Contents

Section 1 – What does this mean?

Section 2 – What’s your number?

Section 3 – Take a bite out of your food footprint

Section 4 – Find greener transport

Section 5 – Save costs and carbon at home

Section 2 – What’s your number?

While countries are required to cut emissions, as citizens, we will also play a crucial role, as highlighted in the recent IPCC report of April 2022. While many of us want to play our part, busy lives, or other important priorities, such as the 2022 cost of living crisis, mean sustainability and the planet can understandably go to the bottom of the list.

But there are ways for everyone to get involved, and we find at Giki, it all starts with ‘What’s Your Number?’ You can get an easy-to-understand score to keep track of everything you’re doing for the planet.

Once you know your number on Giki Zero (a combination of your carbon footprint and all the steps you are taking to improve it), there’s always something you can do to improve it, and many of the steps that we need to take to cut carbon can save money too. Here we look at the main parts of someone’s carbon footprint and cover actions, not pledges, that we can take from quick wins to steps that will have a significant impact.

As a background, the average per capita carbon footprint in wealthy nations is 10 tonnes per person per year. This needs to reduce to 2.5 tonnes per person globally by 2030, to achieve a halving of global emissions. Think of this as your own NDC, or target, and then think about how you can track everything you are doing to get there.

The largest components of personal carbon footprints tend to be diets, home, and transport. In this section, we detail some big impact steps we can make in these three key areas, starting with food. Taking steps will ensure you’ve moved from pledges to action.

Section 3 – Take a bite out of your food footprint

Try plant-based products

Food typically makes up one-quarter of the average carbon footprint and switching to a plant-based diet can cut your food footprint in half. This is because the production of meat, dairy, and fish has a higher carbon footprint than the production of plant-based foods. There are several reasons for this:

1. Greater amounts of land are required to produce the same calories from animals as plant products due to the requirement for additional land to grow animal feed. Land used for agriculture typically absorbs less carbon than forestry or uncultivated land.
2. A lot of soy animal feed is grown in Brazil linked to deforestation. Agriculture and land use create approximately one-quarter of total global greenhouse gas emissions, and most deforestation is to provide more land for agriculture.
3. Animals, in particular red meat from cattle and sheep, produce methane, which is a highly potent greenhouse gas.

A three-step process to get more plants into your diet

1. Try a few plant-based products. Try a vegetarian meal instead of a meat meal or opt for one of the many new plant-based products on the market. You can now get plant-based bacon, burgers, sausages, chicken pieces, and even chicken nuggets. As food technology evolves, they are becoming much tastier.
2. Try a period without red meat, for example, one month. There are many vegan or vegetarian chefs and recipes online now for inspiration.
3. Try animal products once a day. This is an excellent way to make a significant cut in your food footprint. It can be easiest to avoid animal products at breakfast and lunch. For example, if you have cereal in the morning, try it with plant-based milk or yoghurt. For dinner, try swapping your sausages, burgers, or kievs for a plant -based alternative.

It is projected that by 2025, one quarter of British people will be vegetarian, and half will be flexitarian (predominantly plant-based with occasional meat or dairy). As numbers grow, the supply of plant-based options will grow.

There are two great things about taking a bite out of your food footprint. Firstly, you can start at the next meal, so the impact is immediate. Secondly, you can save money by eating more plants.

Section 4 – Find greener transport

Switch to Electric Vehicles

In wealthier nations transport can be one of the largest parts of personal carbon footprints. Transitioning away from fossil fuels in transport is crucial to keeping below 1.5 °C. Electric cars are one of the fastest growing solutions in the transport sector.

Figure 1 shows how petrol and diesel cars are one of the biggest contributors to individual carbon footprints. They are also slowly being banned. Electric vehicles (EVs) typically emit zero emissions, do not emit other harmful pollutants, and are also cheaper to run. This is due to lower fuel costs and even the ability to charge at times of day when electricity can be cheaper. Every year the price of electric cars versus their fossil fuel predecessors gets closer and closer.

EVs look to be one of the most promising technologies for the future but most vehicles on the road today are still powered by fossil fuels.

Buying an EV requires a big upfront investment, but there are ways to reduce the amount of petrol or diesel used right now that will save money on fuel bills.

Three step process to cut emissions and pollution from petrol and diesel cars immediately

1. Accelerate gently: Acceleration gobbles fuel, so the smoother it is, and the more you can maintain your speed, the more fuel you’ll save.
2. Drive more slowly: 50mph is 25% more efficient than 70mph.
3. Drive less: when the engine is off, it isn’t burning fuel. Get public transport or try to walk short distance trips which both reduce your footprint.

Section 5 – Save costs and carbon at home

Four steps and big savings

With the price of gas soaring around the world many people are looking for ways to immediately reduce the amount of fossil fuels needed to heat our homes and provide hot water.

Heating and domestic hot water account for around 75% of household energy requirements so there’s lots of scope to cut carbon emissions and costs.

1. Turn thermostats down and turn radiators off in unused rooms: Turning your thermostats down by just 1 °C can save a big chunk of carbon throughout the year and reduce energy bills. Most households in the UK and US could turn their thermostats down by 1C and still be at 18C or above.
2. Complete Giki’s work-from-home checklist: Whether you work from home or not, this can help save on electricity and gas bills.
3. Insulate your home: This means less fuel is required to achieve the same level of heating, so cutting carbon and bills. It is estimated that you get payback on any investment within three years.
4. Switch to renewable electricity: Renewable energy uses nature to generate power rather than burning fossil fuels. Switching to renewables can lead to a big reduction in your carbon footprint and is one of the steps everyone needs to make. You can cut your electricity carbon footprint by over 90% if you use 100% renewable electricity.

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