In a historic climate action, Chandigarh has become the first state or Union Territory in India to launch Carbon Watch, a unique mobile application designed to assess an individual’s carbon footprint. Notably, a carbon footprint represents the total volume of greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide, that get released into the atmosphere due to human activities.
Highlights of Carbon Watch Application
This innovative app emphasizes individuals’ actions and estimates their carbon emissions based on factors like Transport, Energy, Waste, and Water consumption. The app provides crucial insights into the national and global average of emissions and the user’s level of emission generation.
Promoting Climate-Smart Citizens
Carbon Watch aims not only to help residents calculate their carbon footprint but also to guide them in reducing it. By raising awareness about lifestyle-induced emissions, their impacts, and potential countermeasures, the app inspires users to evolve into climate-smart citizens.
Understanding Carbon Footprint
The World Health Organization defines a carbon footprint as the measure of the impact that human activities have on the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) produced through burning fossil fuels. This measurement is usually represented in tonnes of CO2 or CO2-equivalent gases like methane and nitrous oxide emitted per year. This concept can be broadly applied to evaluate the actions of an individual, a family, an event, an organization, or even an entire nation.
Carbon Footprint vs Ecological Footprint
While the carbon footprint measures gas emissions contributing to global warming, the ecological footprint focuses on measuring the use of bio-productive space, highlighting the difference between the two terms.
Consequences of High Carbon Footprint
A high carbon footprint chiefly contributes to climate change. Greenhouse gases, either natural or manmade, result in the planet’s warming. Data indicates a 31% rise in CO2 emissions from 1990 to 2005, leading to a 35% increase in radiative warming over 1990 levels by 2008, as per World Meteorological Organization records. This increase resulted in 2011-2020 being the hottest decade on record.
Carbon Footprint and Resource Depletion
Large carbon footprints are linked to large-scale resource depletion, ranging from deforestation activities of a country to increased use of air conditioning in households.
Addressing Carbon Footprint: Potential Solutions
To minimize carbon footprints, it is recommended to adopt the 4 R’s – Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. More efficient vehicles, regular maintenance of current vehicles, and adopting public transportation can significantly reduce carbon emissions. Purchase of carbon credits can offset some CO2 emissions with the proceeds being redirected to projects like tree planting or investments in renewable energy. Implementing climate change conventions like the Paris Agreement and fast-forwarding Indian initiatives like Nation Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) and National Wetland Conservation Programme can also provide significant results.
