Calculate your ecological footprint

It's no secret that the climate is getting warmer!

Have you ever wondered what your share of this warming is?

What if we could calculate it to better understand and reduce it?

How to participate in the "Calculate your carbon footprint" challenge?

A) Alone online

We suggest you to calculate your carbon footprint by answering a few questions via the following form, you will find the RTBF calculator which will allow you to know your footprint in 5 minutes!

Thanks to your answers concerning your food, your housing, your mobility, your purchases and your digital habits, you will have an estimate of your impact on the climate and directly proposals for actions that can greatly reduce it!

I calculate my carbon footprint

Steps to follow in pictures :

Thanks to your answers concerning your food, your housing, your mobility, your purchases and your digital habits, you will have an estimate of your impact on the climate and directly proposals for actions that can greatly reduce it!

B) In class/ in the lecture hall

At the ULiège (estimated 30 min):

• Consult or download the explanatory guide (pdf) Guide explicatif - Challenge empreinte carbone (ULiège)
• Download the 9 slides to share in class (powerpoint, oral explanations suggested in the commentary section) : Powerpoint - Challenge empreinte carbone ULIEGE calculateur RTBFCarbon Footprint Challenge (ULiège) - powerpoint

In another educational institution in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation (estimate 20 min):

• Consult or download the explanatory guide (pdf) : Guide explicatif - Challenge empreinte carbone (EES - FWB) Explanatory guide - Carbon footprint challenge (EES - FWB)
• Download the 5 slides to share in class (powerpoint modifiable, oral explanations suggested in the commentary part) : Challenge empreinte carbone (EES en FWB) powerpointCChallenge empreinte carbone (EES en FWB) powerpointhallenge empreinte carbone (EES - FWB) - powerpoint

For any questions, contact the ULiège Green Office by email.

Did you know that?

The carbon footprint is an indicator that aims to measure the impact of an activity on the environment, and more specifically the greenhouse gas emissions linked to this activity. It can be applied to an individual (according to his or her lifestyle), a company (according to its activities) or a territory.

This impact is usually expressed in carbon dioxide equivalent or CO2 eq. The reason? For the sake of simplicity and homogenization, a single standard is used for all greenhouse gases in relation to CO2. This is equivalent to determining how much CO2 would retain the same amount of solar radiation and therefore contribute equally to global warming.

The individual carbon footprint is the quantity of greenhouse gases whose emission is linked to the total consumption of goods and services of a person. This link can be direct, such as the oil or gas used to heat a home, or indirect, such as the purchase of an item that required energy from fossil fuels to produce. Estimating our "role" in global warming in this way is important to avoid underestimating certain aspects of it, and therefore to be able to aim for a reduction of our overall impact. Thus, the Belgian carbon footprint is in the order of 15 to 17 tons of CO2 eq. per person per year (Walloon Platform for the IPCC).

The main areas of the carbon footprint of a Belgian student are :

• housing (construction, heating, electricity...),
• mobility (car: manufacturing and travel, public transport, airplane...),
• food (types of food: animal and vegetable proteins, prepared meals, restaurants/canteens...),
• purchases (clothes, objects...),
• digital (number and type of devices, streaming time..)

Carbon footprint VS environmental footprint

The concept of carbon footprint is sometimes confused with the environmental footprint (also called ecological footprint).

The carbon footprint accounts for about 60% of the ecological footprint, which covers a broader spectrum.

The ecological footprint is expressed as the area of productive land required to produce the goods and services we consume and to absorb the resulting waste. In Belgium, the average ecological footprint is 6.6 hectares per capita.

We often talk in the media about the amount of land needed to absorb our consumption patterns. Today, it is estimated that 3.7 hectares would be needed if everyone had the same lifestyle as the Belgians.

We can compare the lifestyles of citizens (from one country to another for example via this map).

You can calculate your ecological footprint here :

  I calculate my environmental footprint

(Source : Emmanuel Watrinet - Carbon footprint : definition, principles and calculation methods)

The challenge

To take part in this online challenge and see directly how much CO2 you save, go to the ULiège commitment platform, Alaya.

Note: You must be a ULiège student and create an account on the commitment platform.

Undertake the challenge on Alaya