action that releases carbon such as CO₂ by burning fossil fuels such as oil and gas. The more fuel you use, the bigger your footprint will be.

Origin of Carbon Footprint Measurement

The term carbon footprint was derived from the concept of ecological footprint. However, the idea became familiar when the BP (British Petroleum) oil and gas firm,  in 2003 introduced a campaign inviting passersby to roughly calculate their carbon footprint. The motto of the advertisement, “It’s a start,” encouraged people to employ BP’s calculator to estimate their own carbon footprint and then look for a strategy to minimize it. As a result, carbon footprint remained to be the main focus of people.

Why does Carbon Footprint matter?

Understanding and combating climate change depends heavily on understanding carbon footprints. As they contribute to climate change, carbon emissions are one of the side effects that are most concerning globally (Hammond, 2007). Our seasons are getting less predictable, our water is becoming scarcer, and our economy is at greater risk every day as a result of climate change.

Components of Carbon Footprint

1. Direct Emissions:

These are emissions that are created right away from sources that the entity owns or controls, like the burning of fossil fuels in automobiles and on-site equipment (Schanes et al., 2016).

•  Indirect Emissions (from Energy Use):

These emissions come from the production of the steam, heat, or electricity that the organization uses.

• Indirect Emissions from the Supply Chain : 

These are emissions resulting from actions that the entity doesn’t directly control, such as those related to the manufacturing of acquired goods, transportation, and water disposal.

Relationship between Carbon Footprint and Global Warming

The total amount of greenhouse gas emissions that anything – a person, or organization has produced is fundamentally what is referred to as a carbon footprint. Whereas, Greenhouse gases are the atmospheric gases that cause the “greenhouse effect” and contribute to climatic change and global warming.

Carbon Footprint leading to Global Warming and Greenhouse Effect: What is Global Warming and Greenhouse effect?

The greenhouse effect occurs when the sun’s rays reach the earth’s atmosphere but the heat they generate cannot escape back into space when it is reflected off the surface. In other words, greenhouse gases trap heat inside the atmosphere and it overheats the planet. Fossil fuel combustion is the key factor that causes the emission of gases, which blocks the escaping of heat from Earth’s atmosphere. Carbon dioxide,  water vapor, methane, nitrous oxide, and chlorofluorocarbons are significant greenhouse gases.

Global warming, also referred to as unwanted heat in the atmosphere, is the progressive increase in average world temperature.

Effects of Global warming:

Global warming has the following direct and indirect adverse effects on our climate:

1. Hotter temperature
2. More severe storms
3. Melting of glaciers
4. Increased droughts
5. Floods
6. Poverty and displacement

How to estimate your own Carbon Footprint?

If you want to calculate your own carbon footprint, you must be aware of how many greenhouse gases you are accountable for producing. Accurate measurement of this is challenging. There are different methods regarding how best to calculate it. The procedure includes finding emission sources, collecting information on energy usage, transportation, and other operations, and interpreting these elements into CO₂ equivalent emissions (Pandey et al., 2011). But the energy we utilize to power our house and for transportation has a direct impact while the energy used to manufacture everything we use has an indirect impact.

1. Particularly in the industrialized world, transportation contributes significantly to your carbon footprint.
2. Your own carbon footprint is also influenced by the place where you reside. For Example: the use of refrigerators and air conditioners emit CFCs (Chlorofluorocarbons).
3. The products you use at home also contribute to the issue. The production and disposal of all that plastic, metal, and cardboard consumes a lot of energy.
4. Your food is another factor that increases your carbon footprint, particularly red meat. Because of how much methane (another greenhouse gas) cows produce.
5. The massive number of trees that are cut down in rural areas are used as fuel for cooking and to make pastures for cattle to graze.
6. In the developing world, polluting stoves are an issue too.

 Rich Countries vs Poor Countries (Carbon dioxide emission comparison):

People in underdeveloped countries produce far lesser amounts of greenhouse gases than people in developed countries do. Therefore, if you only consider what a country produces, the average carbon dioxide emitted per capita in the United States is roughly 16.1 tons annually. It is 7.1 tones in China and 5.5 tones in the UK but only 0.03 tons are produced annually in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. While Qatar, which has a very tiny population but produces the most oil and gas overall with 38.6 tons, leads the pack.

Now that’s just production. It doesn’t include all the things we have talked about, or how much you utilize. But it is evident that the more resources you have, the more you tend to consume. So, people in developed countries really need to reduce their carbon footprint. It is possible and advanced technologies are being introduced all the time to make things greener. But many countries declared the aim of becoming carbon neutral by the middle of this century means a revolution in the way we live.

 How we can reduce our Carbon Footprint?

1. Energy Efficiency: Carbon emissions can be considerably reduced by using energy-efficient equipment, vehicles, and practices.
2. Renewable/ Sustainable Energy Sources: It is possible to reduce reliance on fossil fuels by switching to renewable energy sources like solar energy and wind power. The more sustainable energy you use, the more you cut your emissions.
3. Transportation: Opting for public transportation, biking, or carpooling can cut down emissions from individual travel.
4. Sustainable Practices: The carbon footprints of products can be reduced by using sustainable farming,  manufacturing, and consuming techniques.
5. Waste Management: Reducing, reusing, and recycling supports the reduction of emissions related to waste disposal.
6. Use of Green Technology: Low carbon construction (establishing energy-efficient buildings), LED lighting (energy-saving light bulbs), Vertical Farming (utilizing less water and less land), etc.
7. Corporate and Individual Responsibilities: Businesses can also play a role in lowering carbon footprints. Companies can use sustainable practices, invest in green technology, and set emission reduction targets. People may choose to consume less meat, use energy-efficient equipment, and purchase sustainable items if they are well-informed.

Conclusion:

From the above points, it is evident that Carbon Footprints have alarming effects on our climate and ecosystem.Understanding and raising awareness regarding Carbon Footprint are mandatory steps in mitigating climate change. We need to lessen the combustion of fossil fuels and switch to renewable energy sources. We should encourage the use of the 3R strategy, that is Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. In addition, industries and factories should be held accountable for the smoke, waste, and pollution they produce. By following the above mentioned measures, we may contribute to reducing Carbon Footprints.

References:

Hammond, G. (2007). Time to give due weight to the’carbon footprint’issue. Nature, 445(7125), 256-256.

Pandey, D., Agrawal, M., & Pandey, J. S. (2011). Carbon footprint: current methods of estimation. Environmental monitoring and assessment, 178, 135-160.

Schanes, K., Giljum, S., & Hertwich, E. (2016). Low carbon lifestyles: A framework to structure consumption strategies and options to reduce carbon Journal of Cleaner Production, 139, 1033-1043.

Wiedmann, T., & Minx, J. (2008)’. Ecological economics research trends, 1(2008), 1-11.

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Author detail:

Aisha Ghaffar¹, Isba Tariq¹

¹Department of Chemistry, University Of Agriculture Faisalabad, Subcampus Toba Tek Singh