EcoTracker’s Method

There is a climate and ecological emergency, caused by humans – all of us, though some much more than others – often without realising our impact. See the Climate and ecological emergency page for details on the underlying problems affecting our planet and why we need to urgently act. Governments and organisations have a critical role to play in addressing the climate and ecological emergency, but so do individuals. Every individual is responsible for their own environmental impact and is able to take some action to minimise this. However, taking action can seem complex – what exactly should we do?

EcoTracker is designed to represent the environmental impact of a typical person in the UK and guide users to take the typical most impactful actions to minimise their environmental impact, cutting out the complexity. EcoTracker’s method is grounded in current scientific knowledge and aims to bridge the gap between the complex underlying science and the simple and practical steps that individuals can take to reduce their impact. To maintain simplicity, improve usability, and keep the focus of the community on the most impactful actions, EcoTracker is specifically designed to be focused and relatively generic. EcoTracker is also designed to help individuals maximise their wider positive influence and promote wider community action.

We believe the 12 EcoTracker Top Actions are relatively universal for the majority of people in wealthier countries such as those in Europe and North America, even if the absolute size of a person’s environmental impact may differ. Many Top Actions also apply to people from less wealthy countries. Generally, less wealthy people use less resources and have lower environmental impact, and are likely to already be taking some of the most significant actions (e.g. avoid flying) due to affordability. The poorest in society can get some insight from EcoTracker into low cost actions they can take, but the tool is primarily aimed at middle income and wealthier people who have a much larger environmental impact due to the extra resources they consume.

We undertook pilot environmental footprint assessments for annual CO₂ emissions and ecological footprint, using a range of usage/consumption typical figures (e.g. units of electricity used, miles driven etc) and up to date conversion factors (e.g. kg of CO₂ emissions per mile driven). This, along with wider data on typical environmental footprints, and a review of available internet and app based environmental footprint calculators, was used to determine the size of typical environmental footprints and the key actions individuals can take to reduce their impact. Data used was taken from a variety of robust literature sources.

The pilot studies suggest that:

• There is much inequality of environmental impact within and between populations, and this broadly correlates with wealth. The IPCC reported that globally, the 10% of households with the highest per capita CO₂ emissions contribute 34-45% of global emissions, while the middle 40% contribute 40-53%, and the bottom 50% contribute 13-15%.
• Although the environmental impact of individuals varies widely, the same most significant actions are relevant to the vast majority of individuals from relatively wealthy countries such as the UK.
  • This is regardless of where individuals start from (e.g. whether they have a relatively large or small environmental impact currently).
  • Where individuals currently have a relatively small environmental impact, this is likely to mean they have already chosen to take some of the most significant actions; alternatively, they may be relatively less wealthy, consuming less, and so already aligned with some of the most significant actions (e.g. limiting/reducing flying) due to affordability.
  • Where individuals have a relatively large impact, this is likely to mean that they are relatively wealthy and have high consumption rates. Wealthier households with a relatively large impact have more opportunity to reduce this and some may consider that they bear more responsibility for the climate and ecological emergency than the less wealthy.
  • As demonstrated by the Climate and ecological emergency page we all need to achieve net zero CO₂ emission lifestyles and minimise our ecological impact as soon as possible. 2030 is a key deadline. The main target is for net zero CO₂ emissions, so it is clear that everyone needs to take broadly the same actions to avoid CO₂ emissions for each area of their lifestyle. The relatively wealthy may need to do more than the relatively less wealthy to achieve this for some lifestyle areas.
  • Limited ‘trading’ of the most significant actions can be accommodated (e.g. we generally can’t do more of one action and less of another to achieve the aim – we all need to do as much as we can to achieve the most significant actions).
• Currently, individuals generally do have the opportunity reduce their impact all the way to net CO₂ emissions and to significantly reduce their ecological footprint.
  • Directly reducing environmental impact must be the priority although this may also involve offsetting some CO₂ emissions.
  • The offsetting mechanisms available to us fall well short of the capacity to absorb all of the CO₂ emitted globally, hence we cannot simply rely on offsetting.
• It is more challenging to reduce an individual’s ecological footprint than to reduce their CO₂ emissions due to the extremely large land areas required to support the consumption linked to modern lifestyles, particularly for relatively wealthier individuals or countries. Whilst CO₂ emissions from products can be avoided by using renewable energy rather than fossil fuels, land will still be required to produce the product and there are only so many efficiency gains that can be made to reduce the amount of land needed. Therefore, although the majority of global focus is currently given towards reducing CO₂, emissions it is critical to consider and minimise our ecological footprint in order to address the Ecological emergency.
• As Governments and organisations reduce their CO₂ emissions and ecological impact and incentivise others to do the same in the future, it is expected to become easier for individuals to reduce their environmental impact as the products and services they consume will be lower impact, however, we do not have the time available to simply wait for others to act.
• Many of the most significant actions do not require money to be spent or significant changes to lifestyle. However, some of the most significant actions do require money to be spent and lifestyle changes.
• When individuals take the most significant actions to reduce their environmental impact, there are a variety of co-benefits that can be gained by the individual at the same time. These include:
  • Saving money, either in the short run or the long run.
  • Improving health and wellbeing
  • Developing and learning new skills
• The available internet and app based environmental footprint calculators include or omit a wide variety of lifestyle areas. Most calculations at a national scale omit imported consumption of food and products. However, this does have a very significant impact and should be accounted for to represent an individual’s true personal environmental impact and the opportunities to reduce this.
• The available internet and app based environmental footprint calculators largely focus on CO₂ emissions and give limited attention to wider impacts.
• The available internet and app based environmental footprint calculators largely focus on CO₂ emissions estimation and focus less on how personal actions can reduce emissions.
• During the coronavirus pandemic there was been a clear short-term reduction in CO₂ emissions as a result of reduced consumption of certain products and activities. Whilst the driver for this reduction is wholly tragic, the changes in behaviour and the observed reduction serves to clearly evidence and illustrate the large impact of our cumulative consumption choices have on CO₂ emissions and other environmental factors like air pollution, and the benefits of changing our behaviour.

