Everyone can help limit climate change. From the way we travel, to the amount of electricity we use, the food we eat, and the products we buy, we can make a difference. Greenhouse gas emissions per person vary greatly among countries. In the United States of America, emissions in 2020 were 14.6 tons of CO2 equivalent per person – more than double the global average of 6.3 tons, and six times the 2.4 tons per person in India.

To preserve a livable climate, the average emissions per person per year will need to drop to around 2 to 2.5 tons of CO2e by 2030. Actions that will help tackle the climate crisis:

Individuals

Save energy at home

Much of our electricity is powered by coal, oil and gas - let's use less energy by lowering our heating and cooling, switching to LED light bulbs and energy-efficient electric appliances, by turning off all appliances at the sockets when not in use and by not leaving them on standby, washing our laundry with colder water or hanging things to dry instead of using a dryer, by not using half full dishwashers or washing machines,

Walk, bike, or take public transport

The world’s roadways are clogged with vehicles, most of them burning diesel or gasoline. Walking or riding a bike instead of driving will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help your health and fitness. For longer distances, consider taking a train or bus and carpool whenever possible. Living car-free can reduce your carbon footprint by up to 2 tons of CO2e per year compared to a lifestyle using a car.

Eat more vegetables

Eating more vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, and less meat and dairy can significantly lower your environmental impact. Producing plant-based foods results in far fewer greenhouse gas emissions and requires far less energy, land and water. Switching to a more vegetarian diet can reduce your carbon footprint by up to 500 kilograms of CO2e per year (or up to 900 kilograms for a vegan diet).

Eating local’ is a good way to reduce our carbon footprint but the type of food we eat matters much more for our carbon footprint than where it comes from because transport usually makes up a small percentage of our food’s emissions, even if it comes from the other side of the world. If we want to reduce our carbon footprint, reducing meat and dairy intake, particularly beef and lamb, has the largest impact.

Consider how we travel

Airplanes burn large amounts of fossil fuels, producing significant greenhouse gas emissions. That makes taking fewer flights one of the fastest ways to reduce your environmental impact. Whenever we can, let's meet virtually, take a train, or skip that long-distance trip altogether. Taking one less long-haul return flight can reduce our carbon footprint by up to almost 2 tons of CO2e.

Don’t throw away food

Today one third of all produced food is wasted, thousands of gallons of milk are just thrown away - when we throw food away, we are also wasting the resources and energy that was used to grow, produce, package, and transport it. And when food rots in a landfill, it produces methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. So let's use what we buy and compost any leftovers. Cutting our food waste can reduce our carbon footprint by up to 300 kilograms of CO2e per year and the saved food can feed millions of our fellow citizens who are suffering from hunger.

Reduce, Reuse, Repair & Recycle

Electronics, clothes, and other items we buy cause carbon emissions at each point in production, from the extraction of raw materials to manufacturing and transporting goods to market. Every kilogram of textiles produced generates about 17 kilograms of CO2e with the fashion industry accounting for 8-10 % of global emissions - more than all international flights & maritime shipping combined. To protect our planet, let's buy fewer things, use sustainable labels, shop second-hand, recycle pre-loved clothes and other products and repair if we can.

Change your home's source of energy

If possible, see if you can switch to renewable sources such as wind or solar. Or install solar panels on your roof to generate energy for your home. Switching your home from oil, gas or coal-powered energy to renewable sources of energy, such as wind or solar, can reduce your carbon footprint by up to 1.5 tons of CO2e per year.

Switch to an electric vehicle

When buying a car, try and go electric, with more cheaper models coming on the market. Electric cars help reduce air pollution and cause significantly fewer greenhouse gas emissions than gas or diesel-powered vehicles but many electric cars still run on electricity produced from fossil fuels, and the batteries and engines require rare minerals which often come with high environmental costs. Switching from a gasoline or diesel-powered car to an electric vehicle can reduce your carbon footprint by up to 2 tons of CO2e per year. A hybrid vehicle can save you up to 700 kilograms of CO2e per year.

Make your money count

Everything we spend money on affects the planet. We have the power to choose which goods and services we support. To reduce our environmental impact, let's choose products from companies who use resources responsibly and are committed to cutting their gas emissions and waste. While investing, making sure our savings are invested in environmentally sustainable businesses can greatly reduce our carbon footprint.

We can stop buying air-freighted food like asparagus, green beans and berries. It is often hard for consumers to identify foods that have travelled by air because they’re rarely labeled as such. A general rule is to avoid foods that have a very short shelf-life, have traveled a long way (see label with the country of origin) and where there is a strong emphasis on ‘freshness’: for these products, transport speed is a priority.

