Edinburgh eco start-up Pawprint has claimed that lockdown will drive a reduction of circa 15% in the carbon footprint of the average UK citizen this year.
The business, which has developed an app that encourage small but effective changes to people's behaviour, says the resulting reduction of 130 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) can help trigger a more climate friendly way of life and make a reduction of 15-25% realistic even after lockdown.
The 15% reduction is down largely to there being fewer cars on the road as people work from home and cut out non-essential travel, and planes in the sky due to flight restrictions, but people are also being less wasteful at home and spending less on goods and services. Pawprint's calculation is based on a 9% reduction in travel (road and air), 1% from less waste and 5% reduction in spending on goods and services.
Christian Arno, founder of Pawprint, said; “As a direct result of the lockdown and the lifestyle changes everyone is currently making, we are seeing an impressive reduction in harmful CO2e emissions. If this trend was to continue and we maintain some of the small behavioural changes currently adopted then we would be well on our way to improving the health of our planet. In turn, this would help improve the nation’s health as fewer pollutants mean less asthma and less lung and heart disease.”
Pawprint, the free eco companion app, is due to launch in May 2020 to help users understand, measure and reduce their carbon footprints via small lifestyle changes.
