Carbon Footprint

Each of us has a ‘carbon footprint’ which represents how we live and the lifestyle choices we make. Why not take a few minutes to calculate your footprint, and think about ways you could start to reduce it?

Climate Stewards - Carbon Calculator and Offsetting

Climate Stewards was started by A Rocha and is now an independent NGO, but still very much part of the A Rocha network. Climate Stewards work to raise awareness and empower people to combat climate change, and facilitate climate change mitigation projects in Ghana, Kenya and Mexico. Climate Stewards believes that we are all called to be good stewards of God's earth, and that voluntary carbon offsetting is a great way to do this.

Climate Stewards’ individual carbon footprint calculator asks a few simple questions about your travel, household bills, food and waste, and then invites you to help you calculate your carbon footprint, reduce it if you can, and offset the rest. Offsetting means compensating for every tonne of CO₂ you emit. Climate Stewards help you offset by supporting community forestry, water filter, solar and cookstove projects in the developing world.

360°carbon - Carbon Calculator for Churches

Climate Stewards recently launched a new carbon calculator for churches in the UK - 360°carbon. 360°carbon is a collaborative, web-based tool which enables churches to measure their carbon footprint from different activities – energy, travel, food, waste, water and other expenditure. It was commissioned by A Rocha UK and the Church of England, based on a pilot project carried out by Leeds Diocese in 2018, and funded by a private donor. The new site is free to use and is designed to work for all church denominations in the UK. Churches in NZ can sign up for 360°carbon as it is, but the denomination lists etc. is currently customised for the UK context and some emissions factors may be different. We understand that they are hoping to create a more localised version of the calculator for use in other parts of the world soon.

Talking about Carbon Footprint at church

The Climate Stewards website has presentations and notes that can be adapted to talk about carbon footprint at church.

New Zealand Carbon Calculators

There are plenty of other NZ-based carbon calculators that would use NZ-based emission factors. Check them out here:

Toitū Envirocare Household and Travel Emission Calculators - Toitū Envirocare is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research, a Government-owned Crown Research Institute.

Ekos Lifestyle Calculator - Ekos is an international non-profit enterprise that develops, pilots and scales up innovative approaches to financing a sustainable future. You can also offset with Ekos.

Catalyst Annual Carbon Emissions (ACE) Calculator - Endorsed by the Sustainable Business Network, this is a downloadable Excel based tool that measures the GHG emissions of businesses and households.

FutureFit.NZ - FutureFit measures and quantifies individuals’ climate impact based on their daily lifestyle actions across four categories – Transport, Food, Energy and Living. The tool then provides users with everyday actions and challenges tailored to their unique carbon emissions profile. Plus individuals and departments can compete against each other, creating a fun, competitive environment. It also sets a science-based target for New Zealand to work toward, collectively. FutureFit started as a collaboration between Wellington City Council and Auckland Council. We are currently partnering with the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority to provide access to all New Zealanders.

Tāne’s Tree Trust National Carbon Calculator - This tool allows you to work out how much carbon your planted native forest is storing over a defined period of time. It also allows you to determine how many native shrubs and trees you will need to plant to off-set your carbon footprint.