Your carbon footprint

Take small steps each day to reduce your carbon footprint. It could be as simple as carpooling once a week, riding your bike to the shops, or installing energy-efficient appliances. Start composting, plant a tree or join a local community group. Be part of the solution.

As an individual, you might wonder how you can make a difference to climate change.

Your carbon footprint tells you how many greenhouse gas emissions you release as part of your lifestyle. Knowing this can help you on your climate action journey.

There are many small steps you can take to reduce your carbon footprint.

Reduce transport emissions

Transport makes up about 64% of emissions in the ACT and most of these emissions are from private car use.

You can reduce your carbon footprint by:

Did you know?

  • Each day you leave your car at home, you reduce your carbon footprint by around 8kg.
  • There are many electric vehicle public charging stations and points in the ACT.
  • Switching to an electric vehicle could save you around $18,000 on running costs over 10 years, as well as the potential to reduce your greenhouse gas emissions by around 3 tonnes per year.
  • The ACT Government offers 2 years’ free registration and a stamp duty exemption for zero emissions vehicles. Electric motor bikes and scooters are also eligible for a registration discount.

Improve energy efficiency

The ACT's electricity supply is already 100% renewable, and the ACT Government has committed to transition off gas by 2045. At home, you can continue to take small actions to ensure you’re using sustainable and efficient energy.

You can reduce your carbon footprint by:

Did you know?

  • Upgrading your gas heating system to an efficient electric reverse cycle air conditioning system can reduce your emissions by around 14 tonnes over the system’s useful life while saving about $500 per year on heating bills.
  • Upgrading your gas hot water system to a hot water heat pump can help reduce your emissions by around 10 tonnes over the heat pump’s useful life.
  • To discover other ways and how much money you could save by switching to energy efficient electric, try the make your next choice electric webtool to develop a personal home energy plan to go all-electric.

Reduce waste

Emissions from waste make up about 4% of the ACT’s overall greenhouse gas emissions.

You can reduce your carbon footprint by:

  • starting a compost or worm farm
  • diverting organic waste from landfill by shopping smart and eating leftovers
  • taking your own bags or containers to the supermarket
  • saying no to single-use plastics
  • choosing products with less packaging and less waste at the end of the product’s life
  • reusing things or give them to op shops, rather than sending to landfill, and buying second hand items
  • recycling everything you can.

Did you know?

  • In the ACT, around 35% of the average household bin is food waste and 12% is items that could have been recycled.
  • Sending waste to landfill results in over 150,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in the ACT every year.
  • In Australia, the contents of 1 in 5 shopping bags end up in the bin – that's around $3,800 worth of groceries wasted per household each year.

Keep our city cool

Living infrastructure such as trees, wetlands and green spaces help to build climate change resilience and keep our city cool. They also provide many other health and environmental benefits.

You can help make our city cooler by:

  • planting a tree in your garden
  • including grass, gravel and soil in your outdoor areas and driveways to filter water and reduce urban heat
  • avoiding excessive use of materials such as concrete, as they can absorb heat, making your home and surrounds hotter
  • choosing suitable garden plants from the free Canberra Plant Selector
  • considering green walls and roof garden options when designing or retrofitting your home or business
  • protecting existing trees when building
  • incorporating water features to help the air around your home and provide a cool spot for birds and bees
  • joining an Urban Open Space Volunteer Group or create your own
  • organising a neighbourhood working bee.

Did you know?

  • Canberra has about 22.5% tree canopy cover and about 1.5 million trees on both public and private land.
  • Trees are also good for our health and wellbeing.
  • Trees reduce air pollution and stormwater runoff.

Take the challenge

There are other ways you can make a difference. You can:

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Acknowledgement of Country

We acknowledge the Ngunnawal people as traditional custodians of the ACT and recognise any other people or families with connection to the lands of the ACT and region. We acknowledge and respect their continuing culture and the contribution they make to the life of this city and this region.