Working out your lifetime Carbon Balance

One of the things that held me back from taking my own climate action was knowing where to start. I realised I couldn't wait for governments to solve climate change for me, my family, my friends and the planet. No, I had to make my own contribution, put my shoulder to the wheel.

What then, could I do?

"What's the bit that I can tackle?" I wondered.

I can reduce my own emissions! Yep, good. Start!

What about all the carbon I'd emitted through my life? That's up there in the atmosphere, polluting. What if I got ALL of that out of the atmosphere? Went truly carbon zero?

That felt like a pretty good goal.

So how much is it? How much rubbish is out there with my name on it? Urgh...dunno.

I figured there must be an easy way to get a robust enough number, something I could get my teeth into. And there is...if I add up the per capita annual emissions, from all the places I've ever lived, over the course of my life...VOILA! Simple, easy!

I did that and found that my Carbon Balance is 520tCO2. My job now is to invest in projects to get that much carbon out of the atmosphere.

If you want to get started on your Carbon Zero journey, you can dive into the My Carbon Zero Community and use the simple My Carbon Zero calculator to help you work out your balance. It's free to join the community to access it. No strings!

It really did help me to get started and I'm now at getting that carbon out and locked away as I support tree planting and soil carbon projects.

It really does feel good.