Reducing your carbon footprint is one of the most important things you can do. You’re helping tackle climate change and are actively making a difference to the environment – working to preserve the world for future generations.

The best bit? You don’t need to make any drastic changes to your day-to-day life to do this. In fact, there are five simple things you can do to make a big impact with little effort:

Step 1: Change your energy supplier

Moving away from fossil fuels is an absolute necessity when trying to reduce your CO2 emissions.

It takes just 5 minutes to start the process of switching to a 100% renewable electricity and Green Gas tariff – a super simple change that can cut your carbon footprint in half!

Even better, once being supplied by 100% renewable electricity the running of every electrical gadget and appliance in your home or business will be carbon neutral.

Children playing with a wind turbine in the background.

Step 2: Insulate your home

You’d be surprised by how much difference good insulation can make to your home.

Houses that aren’t well insulated need to use more energy to keep warm. Not only does this cost you more money, it also creates a much larger carbon footprint – especially if you aren’t on a renewable tariff!

While the initial insulation may require a bit of investment, it will pay off in the long run with lower bills, a more efficient home and a smaller carbon footprint.

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Step 3: Consider your purchase

Chances are you do some research when buying big ticket items. Taking this same care to purchase ethical and sustainable every day products is just as important.

Buying your cheese from Wyke Farms for example, doesn’t just provide you with an award-winning Cheddar but one that is made in a sustainable way, with renewable electricity and careful waste management.

Extending this level of research across your regular, everyday purchases could drastically reduce your carbon footprint and help you vote for a sustainable future with the most important tool you have available – your money.

Step 4: Buy local products

A large amount of a food product’s carbon footprint comes from transport – for example, lamb from New Zealand will literally have travelled halfway across the world to be on your plate.

Purchasing local products not only reduces your carbon footprint, it also helps to support your local economy. Once you start noticing where your products are coming from, you might be surprised at how well-travelled your food is. Why not make a game of seeing just how local your meals can be?

Step 5: Consider your transport

If you could walk somewhere that you were going to drive, then get those feet a-moving! Simply reducing the amount of driving you do will have a huge impact on your carbon footprint.

While this might be a bit more difficult than the other methods mentioned, it’s an extremely effective way of reducing your carbon footprint.

When do you need to drive somewhere, think about how many people are in the car and try to car share wherever possible. Alternatively, you could always take public transport or hop on your bike for shorter journeys.

Less carbon, little fuss

By taking the time to do a little bit of research and actively following the points above, you could take huge chunks out of your carbon footprint with minimum interruption to your daily life. While it may not always be cheaper, it will always be the better thing to do from an ethical and sustainable perspective and that’s what we believe matters most.

Take the first step towards a low carbon future by switching to Good Energy today.