Analysing the Indicators and the Associated Recommendations of Household Emission Calculators

Climate change and the related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are an evident threat to Europe and the world and have been at the forefront of environmental policy for decades. Carbon footprint calculators provide a valuable approach when it comes to informing people about GHGs and specifically to CO2 equivalent (CO2-eq). These calculators estimate the carbon footprint by converting emissions or energy data to the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) related to a person - its everyday profile. They are considered as “household calculators” as they are based on information provided by the user that is related to various activities and behaviours (transportation, housing, food consumption, waste management, consumption etc). Some of the calculators also provide recommendations to the users, based on their results, on how to change their habits and reduce their carbon emissions. This study provides a comparative analysis of the indicators used to calculate the carbon footprint in available household calculators, as well as the recommendations provided for the users to reduce their footprint. The aim of this paper is to present the current state of household carbon footprint calculators regarding; the data they require to calculate the carbon footprint and the recommendations they provide based on the results/household performance. The paper provides an analysis of a group of carbon footprint calculators that are freely available online, focusing on the domains and indicators used by each calculator, along with the associated proposed recommendations.