How it really adds up
A flight, a year of driving, a hundred burgers — on one scale, so the gaps stop being abstract. The quantities are our call; the per-unit numbers are sourced.
- A new cotton T-shirtOne cotton tee carries about 7 kg before you've worn it once.7 kg CO₂e
- A year of daily streamingAn hour of HD every night for a year. Less than you'd guess.13 kg CO₂e
- A year of applesEat 50 kg of apples in a year and it barely registers.22 kg CO₂e
- A new smartphoneMaking one phone outweighs charging it for decades.70 kg CO₂e
- A year of weekly chocolateA bar a week for a year. Cocoa's land use makes it punch high.121 kg CO₂e
- A year of train commutingA whole year of rail commuting costs less than one flight.177 kg CO₂e
- A year of weekly shrimpFarmed shrimp is heavy: cleared mangroves and pond energy.210 kg CO₂e
- A year of cheeseTen kilos of cheese carries the methane of the cows behind it.239 kg CO₂e
- A year of daily coffeeTwo cups a day for a year. The footprint is the beans, not the water.250 kg CO₂e
- One long-haul flightA single long-haul seat outweighs most of a year of eating.739 kg CO₂e
- 100 beef burgersA hundred burgers tops a long-haul flight. Beef is in a league of its own.1,492 kg CO₂e
- A year of drivingAn average year behind the wheel. This is the one most people underrate.2,050 kg CO₂e
- A round-the-world flightCircle the planet once and nothing else on this list comes close.5,915 kg CO₂e