The BIG Climate Leap will work with five groups to help them reduce their carbon footprint by 25%
With a full carbon footprint, you’ll be able to decide on the actions that
really make a difference.
Carbon Footprinting
This is our most ambitious part of our project, where we aim to work with the most committed groups over the next 5 years to reduce their carbon footprint by as much as 25%.
Studies show that people do not know how best to reduce their carbon footprint. There is a lot of conflicting information available, and it can be hard to tell the most effective actions to reduce carbon emissions. Recycling and changing lightbulbs are often considered effective, when in fact they are very low impact actions. On a carbon footprint, for example, waste typically accounts for only a few percent of the total, and so recycling, although very important for lots of other reasons, is not significant when it comes to reducing your carbon footprint.
By having your group undergo a full carbon footprint, you’ll be able to decide on the actions that really do make a difference. What’s more, by measuring your groups carbon footprint each year, we will be able to measure just how effective those actions have been.
To kick things off, check out the Frequently Asked Questions below.
What does a Carbon Footprint involve?
Can my group do their own Carbon Footprint?
There are many websites that offer quick carbon footprints. For some groups, this is a nice place to start, to get an idea of the type of information you’ll need to provide and where your biggest impacts might be, such as energy use or transport. This is only an indication though. For our five groups, we want to provide a more in-depth, relevant and specific footprint, so something more specialised is required.
We’ll help with the collection and analysis of the data, and working with other professionals, we’ll use all of that information to provide a series of recommendations to reduce the footprint of the group. This is not something a group would generally be able to do themselves.
What does my group need to do to get involved with a Carbon Footprint?
If your group is considering undergoing a carbon footprint as part of The BIG Climate Leap, then the first thing that will involve is a high level of commitment to reducing your carbon footprint. Due to time and resources we can only work with a few groups, so we need to work with those who are really motivated to reduce their footprint.
We are reviewing how best to work closely together, but we do know that you will need to identify one or more team members to work with us, including on the collection of the data. We would need to consider all areas of your community group, from buildings and suppliers to transport and utilities. We would use this data to work out the groups carbon footprint. If you own a buildings, then we would look to perform a building survey so that we can assess what actions could be taken to improve the footprint of the building.
For now, simply get in touch via the homepage to let us know that you are interested, and we will get back to you.
A Carbon Footprint involves working out exactly how much carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases an organisation produces and provides a detailed breakdown and analysis of that greenhouse gas production.
The Carbon Footprint begins with a survey of what your organisation consumes. For example, we would look at the amount of electricity and gas you use, the amount of petrol, the amount of money spent on goods and services, and so forth. All of this data would be collected and our team would use an agreed upon tool to work out what your total carbon footprint is.
At the same time, we would also look at you buildings and vehicles, the services you provide and how you interact with beneficiaries, with a view to discussing what actions can be taken to reduce that footprint.
At the end of all that information gathering, we would produce a report that provides details on the carbon footprint of the group and the most effective actions the group can take to reduce it, bearing in mind cost, effectiveness, resource and so on.
If you’re not sure if you want to commit to a full carbon footprint, then consider taking part in the less intensive carbon action plans. After getting a taste of the action planning experience you may then be in a better position to decide if your group wants to make the bigger commitment of undergoing a full carbon footprint.