how much?

So how much carbon should we all be ‘allowed’ each day? Here is our idea for a guideline daily allowance (GDA) of CO2.

We based the daily allowance on the emission reduction target advised by the IPCC – a reduction of 40% by 2020 from 1990 levels. For each individual, this means an annual allowance of 6 tonnes, or a daily allowance of 16.4 kilograms

This allowance needs to cover the carbon from absolutely everything we do, from driving cars and heating homes, through to that trendy t-shirt you just bought. Research has shown that roughly 20% of each person's emissions are attributable to the manufacturing, transporting and consuming of food and drink. So…..

So based on this method, a strawberry and banana smoothie is 7% of your carbon allowance for food and drink, or 1.4% of your total daily allowance. If you can think of it this way, then information you see about the carbon footprint of different products might make a bit more sense in the grand scheme of things.

There are lots of ways to minimise your carbon footprint. Here are a few of our favourite pointers, some more obvious than others*. Please keep in mind that your total daily allowance for CO2 for absolutely everything you do is 16.4 kilograms.

• turn down your household thermostat by just 1 degree - save up to an incredible 10,400g of CO2 each day.
• sign up to green electricity - save an enormous 4,900g of CO2 each day.
• compost your food waste - save 1,477g of CO2 each day.
• turn off the lights when you’re not in the room - save 440g of CO2 each day.
• turn the TV off standby and unplug your mobile phone charger - save 50g and a whopping 144g of CO2 each day respectively.
• only boil the water that you need in a kettle - save 26g of CO2 each day.

Want to know more? Here are a couple of the best carbon calculators out there to help you work out your personal carbon footprint. www.carboncalculator.org or www.carbonfootprint.com

*Carbon measurement is still an evolving science. These figures use the best information currently available.