Look out for sustainability certificates/labels like the below and buy only those products which are certified….

Plant Trees

Plant trees at schools or in your local community either individually or as part of a collective by organising or joining in tree planting days and events.

Spread the information

Let's propagate the information, use the TF portal and get others to join in taking action. It's one of the quickest and most effective ways to make a difference. Let's talk to our neighbors, colleagues, friends, and family. Let business owners know you support bold changes. Appeal to local and world leaders to act now. Climate action is a task for all of us. And it concerns all of us. No one can do it all alone – but we can do it together.

Governments & Policy Makers

Carbon taxes

Carbon taxes attempt to minimize GHG emissions by requiring the largest greenhouse gas producers like, coal-fired power plants to pay for the damage they cause. By attaching fees to emissions, carbon taxes encourage people, businesses, and governments to emit less.

Governments can use the revenue generated from these fees to pay for social programs, invest in clean energy, or lower taxes for the public.

Where it worked: Since becoming one of the first countries to implement a national carbon tax in 1991, Sweden has successfully lowered its greenhouse gas emissions by 27 %. And although critics believed the tax would stunt the economy, Sweden’s gross domestic product has since doubled. Today, more than forty countries have implemented a national carbon tax, including Argentina, Canada, Japan, Singapore, and Ukraine.

Cap and trade

Cap and trade refers to government programs designed to limit private-sector greenhouse gas emissions. In cap and trade systems, governments allocate or sell a set number of permits, each of which represents the right to emit a specific amount of greenhouse gases. If a company needs more permits to make its product, it has to trade with another company to buy them. So, as with a carbon tax, companies directly pay for their pollution.

However, unlike carbon taxes, cap and trade programs ensure emissions in a city or country do not exceed a designated limit. Today, thirteen U.S. states, China, Mexico, and every country in the European Union have implemented cap and trade systems.

Where it worked: In 2013, California launched one of the United States’ first cap and trade programs. As a result, the state’s emissions fell by 10 percent between 2013 and 2018.

Clean energy standards

Electricity generation accounts for 25 % of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. To decrease emissions, three-quarters of U.S. states have implemented clean energy standards—laws that encourage utility companies to generate a certain percentage of their electricity from low-emission energy sources, such as solar or wind power.

Where it worked: In 1999, Texas instituted a clean energy standard to source ten thousand megawatts of electricity—enough energy to power a thousand homes for a year—from renewable energy by 2025. This standard helped kick start growth in the state’s renewable energy sector, and by 2010, Texas had surpassed its goal for 2025. Today, Texas generates around 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources.

International agreements

In 2020, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced the world needed to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 in order to limit global warming to 1.5°C. His statement made one thing clear: climate change is a global problem that requires a global response.

Over the past three decades, countries have worked together to coordinate this response through international agreements such as the Kyoto Protocol.

Where it worked: One of the most significant climate agreements in history, the Paris Agreement required almost two hundred signatories to set individual goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Nearly every country in the world has signed on, and over sixty countries (including top emitters the United States and China) have pledged to achieve net-zero emissions by 2060.

Innovation & Industry

For the past few decades, there has been support for the research and development of technology designed to greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions:

Renewable energy: A majority of the world’s energy comes from fossil fuels such as petroleum, natural gas, and coal. In recent decades, there has been investments in low-emission alternatives to fossil fuels called renewable energy technologies, which harness energy generated by natural resources including wind and the sun. Because the cost of producing renewable energy has fallen by as much as 88 percent in the past decade, some experts predict renewable sources could produce more than half of the world’s electricity as soon as 2035.

Nuclear energy uses fission—a reaction that occurs when splitting an atom—to generate electricity without producing greenhouse gas emissions. Since 2009, the United States has invested over $863 million in developing nuclear energy, which accounts for nearly 20 percent of the country’s electricity generation. However, the number of nuclear reactors has stagnated in recent decades, in part due to high-profile disasters at nuclear plants such as Chernobyl and Fukushima.

Carbon capture: As of 2019, emissions from factories and power plants make up nearly half of total greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. But with carbon capture technology, factories and power plants can cut their emissions by up to 90 percent by capturing and storing the carbon they produce underground instead of sending it into the atmosphere. However, existing carbon capture technology is costly and therefore not widely adopted.

Geoengineering projects aim to change natural systems to combat climate change. They typically fall into two categories: those that remove carbon directly from the atmosphere and those that drop global temperatures by reflecting sunlight away from the planet. These projects involve anything from planting billions of trees to sending giant mirrors into Earth’s orbit.