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What is a Carbon Budget?

A carbon budget is a powerful way to reduce your carbon footprint. In this blog, we explain how you can use a carbon budget to slash our collective climate impact in 2023.

Carbon Budget: Explained

A carbon budget is the maximum amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere over a certain period.

We mostly think of carbon dioxide when it comes to a carbon budget, but it actually includes all greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and fluorinated gases.

Think of a carbon budget like your weekly grocery budget. An amount that must be set aside for day-to-day living but at a figure that you really don’t want to go over.

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What is our Carbon Budget?

We’ve had a global carbon budget since 2015. This budget is based on targets set in the Paris Climate Agreement. A global target was set to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

The reason? A global-temperature rise warmer than 1.5°C will cause food shortages, drought, and resource wars worldwide. How do we stop this? By restricting greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming.

Our carbon budget is the total global emissions produced before we hit a 1.5°C temperature rise. Since 2015, that’s 740 billion tonnes CO₂e, measured in carbon equivalents.

With the average Brit’s carbon footprint at 12.7 tonnes per year and 8 billion people on the planet, you can see that we’d soon power through this enormous figure. In just 7 years and 10 weeks, in fact.

All sounds a bit abstract, doesn’t it?

With such large numbers, it’s hard to know whether your actions would make a difference.

In 2015, the UK government enforced a 5p charge for shoppers using single-use plastic bags. Since then, the number of carrier bags from major supermarkets has plummeted by 95%.

The act itself didn’t force anything. But the rule changed our behaviour on an individual level to avoid wasting cash.

With most people making a small change – remembering to bring bags they already own – there has been an enormously positive effect on the environment. This is the power of small steps, together.

Carbon budgets do something similar. They don’t force us to act in a certain way. But they do encourage us to make decisions that avoid a negative outcome (in this case, catastrophe for our planet and homes).

That’s why breaking down the carbon budget is important. Let’s carry on looking at carbon budgets by year and our limits as individuals.

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What is the global carbon budget in 2023?

An annual carbon budget depends on our performance the year before. It’s just like if you’re living off your savings. If you go over budget this year, there will be less available to spend next year. We’ll hit our limit or drain our account faster.

It can be helpful to break the global total down into smaller budgets, like annual or five-yearly, to ensure we stay on track. In other words, this is our maximum carbon footprint for that period.

Unfortunately our emissions keep rising instead of decreasing. At 2022 rates, we will be over budget and exceed the 1.5-degree target by 2031 meaning devastation for people and wildlife.

Put simply: everyone must take action to reduce their carbon footprint immediately.

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What is the global carbon budget in 2023?

It can be helpful to break the global total down into smaller budgets, like annual or five-yearly, to ensure we stay on track. In other words, this is our maximum carbon footprint for that period.

You can see in the chart below that our emissions keep rising instead of decreasing. At 2022 rates, we will be over budget and exceed the 1.5-degree target by 2031.

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What is the UK’s carbon budget in 2023?

Each country has its own carbon budget, a fraction of the global budget. The UK’s carbon budget is set into law for a five-year period. From 2023-2027, the UK’s carbon budget is 1,950 million tonnes CO₂e.

How does this figure shake out?

Well, every year we could have an annual UK carbon budget of 390 million tonnes of CO₂e.

In 2021, the UK produced 424.5 million tonnes CO₂e. This decreased by just 1.7% in 2022 to 417.1 million tonnes CO₂e.

As you can see… we still have work to do to slash emissions by a further 6.5% this year and reach the 390 million tonne target for 2023.

And even when we hit this target, we need to improve, or reduce, our emissions every year, extending the time before we hit 1.5 degrees of warming.

We need a ‘sloping curve’, instead of a plateaued dip in emissions.

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What is our personal carbon budget?

We can break down the UK’s ‘annual’ carbon budget of 390 million tonnes CO₂e to discover our personal limit.

With more than 68.8 million people in the UK, our personal yearly budget comes to 5.6 tonnes CO₂e per Brit.

The average daily commute uses around 40% of this 5.6-tonne budget. And an average Brit’s food and diet is responsible for 2.2 tonnes of greenhouse gases annually; another 40% of that budget.

That leaves just 20% for everything else, like gas and electricity to power your home, going on holiday, new clothes and gadgets – and your pets’ impact too!

This personal budget is our starting point. But remember that this figure only accounts for our personal impact; it doesn’t account for the impact of industries. So, really, our personal budget needs to be much lower.

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Why do we need carbon budgets?

It’s clear that we need to reduce carbon emissions immediately in all aspects of our life. Carbon budgets give us a target to aim for. If we want to change our behaviour then setting targets drives behaviour change to reach our goals. In this case, our target is to reduce our carbon footprint and to be able to measure the reductions. Our goal is to protect the future of this planet.

Governments globally use carbon budgets to set national and international policies, like the Paris Climate Agreement. These set targets turn into law and lead to the regulation of industries – a “stick” or risk of punishment for businesses.

Carbon budgets should be used by businesses of all sizes to guide their operating decisions too. This means reducing climate impact in all areas of business. And they’ll earn extra loyalty from customers too: the carrot or reward to your regulatory stick.

We can be more mindful of our impact on the planet by using personal carbon budgets. You can use personal carbon budgets to change your behaviour and purchases.

Carbon Budgets Reduce Carbon Footprints

Knowing your carbon budget means knowing your maximum carbon footprint. The next step is to measure your current carbon footprint. You can even measure specific areas of your life or business, like food and drink. Once you know your baseline, you can take action to reduce your footprint in different areas of your life.

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Should I set a carbon budgets?

Yes! Setting a personal carbon budget is a great way to set targets for more sustainable living. Make the choice to set an upper limit on your individual carbon footprint.

Anyone can set a carbon budget. It’s not just governments and big businesses that should use carbon budgets. We as individuals can use a ‘budget’ to minimise our climate impact too. Every one creates greenhouse gas emissions from all aspect of our lives. You can even do this with the organisation you work with to set collective targets.

You could start by limiting your personal emissions to 5.6 tonnes this year in line with the UK carbon budget.

Ready to push yourself? Reduce your impact by an extra 20% to 4.5 tonnes.

You can discover your current climate impact with one of the many great tools and apps out there. Start measuring CO₂e and changing behaviour with apps like The Capture Club and Joulebug.

You can even calculate your meals’ emissions and set a specific daily carbon budget for your food. We make this super easy to do in the Floop app.

Remember, your emissions are like your grocery budget. If you overspend on food one week, there is less to spend on next week’s food or to put towards a flight for that holiday you really want.

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Start reducing your climate impact

You can make working out your lifestyle’s carbon footprint easier by understanding carbon budgets. Use these to set limits and reduce your climate impact.

The next step is the measure your current footprint and take action to reduce it. You can do this alone or, better still, involve friends, family or your community too.

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Set your own daily carbon budget and work out your food’s carbon footprint using the Floop app. Download the app for iPhone or Android now.

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