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Our Ecologi subscription plans are based on calculations of individual carbon footprints &#8211; but how do we arrive at these numbers?
In this post, we’re going to deep dive into what footprints are, how they are calculated, and the methodology we use to calculate the carbon footprints that power our individual, family and Climate Positive Workforce® subscription plans.

<h2>Unpicking a carbon footprint</h2>
A ‘carbon footprint’ is an estimate of the total greenhouse gas emissions associated with something &#8211; an activity, individual, or organisation. The concept of individual carbon footprints has a rocky history &#8211; having been promoted by BP <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20060212090704/http://www.bp.com/sectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=9005334&amp;contentId=7009881">in an advertising campaign in 2005</a>. In terms of collective action though, footprints are useful in terms of calculating the average footprint of an individual within a population.
Whilst your individual footprint may be higher or lower than the average, depending on your personal lifestyle, there is an implicit base carbon footprint attributable to you, as a resident in your home country.
This is the average per capita carbon footprint for a person who lives where you do, and can be worked out by dividing the total greenhouse gas emissions from your country by its population. This footprint is measured in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e).

<h2>How to build a carbon footprint</h2>
Depending on which sources you look at, you might have noticed that the quoted figure for an average UK carbon footprint varies quite a lot. This is likely because the different sources are measuring footprints differently. At Ecologi, we include in our carbon footprints:
<ul>
<li>All greenhouse gases (GHGs). This means that as well as carbon dioxide (CO2), we include in the calculation the other gases which warm our planet, such as methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O). In calculating a footprint, this is where “CO2e” comes from &#8211; the other greenhouse gases are illustrated as proxies of carbon dioxide based on their equivalent global warming potential (GWP).</li>
<li aria-level="1">Land use change. This refers to the net change in emissions caused by different usages of land. For example, a country or territory which has cleared lots of primary forest for agriculture would see a net increase in its overall emissions figure, since agricultural land is a less effective carbon sink than a healthy forest ecosystem.</li>
<li aria-level="1">Emissions transfers. This includes emissions for goods and services which are consumed in the territory, but are not produced there. For example, if you buy clothes or food in the UK which have been imported from another country, the emissions associated with the goods and services need to be included in the footprint as ‘consumption based’ emissions as well, since the emissions are generated as a result of buyers’ demand from the country.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Ecologi’s carbon footprint calculator</h2>
Taking all these factors into account, our footprint calculator for our individual, family and Climate Positive Workforce® subscription plans merges the country carbon footprint with UN population data to generate average individual footprints for many countries and regions around the world.
To generate our calculator, we had to synthesise a few different datasets:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">We retrieved emissions data from:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="2">UNFCCC (<a href="https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/transparency-and-reporting/greenhouse-gas-data/ghg-data-unfccc/ghg-data-from-unfccc">download</a>);</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="2">CAIT (<a href="https://www.climatewatchdata.org/data-explorer/historical-emissions?historical-emissions-data-sources=cait&amp;historical-emissions-gases=all-ghg&amp;historical-emissions-regions=All%20Selected&amp;historical-emissions-sectors=total-including-lucf&amp;page=1">download</a>);</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="2">GCP (<a href="https://www.icos-cp.eu/science-and-impact/global-carbon-budget/2019">download</a>).</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Emissions transfers data came from the GCP (<a href="https://www.icos-cp.eu/science-and-impact/global-carbon-budget/2019">download</a>).</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Population data came from the United Nations (<a href="https://population.un.org/wpp/Download/Standard/">download</a>).</li>
</ul>
We took UNFCCC data as the primary data source; where emissions data for a country was missing within the UNFCCC dataset, we opted to revert to data provided by CAIT. The dataset from CAIT is more comprehensive than that from the UNFCCC, since it records measured emissions by particular authoritative institutions – many of them US governmental departments, like the EPA. This data could be subject to its own institutional or political biases – but our research and our calculations led us to consider it broadly accurate, and for non-Annex I countries it provides a much fuller dataset than that of the UNFCCC.
So, the emissions data we used for calculating Ecologi’s individual footprints was to use the most recent UN figure for national emissions (up to 2016) – unless it was missing, or greater than 6 years old. In either of these cases, we would revert to the most recent CAIT data for that country instead.
Sometimes, usually for small island countries, there was neither UN data nor CAIT data – and for these countries unfortunately we do not have an exact footprint figure.
<a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ppLdgvSiK56NjK3vvY-Twqqgcw6XYo22trwAdYcDQOw/edit?usp=sharing">View the full calculator here</a>

