It is a methodology created to measure greenhouse gas emissions emitted into the atmosphere by a person, an activity, an event, a company, an organization or a government during the life cycle of products, processes or services.

To make a comparison, all these gases are converted into units of carbon equivalent, the carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2eq).


All actions applied to the environment leave impacts known as ecological footprint, which is a methodology that measures the amount of Earth needed to sustain our lifestyle.
The carbon footprint is also part of the ecological footprint, as a part of the carbon dioxide is absorbed by oceans and forests, which are bioproductive areas. The carbon footprint now represents more than 50% of the ecological footprint, being the fastest growing factor since the 1970s, when the carbon footprint was a small fraction of the ecological footprint.


Any human attitude brings some impact to the planet, no matter how small, and the contemporary way of life emits much more gases than the Earth is capable of absorbing, that is, we are demanding too much from its biocapacity. Changing habits is essential for reducing the carbon footprint.


🔴 In our private life, it is possible to change the daily diet, integrating more vegetables to the detriment of meat or fish; whenever possible using public transport, cycling or even walking when traveling short distances. Organic food should also be preferred; recycle garbage; use recycled and recyclable packaging; reuse rainwater to water plants or wash outdoor areas; composting organic waste; reducing consumerism, preferring non-fossil energy, are some of the ideas to focus on.


🔴 Companies, of any sector or size, will contribute to the reduction of the Carbon Footprint by giving priority to partners and suppliers that have environmental responsibility in their processes; rethinking the production process, adopting measures that reduce the expenditure of inputs and resources such as water and energy; promoting campaigns to reduce disposable items; sensitizing the teams on the importance of following the recommendations for saving natural resources and raw materials; using superior energy efficient equipment are some of the best practices.


🔴 There is a significant set of tools to deal with this matter, which will also depend on the type of business and the defined strategy. The most commonly used, just to name a few, are Root Cause Analysis , Life Cycle, PDCA Cycle , Ishikawa Diagram or Basic Matrix .