Tips and tricks for reducing your carbon footprint

Together with our partners, myclimate and MYBLUEPLANET, we have put together some tips and tricks on how you can reduce your carbon footprint. There are many ways in which you can reduce it and help the environment; whether you’re at home, work, or you’re travelling, small changes can make a difference.

Our top 3:

  • Less is more. Reduce your CO2 footprint with mindful consumption – this doesn’t just reduce your carbon footprint, it also saves you money.
  • Swap your shower head for an environmentally friendly version. This will reduce your hot water consumption from 25-30 liters per minute to 5-10 liters per minute. There’s even a national funding program (in GERMAN): that offers energy-saving shower heads for CHF 10.
  • MYBLUEPLANET has set up a dedicated ClimateActions App which shows you how you can save CO2 and conserve resources in your everyday life.

At home

  • Use energy-saving bulbs and LEDs. They will last longer and are more efficient, allowing you to save up to 7 kg of CO2 per year. For 20 light bulbs in a house, this equates to about 140 kg of CO2 per year.
  • Switch the lights off when you leave a room.
  • Let your clothes dry naturally on a drying rack or outside on a rotary dryer.

Transport

  • Use public transport such as trains or buses wherever available. In Switzerland, it is 25 times climate-friendlier to travel by train than by car. In France, it is 12.4 times and in Germany, 3 times climate-friendlier.1
  • Avoid flying if possible. When compared with other forms of transport, planes produce the highest carbon emissions. This reduces an individual’s carbon footprint drastically.
  • Use your bicycle to get around whenever possible.

1 The differences here can be explained by the different energy production methods used in these countries. Based on the resulting energy mix, train journeys produce more or fewer emissions, which are damaging to the environment. (Source myclimate)

Shopping

  • Consider renting products that you rarely use and opting for shared services, such as car sharing.
  • Remember that every product, not just electronic equipment, produces greenhouse gas emissions throughout its entire life cycle – from production, transportation and use through to its recycling. The average Swiss buys about 65 new items of clothing a year. A simple white cotton T-shirt (220 g) with a lifespan of about 55 washes causes around 11 kg of CO2 emissions, that is, about 50 times its own weight.
  • Purchase second-hand clothing whenever possible.

Food and groceries

  • Take a look at what you eat and where it may have come from. Try buying regional products that are in season.
  • The CO2 emissions caused by animal products significantly exceed those of plant-based products. For example, 1 kg of fruit or vegetables produces around 1 kg of CO2, while 1 kg of beef produces around 20 kg of CO2.
  • Did you know that an average meal produces 1.6 kg of CO2 per serving? MYBLUEPLANET has created delicious low-carbon recipes with only 600g of CO2 per serving.

These tips and tricks were developed together with our partner organizations:

my blue planet
my climate

Further information:

  • Do you want to be continuously challenged to find different ways of helping to save the environment? Use the service provided by our partner, MYBLUEPLANET: the ClimateActions app shows you how you can save CO2 and conserve resources in everyday life.
  • Find out more about the topic of climate protection with the myclimate climate booklet.
  • If you’re interested in learning more about our carbon footprint tracker, please read our FAQs.

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