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<h2>Why doesn’t Ecologi calculate your footprint based on answering questions about your lifestyle?</h2>
App footprint calculators which ask questions about your lifestyle to determine your emissions use what’s called a ‘bottom-up’ approach &#8211; where you insert data about your day-to-day life and build a footprint from the ground up.
This approach can be considered fairly ‘accurate’ based on what you answer, but also tends to be ‘leaky’ as your footprint no doubt contains other areas that you weren’t able to disclose &#8211; which may be significant sources of emissions.
When you look at an entire country’s emissions by the sum of all of its industries, the calculation doesn’t ‘leak’ because all known emissions are all present.
Whilst your individual footprint may be higher or lower than the average for somebody who lives in your country, the law of averages provides us with a comprehensive initial figure for what your footprint would be, if all of the people in your country emitted the same.
You no doubt can think of two people within the same country who will have very different footprints. At Ecologi, this is really important to us, because we believe that those who have bigger footprints should pay for them.
That’s why, with all of our subscriptions we offer the opportunity to modify your base footprint upwards, if you consider your own lifestyle to be particularly carbon heavy (for example, if you would normally fly frequently).
<h2>Reality check</h2>
Whilst offsetting your carbon footprint with your Ecologi subscription is important, offsetting will not solve climate change on its own. If you live in a relatively wealthy country, the chances are that your carbon footprint is significantly higher than it needs to be, to help keep global warming below 1.5ºC or 2ºC.
You can use the Goals section of your Ecologi profile to set yourself lower carbon lifestyle goals, such as eating a plant-based diet or flying less (or not at all!). 
For more tips, read our article <a href="https://ecologi.com/articles/blog/environmental-activism-your-first-steps">here</a>.

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Hopescrolling: The good news timeline

It’s not all bad. While there’s a lot of negative news about the climate, let’s not forget the good stuff. Find climate wins, reasons to be hopeful and plenty of positivity in our good news timeline.

The good news timeline

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We know that funding high-quality carbon credits provides vital funding to impactful projects <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/2023/03/20/press-release-ar6-synthesis-report/">which prevent and avoid emissions</a>.
However, it’s vital to look at the bigger picture: how carbon credits are being used is critical in taking meaningful climate action for our planet.
Simply using carbon credits to offset our business-as-usual emissions (often referred to as becoming ‘carbon neutral’) without taking steps to reduce those emissions directly <a href="https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/40875/EGR2022_KR.pdf?sequence=3">will not solve climate change</a>. In addition, there’s increasing pressure on businesses following recent crackdowns on green claims, such as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/may/15/uk-advertising-watchdog-to-crack-down-on-carbon-offsetting-claims-aoe">claiming ‘carbon neutrality’ through offsetting alone</a>. So, across our industry, we need to rethink carbon offsetting completely, from the ground up.
Let’s unpack this.

