Let us equip you with the right tool to help you fight climate change

Our carbon calculator is more sophisticated and more accurate than any other on the internet

Our new carbon footprint calculator is designed to help individuals get a meaningful sense of their contribution to climate change – and what they can do to reduce it. We created the tool in response to the fact that, although there are loads of calculators out there, none of them really do what we feel they should.
One problem is that existing carbon calculators tend to focus exclusively our consumption of gas, electricity, car fuel and flights. Significant as these emissions sources are, they only add up to around half of the average footprint. The other half is made up of all the other goods and services we purchase – everything from food to gadgets to healthcare. These "indirect" emissions often get missed out, so our tool includes them and aims to provide a more rounded picture of the emissions we're each responsible for.
Instead of entering precise numbers for only a part of your carbon footprint (gas and electricity bills), you enter more approximate information for all of it. To keep things simple, we've also designed the calculator just for individuals - it doesn't look at households or include emissions from your workplace. We hope this makes it quicker to use, as well as giving ameaningful result. To create the tool, we started off with a summary of the UK's total carbon footprint, including those emissions embedded in the goods we import from China and other countries. The summary breaks down the total into 15 key areas – everything from domestic electricity use through to the manufacture of paper products and cars.
Next, we divided these 15 numbers by the UK's population to provide a comprehensive breakdown of the carbon footprint of a typical UK resident. Then we created a set of sliders that enable you to change each figure to reflect your own lifestyle.
If you're interested in the detailed methodology behind the calculator, here a few points about the data:
• The figures for UK emissions are based on a sophisticated "input-output model" created by Small World Consulting. They include all the Kyoto greenhouse gases (such as methane and nitrous oxide as well as CO2) and are adjusted for imports and exports. In other words, the figures are as close as we can get to an accurate summary of the carbon footprint of all the imported goods and services that UK citizens consume.
• Since the Small World input-output model exists only for the UK, the figures for different countries shown to the right of the tool are approximate. We've arrived at them using data for national emissions and imports and exports, so they should be considered as indicative rather than precise.
• We've tentatively included for comparison a figure for a "sustainable" footprint. We've plumped for 3.1 tonnes by 2050, based on the UK's target for an 80% cut in emissions by 2050 but factoring in carbon from goods in addition. But we're well aware that what counts as a sustainable footprint depends on a whole host of assumptions, including how quickly we reduce our emissions and how much risk of runaway climate change we're prepared to accept. Again, then, this is just an indicative number. Some people would argue that the only truly sustainable footprint is a non-existent one.
• For more information on what's included in each slider, click on the question marks next to each one on the calculator.
Lastly, it's worth saying the calculator is very much a continual work in progress, so if you have suggestions for features or improvements, let us know in the comments below. Equally, we're keen to answer any questions you have about the data too.