In brief: Your ecological footprint is largely shaped by four areas: housing and heating, mobility, food and consumption. The average in Germany is around ten tonnes of greenhouse gases per person per year. The biggest impact comes from heating, flying, meat and how long you use things. Small everyday actions count too, but less than is often claimed. Here you can find out how to calculate your own footprint and where to start.
What the ecological footprint measures
The ecological footprint describes how much of the Earth's surface is needed to provide everything a person consumes and absorb the waste and emissions produced in the process (bpb, Ecological footprint). In everyday use, people usually mean the carbon footprint: one part of the ecological footprint, namely the total greenhouse gases caused by your lifestyle, converted into CO2 equivalents.
How to calculate your own footprint
The Federal Environment Agency's carbon calculator asks about your living space and heating, electricity, car use, rail and air travel, food and consumption. At the end, you can see which area accounts for the most in your case and compare yourself with the average in Germany. The calculator assigns some emissions equally to everyone, such as those from roads, schools and public administration. You can hardly influence this share on your own, but you can influence the rest.
fussabdruck.de offers a second, more playful approach by converting consumption into the area it requires.
Where you can make the biggest difference
Housing and heating
Heating is the biggest single source of emissions in many households. Lowering the room temperature by one degree, setting thermostats correctly and airing rooms briefly with the windows fully open instead of leaving them tilted can save energy without leaving you cold. If you move or renovate, insulation and the type of heating give you the greatest scope for reducing emissions. When it comes to electricity, it is worth looking at your tariff and at appliances that run around the clock.
Mobility
A single long-haul flight can cause more emissions than many months of driving. Flying less often and walking or cycling for short journeys can significantly reduce your footprint. For medium-length journeys, the train is usually a better choice than the car.
Food
Animal-based foods, especially beef and cheese, cause significantly more greenhouse gas emissions than plant-based foods. You do not have to go vegan to make a difference: even a few meat-free days a week can help. Buying seasonal and local food helps too, and the greatest savings come from food that never ends up in the bin. Find out how to bring plant-based food into your everyday life in Everyday vegan living.
Consumption
For clothing, furniture and household goods, most emissions are generated during manufacture, not use. That is why the most effective consumption choice is often the simplest: buy less and use things for longer. A knife that you sharpen for years, a pan that you look after properly, a rug that you turn around instead of replacing. Find ten habits to help with this in Use for longer instead of buying new.
What climate neutrality means — and what it does not
Climate neutrality means that, on balance, no additional greenhouse gases enter the atmosphere. For countries, this is a goal that laws and investments are designed to achieve. For an individual, it is currently almost impossible to achieve fully, because some emissions are tied to infrastructure, heating and supply chains that you cannot control on your own.
Compensation payments, for example for reforestation projects, do not reduce emissions at the source. Since 27 September this year, products in the EU can therefore no longer be advertised with climate claims based on such compensation projects. For you, this means looking for information that describes a specific, substantiated characteristic rather than a climate promise on the packaging. At Taiga, Taiga Transparency shows you on every product page what information is available about a product and what it is based on.
Three steps for this week
- Calculate: Use the Federal Environment Agency's carbon calculator and note down the area that accounts for the most.
- Choose one major lever: Turn the heating down by one setting, replace a flight with a train journey or introduce two meat-free days.
- Look after an item instead of replacing it: sharpen the blunt knife, care for the pan properly or keep using the lamp with a new light bulb.
Frequently asked questions
What is the carbon footprint in Germany?
The average is around ten tonnes of greenhouse gases per person per year. You can calculate your own footprint with the Federal Environment Agency's carbon calculator.
What makes the biggest difference?
Heating less, flying less often, eating fewer animal-based foods and using things for longer. These four areas account for most of the total.
Can I reduce my footprint to zero as an individual?
Not completely, because some emissions are tied to infrastructure that you cannot control on your own. But you can significantly reduce the part you can influence.
The quietest opportunity to make a difference is in the kitchen: tools that last a long time because they can be properly cared for. Find our selection in Cooking.