Offsetting to compensate for business-as-usual emissions is OUT

Science is clear that minimising global warming requires substantial emissions reductions globally. The IPCC has called for <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/chapter/spm/">50% reductions in emissions by 2030</a>, and global net-zero emissions by 2050, if we are to limit the global temperature increase to below 2°C, and as close as possible to 1.5°C. Every year that we continue to increase emissions, the steeper the curve needs to be for the world to decarbonise in time, 
Traditional carbon offsetting involves paying for carbon credits, each representing one tonne of emissions reduced or avoided by a project (like a solar farm). To offset, you would produce one tonne of greenhouse gas emissions through your business activities, and then offset that tonne by buying a carbon credit. 
However, traditional offsetting also gives free licence to businesses to continue generating emissions, or even increase them! Provided that they are also paying to offset them. You can see this in the visual below.
<img loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-7760" src="https://cms-assets.offset.earth/app/uploads/20230516164950/COP27-Net-Zero-Pathway-Workshop.png" alt="" width="960" height="540" srcset="https://cms-assets.offset.earth/app/uploads/20230516164950/COP27-Net-Zero-Pathway-Workshop.png 960w, https://cms-assets.offset.earth/app/uploads/20230516164950/COP27-Net-Zero-Pathway-Workshop-300x169.png 300w, https://cms-assets.offset.earth/app/uploads/20230516164950/COP27-Net-Zero-Pathway-Workshop-768x432.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px" />
Even when businesses fund high-quality projects and offset their emissions in full, those direct emissions are still taking place. The benefits of avoided emissions are effectively cancelled-out if the projects funded are only being used to offset your business’s continued emissions. The same is true, even if you are doing your offsetting with carbon removal credits &#8211; because the climate impacts of emitting and then removing greenhouse gases are not the same as simply not emitting them.
This is unsustainable. We need to reconsider completely the way we think about offsetting.

Reducing emissions whilst committing to fund high-quality climate‌ action is IN

For businesses to align their operations with <a href="https://www.iema.net/articles/ghg-management-hierarchy-updated-for-net-zero.">the science of climate change</a>, making direct emissions reductions <a href="https://ecologi.com/articles/blog/charting-the-path-to-net-zero-for-businesses">across your supply chain is paramount</a>. That’s a separate process, which offsetting doesn’t contribute toward.
Funding impactful projects through carbon credits still has a huge role to play. The SBTi (Science Based Target initiative) deems <a href="https://sciencebasedtargets.org/blog/net-zero-urgent-beyond-value-chain-mitigation-is-essential">funding carbon credits as an &#8220;essential&#8221; step</a> in the journey towards global net-zero. 
Supporting these high-quality carbon avoidance projects (that’s the same kinds of projects which are traditionally used for offsetting) is a perfect entry point for businesses to start their climate journey &#8211; whilst these businesses gather their plans to reduce their emissions directly.

Reducing your business emissions is a marathon, not a sprint

One of the SBTi’s core requirements for a business to achieve net-zero is to achieve a <a href="https://sciencebasedtargets.org/net-zero">minimum 90% reduction in emissions in most sectors</a>. This emissions-reduction journey will not be easy, since that’s a BIG task!

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Imagine having to reduce your financial budget by 90% &#8211; it would require a lot of planning, researching, and implementation, over a long period.

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Near-term targets are going to be crucial to break down those larger long-term goals. SBTi <a href="https://sciencebasedtargets.org/reports/sbti-progress-report-2021">research in 2021 showed that</a> if your business had set its science-based targets that year, you would need to make emissions reductions of just 4.2% per year &#8211; a much more understandable and manageable target for most businesses.
Remember as well that, even if simply offsetting your business emissions was your goal, then the higher your emissions are, the more it will cost to your business to offset them. This means that whilst there’s an enormous challenge in reducing emissions over a sustained period, it will be much better in the long run, both for your business and for the planet.

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This is a long-term commitment which all businesses need to undertake. That’s why funding high-quality climate action is crucial at the same time. You can give back to our planet throughout the process &#8211; and by doing so, you can have a real, measurable impact <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals">on people, communities and biodiversity</a>.

High-quality climate action that ‘goes beyond’

This funding of high-quality climate action outside of a business’s operations is referred to by the SBTi as ‘<a href="https://sciencebasedtargets.org/blog/going-above-and-beyond-to-contribute-to-societal-net-zero">beyond value chain mitigation</a>’ or ‘BVCM’. They highlight this as a critical contribution to reaching societal net-zero because it has a positive climate impact outside of your business’s direct sphere of influence. Your company can leverage its BVCM strategy to generate positive global change for our planet.
The great thing about BVCM is that it allows your business to select project types and locations that matter to you: you can build your own mix of projects to support.