From the most significant actions, 12 key themes were identified, which have formed the EcoTracker Top Actions. Other categorisations are possible, but the Top Actions were specifically selected because:

• They have the most significant influence on environmental impact of individuals in terms of CO₂ emissions and ecological footprint.
• When all 12 Top Actions are taken, they enable individuals to reduce their CO₂ emissions to approximately net zero and for ecological footprint to be minimised.
• They address wider environmental issues such as plastic pollution.
• They are generally at least somewhat within the control of many individuals.
• They provide a broad, inclusive approach. One alternative could have been to focus on the relatively wealthy, what with their large impact and opportunity for reduction. However, it may be counterproductive to demonise and alienate this group only, and others do need to also reduce their impact.
• They are framed with the intention that many will appeal to and be seen as achievable by a majority of people. For instance, although it would be better for people not to drive at all, the Eco-friendly driving EcoTracker Top Action was included because it seems very unlikely that the majority of people would get rid of their cars entirely in the foreseeable future, given the convenience of cars linked to the existing infrastructure built for them, as well as many people’s cultural attachment to cars.
• The use of 12 Top-Actions aligns people’s efforts with the calendar, enabling a rotating monthly focus. This enables co-ordination of actions and to create a shared process in which the community acts together, better supporting the efforts of each individual.
• They broadly offer a similar level of impact, although the actual impact of each of Top Action will vary between individuals depending on their circumstances. The Top Actions are given equal weighting:
  • To simplify the process, making it easier for people to understand.
  • To promote equality of action and unify disparate groups, making it easier for all types of people to unite behind the same framework.
  • To encourage those at the start of their journey or those with very different mindsets to openly declare their position and share their progress. If a bespoke calculation was used, the least environmentally-conscious may be put-off by starting from “off the scale”. EcoTracker has been designed to encourage those at the start of their journey to feel good about their opportunities and progress made right from the start.
  • To keep the enterprise simple, making best use of the available resources.

Limiting family size and ownership of large pets are acknowledged to have a large environmental impact, but are purposely not included as EcoTracker Top Actions because:

• They are one-off choices that people make at various times in their lives and many people have already made these decisions in the past.
• Once the choice has been made, the opportunity to reduce the impact is currently relatively limited; it is unclear how a typical individual could be considered to “achieve” this. EcoTracker is designed based on ability to achieve actions.
• These choices are likely to be much more emotive for individuals than the EcoTracker Top Actions, and therefore less appealing to some individuals. There is a risk that if these choices were core to the EcoTracker Method and people are put off by such items or feel negative emotions, that they may disengage with EcoTracker and decide not to progress the other Top Actions.
• In case of family size, any calculated long term impact includes a high level of assumption about what the future will be like and so is likely to be significantly less robust than the selected EcoTracker Top Actions which are ongoing activities we can typically measure in the present. It is debatable what level of environmental impact for a child could be reasonably assigned to a parent. Furthermore, although the overall human population is currently excessive, some people will still need to have children or we will voluntarily become extinct!

Limiting family size and ownership of large pets are however included in a list of recommended further / wider actions that you can take. This list has less prominence than the EcoTracker Top Actions, however, these are also recommended and it is acknowledged that by following these further / wider actions you can have an even bigger impact than simply achieving the EcoTracker Top Actions.

It should be noted that there are many actions with smaller impact than then EcoTracker Top-Actions that can also be taken to reduce your environmental impact. Completing such actions is also valuable, but do ensure that such actions don’t take too much of your precious time and energy away from completing the most impactful Top Actions.

Beyond merely focusing on the actions taken to reduce an individual’s environmental impact, we found that increasing the social acceptance of such measures and reducing any social barriers is critical in order to promote widespread uptake of the approach. One of the biggest barriers to social change is the perception that diverging from social norms will make us outsiders. We also tend to underestimate the number of people who are open to change and supportive of an eco-friendly lifestyle. Therefore, enabling and encouraging individuals to share their eco-friendly views and progress (their “personal eco-progress-story) with their network and the wider community was identified as a key theme to incorporate into EcoTracker’s method.

The EcoTracker 2030 Pledge is a commitment to a meaningful and achievable target to reduce your personal environmental impact; this involves aiming to complete all 12 EcoTracker Top Actions by 2030.