Is Carbon Footprint a Scam?
Carbon footprint is a term we use often to talk about the impact we are having on the environment, but do you know where it came from? Last year, a bombshell article was published by Mashable called “The carbon footprint sham” by Mark Kaufman (it’s fantastic, you should definitely read it) that exposed the surprising origins of the term. This story points to a larger dynamic around the balance between personal responsibility for social and environmental problems and the systemic nature of these issues. Let me explain further…
Carbon Footprint Defined
A carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases that are generated by our actions (Nature Conservancy). We often think of carbon footprint as being for a singular person, as in how much CO2 you are responsible for in a year but it can also be applied to an event, an organization, or a product. Typically, carbon footprint is calculated by estimating greenhouse gases such as CO2, methane and nitrous oxide that are generated through an activity but to keep it simple they are added together and expressed as carbon dioxide equivalent (Guardian).
The vast majority of the things we consume or do result in some emissions going into the atmosphere and that can be from a variety of sources, including the burning of fossil fuel, land clearance for the production, or the materials that go into manufactured goods.
Carbon Footprint by Country
For context I want to give you a sense of the carbon footprint of people in different countries. To demonstrate this I am using per capita CO2 emissions which takes the total emissions of a country and divides it by the population but this is not 100% accurate for two main reasons:
It looks at where emissions are produced not where they are consumed - if you think about a country like China that produces many goods, their emissions are often consumed by people in other countries. So while it says the average Chinese person is responsible for 7.1 tons of CO2 per year, it is well-established that those emissions are the result of demand in other countries.
International aviation is not accounted for. Aviation accounts for about 2.5% of emissions globally (ATAG) and while it is possible to include domestic flights in country carbon calculations there is a lot of disagreement around which country is responsible for international emissions. Is is where the plane took off or where it lands? Therefore international aviation is not included in country GHG inventories at all. It is estimated that 80% of the global population has never flown (Our World in Data) pointing further to the inequality in CO2 distribution across the globe.
Regardless, I think it is helpful to see the vast difference in CO2 production across different countries. All of these are in tons of CO2 per year and the figures come from Our World in Data. The global average is 4 tonnes of CO2 per year.
Carbon Footprint was Created by Big Oil
The idea of examining an individual’s ”footprint” started with a more broad concept called Ecological Footprinting that was developed in the 1990s by William E. Rees and Mathis Wackernagel (ResearchGate). Ecological footprint looks at all environmental impacts including emissions, water use, and land. The concept is usually more closely associated with planetary capacity and what the planet can renew. There are also other methodologies like Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) that provide a means of understanding the environmental impact of products from cradle to grave.
The idea of a carbon footprint was actually pushed and popularized by the fossil fuel industry. In his article, Mark Kaufman explains that in 2000 BP hired a public relations firm to position CO2 emissions as the problem of individuals and not of the industry. In 2004 the company released their carbon footprint calculator that helped people to see the impact of their lifestyle on CO2 emissions and since then the concept has caught on like wildfire and now many major environmental organizations support the concept, even the US Environmental Protection Agency provides American citizens with a calculator that they use to calculate their carbon footprint. The advertising campaign for this work reportedly cost $250 million dollars. This type campaign is not new, it was done previously with tobacco companies blaming people for becoming addicted to cigarettes and by big beverage producers blaming individuals for drinking their sugary drinks in cheap plastic bottles.
What the Pandemic Showed Us
The pandemic has taken away any illusion that all CO2 emissions are the direct result of our personal choices. Even with the global economy being mostly shut down for months, the total emission reduction we experienced was somewhere around 6-7% in 2020 (Nature). This is because the system is built this way. It is an emission intensive system and it requires not just individuals thinking more deeply about consumption choices but also massive, transformational changes to our infrastructure and policy.
“The pandemic has laid bare that our personal actions alone won’t stabilize the planet’s disrupted climate.”
- Mark Kaufman
Systems vs. Individuals
So, is carbon footprint a scam? No, not exactly, but there is more to the story:
We, as individuals, should think and care about your consumption choices and if a carbon calculator helps to provide clarity about where an individual is making an impact and gives ideas about how to lessen negative impacts, that is a great thing. Here is one you can use but there are a range of apps and calculators online that may be specific to your country.
BUT do not underestimate the power of how you use your voice and who you put into office. We have to be extremely cautious of the narrative that climate change is all our fault. The system we live in has a massive impact on the choices we actually have the power to make. Holding companies and politicians accountable is crucial to creating a low carbon economy and we should not let them off the hook easily.
Keep Learning
Here are a few great resources for further reading and learning:
The carbon footprint sham (Kaufman, 2020)
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