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Don’t be put off by the scientific terminology. Simply, it means continuously funding climate action via high-quality carbon avoidance credits (and other types of impactful climate projects) whilst reducing your business emissions on your journey to net-zero.

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At Ecologi, we select the carbon avoidance projects we support according to our<a href="https://ecologi.com/articles/updates/how-ecologi-finds-and-funds-the-most-impactful-climate-solutions"> climate impact regionalisation strategy</a>, which focuses on directing funding towards locations and projects with the greatest potential impact.
This approach allows our in-house team to identify which, out of the ~200 quotes for carbon credits we review every month, are the most impactful.
The projects we support &#8211; which you can fund through <a href="https://ecologi.com/impact-shop">our Impact Shop</a> or through <a href="https://ecologi.com/business/integrations">our automations and integrations</a> &#8211; are also independently scrutinised by organisations like our friends at <a href="https://www.sylvera.com/">Sylvera</a>.

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Reframing carbon offsetting in a way that makes a real difference

Don’t let your business fall into the trap of thinking that buying carbon credits gets you off the hook by compensating for emissions which you haven’t attempted to reduce. That way of thinking is all wrong.
<a href="https://sciencebasedtargets.org/net-zero">The net-zero pathway</a> allows you to fund carbon removal credits to ‘offset’ your unavoidable emissions. However, you need to reduce your emissions as much as possible first, and only use removals for up to a maximum 10% of your initial emissions, and it has to be carbon removal, which is very expensive!
Think about your BVCM as funding climate action, full stop. It’s not about compensating to let your business keep producing emissions. It’s just one cost of running a responsible business, whilst you work to reduce your emissions directly. 
Don’t think about it in the context of letting your business carry on emitting as it was before &#8211; because that won’t contribute toward solving the climate crisis.

How to take the first step on your climate journey

Every business is different, and that means that although reducing emissions is vital, funding climate action might be the most suitable entry point for you, on your climate journey.
Through Ecologi, you can do this and more:

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If you’re still not sure where to start, <a href="https://ecologi.com/business/overview#get-in-touch">reach out to our friendly team of experts</a> who will be more than happy to find the right climate solution for your business and for our planet.

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Ecologi - Our story

How Ecologi grew from a climate action subscription to the ultimate climate companion for businesses. Read our story here!

<h2>The thought that turned to action</h2>
The story of Ecologi started one morning in 2019, when our founder <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/elliotcoad/">Elliot</a> picked up his morning coffee and wondered what would happen if he instead spent that money on addressing the climate crisis? 
As a keen ‘armchair environmentalist’ and self-confessed nerd, his research took him down a few rabbit holes and geek out sessions, as he explored the potential impact of just 10% of the world redirecting their loose change from cappuccino to climate action. 
He soon realised that there are ample climate solutions already available to address climate change and restore nature, and the world’s pocket change is more than enough to fund them. The idea just needed to galvanise support and turn into collective action. 
Ecologi began as a family and friend business. Elliot is experienced in product and development, and his wife <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucyjackk/">Lucy</a> is a website designer who is a deft hand with illustration and branding. They were joined by their friend <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/remotealex/">Alex</a>, a talented developer and entrepreneur who had just finished building a subscription product of his own.
Ecologi was born!

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<h2>Ecologi 1.0</h2>
Ecologi started as a subscription service for individuals to take climate action and was founded as a for-profit social enterprise to scale this idea rapidly. In a world of Netflix, Spotify, Headspace and countless other affordable subscriptions, we figured that there must surely be room in the market for something that could literally change the world? 
We decided on the name ‘Ecologi’ in awareness of two great threats to humanity; global warming, and biodiversity loss. These issues are interconnected, and we cannot solve one without the other. Therefore, the projects that we offer give our customers the opportunity to support both climate action and nature restoration in conjunction.
With an ethos based on transparency and putting our planet ahead of profit, we’ve grown a passionate community of over 18,000 businesses and 40,000 members in under five years. Through the support of our community, we’ve funded the planting of over 60 million trees, prevented over 2.5 million tonnes of CO2e from entering our atmosphere through certified carbon avoidance projects and achieved B Corp Certification. 
Our <a href="https://lookerstudio.google.com/reporting/adfb141d-4153-4c22-b6b4-976f7f3930b2/page/p_9zis9oxt3c">Public Impact Ledger</a> lifts the lid on what goes on behind the scenes here at Ecologi and delves into the evidence and detail of all things climate impact. Check out our <a href="https://ecologi.com/transparency">Transparency page</a> for evidence of our impact and finance, and meet the teams driving us forward.

