Environmental Footprint Calculator How big is your environmental impact?

  1. 1 Calculate
  2. 2 Commit
  3. 3 Contribute

Calculate your footprint

For individuals · housing, travel and consumption

Free · 5 min · 2.4M have taken the test

Calculating for a company? Go to the business calculator

How it works

  1. 1

    Calculate

    Answer questions about housing, travel and consumption. Takes about 5 minutes.

    Answer questions about housing, travel and consumption. About 5 min.

  2. 2

    Commit

    Get personal tips that cut your footprint.

  3. 3

    Contribute Optional

    Support climate projects for what you can't reduce. From $9.

Safe drinking water project in Uganda

Example climate project

Clean water · Uganda

New wells reduce the need to boil water, which protects the forest and cuts emissions.

Free · 5 min · 2.4M have taken the test

How are climate impact, environmental impact and sustainability connected?

Sustainability is the widest term, covering environmental, social and economic aspects. Your climate impact is a large share of your environmental footprint, but not all of it. Environmental impact also includes pollution and the use of cropland and fresh water.

Environmental impact is the direct effect of human activity and natural events on the environment. Your personal environmental impact is the effect your lifestyle choices have on it, for example on biodiversity, climate change, acidification, plastic pollution, overfishing and fresh water scarcity.

Environmental footprint: how to calculate your environmental impact

With ClimateHero's environmental impact calculator, you calculate the part of your environmental footprint that comes from carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. You answer questions about housing, travel and consumption, which takes about 5 minutes, and get your result in tonnes of CO₂e together with suggestions for what to change. The calculator works for the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the US, the Philippines, India and many other countries.

If you'd like to see how much of the planet's resources your lifestyle needs, try our ecological footprint calculator.

How to reduce your environmental impact, not just your emissions

Many choices cut your emissions and other environmental impacts at the same time. Buying less, and choosing second-hand, repairable or longer-lasting things, saves materials, energy and waste. Cutting single-use plastic and sorting your waste properly helps more of it get recycled.

With food, using up everything you buy, choosing seasonal produce and eating less beef also reduces the water and land your diet needs.

Want to go further? With a monthly subscription, you fund Gold Standard certified climate projects that cut emissions equal to twice what you can't avoid yet. On the results page you can include everyone in your household.

Environmental impact: frequently asked questions

How do you calculate your environmental impact?

There's no single number for your whole environmental impact, because it covers very different things: emissions, water, land, pollution and biodiversity. Each one is measured with its own indicator, for example tonnes of CO₂e for the climate or litres for water. Want the details? Read how we calculate the climate part of your footprint in our FAQ.

What's the difference between environmental impact and ecological footprint?

Environmental impact describes all the effects your choices have on the environment, each with its own measure. The ecological footprint is one specific indicator: it calculates how much of the planet's productive land and water your lifestyle needs, in global hectares. If you'd like to see it that way, try ClimateHero's ecological footprint calculator.

Is the calculator free, and how long does it take?

Yes, it's free to use, and the test takes about 5 minutes. You see your result as soon as you finish.

Why does the calculator focus on emissions?

Because the climate is the part of environmental impact that can be measured clearly in one unit, CO₂e, and because the climate weighs heavily: according to the Global Footprint Network, about 62 % of humanity's ecological footprint in 2025 was its carbon footprint. Cutting your emissions is therefore one of the most effective ways to reduce your environmental impact.