The environment and you

We’re all responsible for protecting our planet. Thank you for playing your part.

You might already have a good idea about what your carbon footprint looks like. It’s made up of day to day activities such as travelling, shopping, managing your home and even eating. It’s perfectly normal to have a bigger impact in some areas than others, for example you might always cycle to work but you eat a meat diet. That’s OK! The important thing is that we all reduce our impact on the planet by learning how our actions make a difference.

In research published by Energy Systems Catapult, the average household produces carbon emissions made up of home heating (31%), transport (27%), diet (18%), aviation (12%), electricity (9%) and waste (3%).

If you’re keen to do more to reduce the impact of climate change, it’s easy to start small by making simple changes to everyday behaviours. You could switch to LED light bulbs, change your travel and shopping preferences, use your heating controls more effectively and reduce the overall amount of energy and water you use. Watch this video for more ideas.

Domestic properties are one of the biggest contributors of carbon in our atmosphere. If we can improve the efficiency of properties with low EPC ratings, we’d make a large dent in the amount of emissions released in our country.

Funding could be available to you if you live in a property with an energy rating of D-G. You can check your property’s rating by looking at its Energy Performance Certificate (EPC).

You might also be interested in upgrading your property through our home retrofit programme.

Transport is another large contributor to our individual carbon footprint. Do you drive to work every day when you could hop on the bus instead? Read more about choosing greener travel to find out how to reduce your carbon footprint.

The food production process is long and complex, consisting of steps such as farming, manufacturing, packaging and transportation to name a few. Read more about how to shift your diet towards a more sustainable one.

The aviation industry is a huge contributor of carbon emissions. Are you able to reduce the number of times you fly each year? There are plenty of local places to enjoy a holiday, or perhaps you could travel to Europe by train instead.

It can sometimes be difficult to reduce the amount of electricity we use because many of the most energy-efficient gadgets and appliances are run in this way. However, there are still ways to reduce your electricity use, such as switching households items off at the socket instead of leaving them on standby, and turning the lights off when you leave a room.

The final three per cent of the average household’s carbon footprint is from waste. You can read more about how to reduce your waste on our environment pages.