Meaning & use
carbon footprint
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
The total amount of greenhouse gases produced by a person, organization, or activity.
Grammar: Countable: you can say 'a carbon footprint' or 'carbon footprints'.
Patterns
- reduce your carbon footprint
- a carbon footprint of something
- your carbon footprint from something
Taking the train instead of flying can lower your carbon footprint.
The company aims to cut its carbon footprint by 30% this year.
Eating less meat is one way to shrink your carbon footprint.
Word forms
| plural | carbon footprints |
|---|
Common combinations
- reduce your carbon footprint
- Many people try to reduce their carbon footprint by cycling to work.
- a large carbon footprint
- Frequent flying gives you a large carbon footprint.
- carbon footprint calculator
- Use an online carbon footprint calculator to estimate your emissions.
- offset your carbon footprint
- You can offset your carbon footprint by planting trees.
Synonyms and how they differ
- carbon emissions
- This focuses only on carbon dioxide released, while carbon footprint includes other greenhouse gases and is often measured over a year.
Commonly confused: carbon footprint or carbon copy?
carbon footprint vs carbon copy
A carbon copy is a duplicate of a document or an email copy; a carbon footprint is a measure of environmental impact.
Practice
Choose the best completion: 'By installing solar panels, the school hopes to ______ its carbon footprint.'
Choose one answer.
The phrase 'reduce its carbon footprint' means make it smaller, which fits the context of solar panels. 'Increase' is the opposite, 'calculate' means measure but does not show the intended result, and 'offset' means compensate for emissions, not lower them directly.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “carbon footprint”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.