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CO2 calculator
The climate crisis and what to do about it
- Climate crisis 10-point action plan
- Key points
- IPCC report of 2018: halve emissions by 2030
- Climate change: the basics
- Stop burning fossil fuels: Stay within the budget of 420Gt CO2
- Global emissions are rising and governments are failing
- The rising feeling of desperation
- Simple solutions for the climate crisis, which should have been implemented already
Action needed
- Summary
- Local government
- Local government: Make walking safe
- National government
- Organisations
- Individuals
- Passivhaus home standards
- 'Offsetting'?
False and dubious solutions
Awareness raising
Civil disobedience
- Civil disobedience in a democracy: Q and A
- Civil disobedience and the law
- Greta Thunberg and the school strikes
- Extinction Rebellion
Reasons for optimism
Tecnicalities by sector
- The UK has not cut its greenhouse gas emissions
- International comparisons
- The basics
- Emissions from home energy
- "Green electricity"
- Emissions from cars
- Emissions from food
- Health, education, etc emissions
- Buses
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- UK average footprint
- References
- Calculator version information
Standards of administration in a democracy
Performance assessments
- Assessing performance on the climate crisis
- BEIS is not telling the truth on carbon emissions
- Transport for the North: Failing on the climate crisis
- Steve Rotheram: failing on the climate crisis
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UK average footprint
Estimates
The table summarises other estimates of UK average emissions (tonnes per person per year). Some sources give merely the CO2. Others include methane and nitrous oxide greenhouse gas emissions converted into an 'equivalent' quantity of CO2 ('equivalence' being according to standard formulae), and so give a total as tonnes CO2 equivalent per person per year.| CO2 | Total greenhouse gases as CO2 equivalent | Source | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | [MH, 3] | ||
| 10.7 | [Carbon Trust, 7] | From UK consumption - i.e. including imports | |
| 10.8 | [WWF, 17] | From UK production | |
| 11 | [5] | ||
| 11.9 | [WWF, 17] | From UK consumption - i.e. including imports - i.e. 1.1 more than UK production above | |
| 12.5 | [CG, 10] | ||
| 13 | [LM, 1] |
There is reasonable agreement with our estimate of 9.84 tonnes CO2 per person per year, and with our estimate of total greenhouse gases of 13.4 tonnes equivalent per person per year (given on our Basic information page.
Uncertainties
The range of figures reflects the difficulties in calculating an accurate up-to-date average figure, as follows.One problem is that detailed figures tend to be not up to date. The most detailed figures available for the UK seem to be those in source [7]. This is a document published in 2006, quoting figures published by the University of Surrey in 2005, based on UK Government statistics of 2002 and 2004. The total has clearly changed since then.
Greenhouse gases other than CO2
It is not clear how to allow for greenhouse gases other than CO2. The two most important are methane and nitrous oxide. Methane persists in the atmosphere for around a decade [6], and nitrous oxide for about a century [6], whereas there is much uncertainty about the fate of CO2 emissions. So while we know that methane is generated by deforestation, and the production of rice and cattle, it is not clear how we should convert methane generated by someone's meat-eating lifestyle into an equivalent amount of CO2, because it depends on which timescale we are considering.But for the purposes of informing people about the ways in which their lifestyle is damaging the world, and providing a single summary figure in the form of calculator, it is necessary to pick on one timescale - and 100 years is the standard figure chosen.
References
See the Reference listFirst published: 2008
Last updated: 14 Jul 2019
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