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1 Avoid long haul flights

C02 tonnes 1.21
Cost Less than £100
Effort Easy

CO2 based on UK average figures. See how we've done the sums.

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Sorry, we know you won't like to hear this, but one long haul return flight - such as London to San Francisco - has the same climate impact as the average UK home during an entire year. In other words, each hour you spend on the plane has a carbon footprint of more than two weeks' use of heating, lighting, hot water, TV or washing machines.

In most cases, the only practical alternative to flying long distance is picking a destination closer to home. That isn't always ideal, but it will help reduce your carbon footprint substantially.

 

2 Don't drive

C02 tonnes 1.04
Cost Less than £100
Effort Easy

CO2 based on UK average figures. See how we've done the sums.

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We realise that this may seem impossible. But the use and manufacture of cars is a major source of greenhouse emissions. If we all stopped buying and driving cars, then we could reduce our carbon footprints by an average of around 10 per cent.

Even if you can't give up driving, try to follow the other car-related points in this action plan. And avoid buying new cars unless you have high driving needs and can opt for a high-efficiency model.

3 Save more, buy less

C02 tonnes 0.55
Cost Less than £100
Effort Easy

CO2 based on UK average figures. See how we've done the sums.

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It's tempting to spend all the money we have or can borrow, but almost everything we buy has a carbon footprint. The CO2 emissions may be emitted where the product was manufactured, in China for example, but they're arguably still the responsibility of the end consumer.

Cutting down the number of goods you purchase by a fifth can take around 5 per cent off your carbon footprint. It will help also you to save up for green investments such as better insulation or solar panels.

Of course, spending less won't be greener if you simply shift to cheap products that are likely to need replacing more quickly than higher-quality alternatives.

4 Turn down your thermostat by 2 degrees

C02 tonnes 0.50
Cost Less than £100
Effort Easy

CO2 based on UK average figures. See how we've done the sums.

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Turning down the thermostat is a bit of an environmental cliché, but only because it's such an easy and effective way to reduce energy use. Reducing the temperature of your home by just 1 degree can cut your heating bills by around 10 per cent - typically around £40 per year.

What's more, you probably won't even notice any difference. Reducing by 2 degrees, or as much as possible without making yourself uncomfortable, is even better.

5 Insulate your loft

C02 tonnes 0.43
Cost Between £100 and £250
Effort Moderate

CO2 based on UK average figures. See how we've done the sums.

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If your loft has minimal insulation, then it's probably donating 10-20 per cent of your heat to the birds sitting on the roof. Upgrading to the recommended insulation depth of 270mm will save up to a tonne of CO2, and £110, per year.

Loft insulation acts as a blanket, trapping heat rising from the house below. Not only that, it can also keep your home cooler during the summer by blocking heat from the sun on your roof.

 

6 Buy and sell second-hand

C02 tonnes 0.41
Cost Less than £100
Effort Easy

CO2 based on UK average figures. See how we've done the sums.

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Many of the world's carbon emissions are caused by the manufacture of goods - everything from tables to computers. Buying second-hand and selling or donating items you don't use helps minimise unnecessary manufacture, saving energy and resources.

If you bought 20 per cent fewer consumer goods (from newspapers to clothes), you'd cut your carbon footprint by around half a tonne of CO2 per year. That's equivalent to a return flight from London to Madrid.

 

7 Insulate your cavity walls

C02 tonnes 0.38
Cost Between £100 and £250
Effort Moderate

CO2 based on UK average figures. See how we've done the sums.

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If your home was built after 1930 then it probably has cavity walls - two walls with a gap in between. The gap helps reduce heat loss, but it doesn't do this job particularly well unless it's filled with insulating material.

Adding insulation to cavity walls is a quick and simple job - the material is hosed into place through small holes drilled in the exterior wall. It costs around £500, but a typical family can expect to save around £90 on heating bills each year, as well as 750kg of CO2 emissions.

8 Switch to a more efficient car

C02 tonnes 0.37
Cost Between £750 and £2500
Effort Easy

CO2 based on UK average figures. See how we've done the sums.

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If you have no choice but to drive a lot of miles regularly, then you should choose a car with low emissions. Switching from a model rated E for fuel efficiency (like a Ford Mondeo 1.8) to a model rated B (like a Honda Civic Hybrid) will reduce the emissions per mile by around 40 per cent.

A more ambitious move would be to get rid of your car and join a car sharing club instead.

9 Recycle as much as possible

C02 tonnes 0.33
Cost Less than £100
Effort Easy

CO2 based on UK average figures. See how we've done the sums.

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Besides helping us reduce the waste we send to landfill, recycling helps cut our carbon footprints. That's because it almost always takes more fossil fuel to extract and process virgin materials than it does to reuse existing materials.

For example, it takes around 20 times more energy to make an aluminium drinks can from scratch than to make one from existing cans. So almost every time you recycle a product, you're helping to reduce emissions.

10 Holiday closer to home

C02 tonnes 0.31
Cost Between £250 and £750
Effort Hard

CO2 based on UK average figures. See how we've done the sums.

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Holidaying closer to home helps you cut down the emissions of your trips. It can also help minimise travel time - and, in many cases, save you money.

Each time you replace a short-haul flight of 3000km (eg London to Rome and back) with a UK train trip of 500km, you're slashing your carbon footprint by almost a third of a tonne.

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