Calculate Your Carbon Footprint

You can take individual action on climate change and the best way to start is to understand the size of your carbon footprint, which is the amount of carbon emissions that result directly and indirectly from your daily activities and lifestyle.

By calculating your carbon footprint, you can find out which activity generates more carbon emissions and take steps to change your lifestyle accordingly and reduce your emissions.

There are several online carbon footprint calculators that help you calculate your emissions and compare with the rest of the world. However, your carbon footprint may vary according to the calculator you use as these calculators vary by country, by activity and by the methodology behind the calculations.

What you can do is to calculate your carbon footprint using different calculators and take the average, or use a calculator that is catered for Singapore.

Here are some online carbon footprint calculators:

SEC Climate Portal (for Singapore)
Singapore Polytechnic (for Singapore)
My Carbon Footprint by Hemispheres Foundation (for Singapore)
The GreenAsia Group (includes Singapore)
BP Energy Calculator (includes Singapore)
BeGreenNow
Carbon Footprint
Carbonfund.org
ClimateCare
EarthLab
Friends of the Earth
Resurgence Carbon Calculator
SafeClimate
TerraPass
The CarbonNeutral Company
WWF Footprint Calculator
Zerofootprint

Some tips for using the calculators:

Check the electricity consumption from your utility bill or use the monthly national average
The average amount of domestic waste generated per person per day in 2008 was 0.84 kg
Use gothere.sg to check vehicle distance
Check distance between countries

balance Most of the websites above offer carbon offsetting schemes, where you can buy carbon offsets to neutralise your carbon emissions as the payment is used to fund carbon-reducing projects such as renewable energy, energy efficiency and reforestation projects. You should first find ways to reduce your carbon footprint before offsetting your remaining emissions. Also, choose carbon offsets that meet standards such as the Voluntary Carbon Standard and the Gold Standard VER.