<h2>The next chapter </h2>
We’ve had a great start, but there is still a lot of work to be done, and we can’t do it alone. So we’ve reset and refocused, with a bold new mission to inspire and empower businesses to accelerate global action on climate and nature. 
SMEs make up 99% of the UK business population and contribute half of all business-driven emissions in the UK. But according to a 2021 survey by the British Business Bank, only 6% are likely to have measured their carbon footprint in the last five years. <a href="https://ecologi.com/articles/blog/climate-commitments-survey">Our own research</a> also found that over four in 10 (41%) of SMEs would like their business to have a net-zero strategy, but feel confused about how to get started.
In the years ahead, the team at Ecologi will champion SMEs as green revolutionaries, empowering them on their journey to reduce emissions and take climate action. There are millions of SMEs in the UK and we believe that with the right support, they can help turn the tide on the climate crisis. 
SMEs are powerful enough to make an impact, agile enough to act fast, and unstoppable when working collectively. Just imagine what would happen if every SME rose up and took action as one? 
<h3>Check out our Climate Commitments Report</h3>
<div class="ecologi-video-full-width"><iframe src="https://cms-assets.offset.earth/app/uploads/20230328090053/Ecologi_BBB_Report_V6.pdf" width="960" height="900" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div>
 📁 Download the PDF report <a href="https://cms-assets.offset.earth/app/uploads/20230328090053/Ecologi_BBB_Report_V6.pdf">here</a>

<h2>Supporting the revolution</h2>
We’ve recently concentrated our efforts on being the ultimate climate companion for SMEs, no matter what stage of the journey to net-zero they&#8217;re on. From calculating their carbon footprint, to reducing their emissions, to funding climate projects, to sharing their impact with their community. And we’ve developed a suite of products to support that journey.
<a href="https://ecologi.com/business/zero">Ecologi Zero</a> is our free and easy-to-use carbon footprinting tool for UK-based SMEs. It’s designed to remove the high-cost, technology and skills barriers to carbon footprinting by connecting seamlessly with Xero accounting software to calculate emissions from existing business data, and requiring no expertise or experience. We’re really proud of it and its potential to be a game changer in enabling SMEs to take the first step on their net-zero journey. 
We’ve also launched our all-new <a href="https://ecologi.com/business/impact-shop">Impact Shop</a>. This pay-as-you-go store for climate impact lets businesses make a purchase for our planet with no strings or subscriptions attached. This allows SMEs to support whatever type of projects mean the most to them, and fund as much impact as they like, whenever suits them. From funding tree planting in specific countries to supporting community-based projects, SMEs can choose from a range of high quality climate solutions and know that they are making a positive impact.
Finally, <a href="https://ecologi.com/business/climate-positive-workforce">Climate Positive Workforce®</a> allows SMEs to bring their employees along on the journey of climate action. This product operates like a regular subscription, compensating for the approximate carbon footprint per number of employees in your business country of operation, while also funding the planting of trees through our trusted reforestation partners. In doing so, your organisation will visualise their impact in their virtual forest, learn more about the different carbon avoidance projects they support each month, and share their impact online.
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<h2>For our planet </h2>
Our planet. This is what brought us together. It’s why we started Ecologi. It’s the purpose of our community. The reason we take collective action. And when we speak to our community, they often say that they work with us so they can do something positive for our planet. 
As we look ahead to the next chapter of Ecologi, these three small-but-mighty words have become our north star, and the core of our brand. 
Now is the time to act together. Let’s rewrite our future. For our planet. 
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Calculating individual carbon footprints at Ecologi

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