Firstly, carbon is an element that is found everywhere. It's the backbone of life on Earth. We are made of carbon, we eat carbon, our civilisations—our economies, our homes, our means of transport—are all built on carbon. Carbon has the ability to bind itself to many different molecules, making it an extremely versatile building block. 

So what do we mean when we talk about a carbon footprint? A carbon footprint is, essentially, the total carbon (or “greenhouse gas”) emissions caused by an individual, event, organisation, service, place, or product, expressed as Carbon Dioxide Equivalent (CO2e). There are seven main gases that make up a carbon footprint. They are: 

• Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
• Methane (CH4)
• Nitrous Oxide (N2O)
• Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCS)
• Perfluorocarbons (PFCS)
• Nitrogen Trifluoride (NF3)
• Sulphur Hexafluoride (SF6)

An individual’s carbon footprint is directly impacted by the lifestyle choices we all make every day:

• Your house’s location and materials 
• Household size and dietary preferences
• Energy consumption – for instance, electricity and gas 
• Other consumption like food and household items
• General waste production
• Transportation, number of cars, vehicle usage, and distance
• Where and how often we holiday 
• Products we purchase

The average Australian has a carbon footprint between 15-19 tonnes of CO2 per year. 

So if carbon is a natural element why the focus on carbon footprints and the need to reduce them?

The Carbon Cycle

Climate change has always existed, as there are natural fluctuations in the temperature of the sun, the orbit and tilt of the earth, as well as natural events such as volcanic eruptions that put various gases into the atmosphere. However, data indicates that climate change has accelerated particularly quickly over the last 100 years or so. 

As we mentioned before, carbon has the ability to bind to various elements to form very useful things. Because it has this ability, it does not stay locked in one place. It moves between different storage vessels like our bodies, trees, soil, atmosphere, etc. This is known as the carbon cycle. 

Over the long term, the carbon cycle maintains a delicate balance that sees all of Earth’s carbon prevented from entering the atmosphere or from being stored in a single location (like rocks). This balance helps keep Earth’s temperature relatively stable, like a thermostat.

The carbon cycle has two parts: a slow cycle and a fast cycle. 

The slow carbon cycle, through a series of chemical reactions and tectonic activity, takes between 100-200 million years to move between rocks, soil, ocean, and atmosphere.

The fast carbon cycle, however, is measured in a lifespan. The fast carbon cycle is largely the movement of carbon through life forms on Earth, or the biosphere. This carbon moves from:

• atmosphere to plants through photosynthesis,
• plants to animals through consumption,
• from plants and animals to the ground through wastes and decay,
• from living things to the atmosphere through respiration,
• from the atmosphere to oceans through diffusion, and
• from fossil fuels to the atmosphere through burning. 

Left undisturbed, the fast and slow carbon cycles maintain a relatively steady concentration of carbon in the atmosphere, land, plants, and ocean. But when there are significant changes of the amount of carbon in one reservoir, this ripples through the others.

Since the 1800’s and our industrial progression, vast amounts of carbon sitting within the slow cycle is being moved to the fast cycle through the burning of fossil fuels, clearing land, and other human activity. 

All of this carbon moved from the slow cycle needs to go somewhere. So far, land, plants, and the oceans have taken up about 55% of the fast carbon people have put into the atmosphere while about 45% has stayed in the atmosphere. 

The knock-on effects are primarily caused by the various gases that remain in our atmosphere. They act as a blanket that warms the planet, which helps plants grow more and die faster, makes the weather more erratic and intense, makes the ocean water more acidic which puts marine life in danger, and many other serious problems.

Why should individuals and businesses reduce their carbon footprint? 

We are seeing the impacts of climate change today in the increased rates of extreme weather like bushfires, floods, and storms. By being aware of our impact, we as individuals and businesses can then take action to minimise the movement of carbon from the slow cycle into the fast cycle, helping slow the effects of extreme climate change. 

If each Australian was able to reduce their carbon footprint by 50% (8t CO2 per year) that would equate to approximately 200 million tonnes of CO2 averted from our atmosphere.   

Luckily, reducing our individual and business carbon footprint is not difficult. 

The first step is to measure it. There are a number of free tools available online that can be used to accurately guess your carbon footprint. But the most significant point comes after the measurement, when we start to look at areas where we can reduce our impact. 

Avoid

The best way to reduce emissions is to avoid generating them in the first place. How? 

• Look at equipment use, turn off equipment when not in use. 
• Where electricity is purchased from and how much of it is renewable
• Waste – where and how much waste are we producing 
• For business deliveries, how many does your business receive and make – can these be consolidated?
• Employee travel / commutes – are there alternatives and incentives for better transport use?

Reduce

Reducing consumption means asking yourself a question: is this a want or a need? This will not only reduce your emissions, but will also save you money! Look at options to reuse, recycle, or upcycle products you buy, only disposing of them when another use can’t be found.  

Once you have done what you can to either avoid emissions or adjust consumption, can you now reduce emissions by changing some processes? Making processes more efficient normally means reducing waste or effort. This might be changing just one step in a process that can eliminate some waste. 

Switch

Look for opportunities to only use ethical and sustainable businesses and products that have the same values as you; this includes your primary energy source. 

• This may mean buying an alternative product or service that either has been certified to be carbon neutral or in some way contributes to positive climate change or sustainable benefits 
• Switching to alternative energy sources like solar instead of grid power
• Switching to renewables with your energy provider 
• Exchanging a fossil fuel source for one with a lower carbon component if renewables are not available

Offset 

After attempting the steps above, there will likely be some remaining emissions. This is where offsetting with carbon credits can help balance your emissions out by funding active climate restoration projects. An individual or business can enlist services like Carbonhalo to track and manage their carbon emissions.