Food, housing, societal services... How to calculate your carbon footprint?

Alexandre Dalifard 17:41 pm, April 10, 2023

Do you know your carbon footprint? This indicator measures the amount of greenhouse gases that each individual emits, such as food, travel or shelter. The calculation is then converted to carbon equivalent to make it more readable. Today, the average carbon footprint of a French person is nine tons per year. In order to limit global warming and respect the Paris Agreement, individuals must each go down to two tons per year in 2050. This is equivalent to reducing your carbon footprint by 5% every year, starting now. Invited in Bienfait pour vous, columnist Perrine Brami explains how she was able to measure the impact of her activity on the environment.

The food abyss

For this, the columnist connected to the simulator of Ademe, the agency of the ecological transition, Nosgestesclimat.fr. And in less than ten minutes, the result is obtained. "How many hours do you spend per week on the subway? How many kilometres do you drive each year? Do you have a scooter? The user thus answers a whole series of questions on food, housing, technologies ...", details Perrine Brami at the microphone of Julia Vignali and Mélanie Gomez.

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After meeting all the criteria, the columnist discovers her impact on the planet, accompanied by her daughter Salomé. "4.3 tonnes. And the goal is two tons, we will have to lower a little more, "says the girl. To understand her result, Perrine Brami was able to consult the details by sector. "What pollutes the most at home is my diet with a ton and a half, mainly because of meat. Frankly, I didn't know it weighed that much," she admits. Then comes the housing with a "gas boiler that kills everything".

The important share of societal services

On the other hand, one criterion caught the attention of the columnist: societal services. "We attribute the footprint of public services, education, health and market, to each citizen equally," says the simulator of Ademe. This corresponds to a handicap of departure. "For the carbon footprint of the French, there is a base of 1.7 tons of CO2 equivalent that comes from these services. This corresponds, for example, to the construction of hospitals, transport infrastructure or drinking water," says Perrine Brami. Concretely, to achieve the famous objective of two tons per person, a citizen could not emit more than 300 kg of CO2 equivalent per year.

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A worrying observation. How to comply with environmental agreements with so little margin? "Remember that this two-tonne target is for 2050, so in just over 25 years. It is not a question of being at that level tomorrow morning. And all these services, administrations and health, are also on a dynamic of decrease and therefore, by 2050, we will no longer be at 1.7 tons and you will be relieved, "reassures Martin Régner, head of the internal incubator of Ademe.