How to Reduce Carbon Footprint: Simple Steps Everyone Can Take

Climate change is on everyone’s minds, and it is hard not to notice the changes. The weather is becoming erratic, sea levels are rising rapidly, people are switching away from petroleum-based transport to EVs, and there have been many campaigns to reduce carbon footprint across industries. Some are switching to vegetarian and vegan diets after learning about the impacts of factory farming on the environment.

So much is happening everywhere, all at once. And since the climate crisis is massive in scale and complexity, it can be difficult to know what we can do to help. Recycling, using public transport, and reducing meat consumption are praiseworthy, but they may not be enough. In this article, I discuss changing our mindsets to consider more impactful pathways to tackle climate change. Specifically, I make the case for shifting our focus from individual actions to more profound systemic change. Founders Pledge stresses scalable and high-leverage interventions over feel‑good offsets. In the Climate  &  Lifestyle report, they show that most individual acts (re‑using bags, unplugging chargers, even planting trees to “offset”) avert tiny fractions of a tonne, while donations to high‑impact policy NGOs can abate a tonne of CO₂ for < $10—over 100 × more impact than typical voluntary offsets. They warn that many cheap tree‑planting credits “look attractive but don’t reliably cut emissions” because permanence, additionality and monitoring are weak, so donors should prioritise policy and tech advocacy instead.

Giving Green reviewed forestry offsets in 2022 and declined to recommend any of them. Its assessment highlights two structural problems: permanence (trees can burn, rot or be logged long before the carbon is needed in the atmosphere) and leakage (protecting or planting trees in one spot can simply push deforestation elsewhere). Because these risks are hard to verify and price, GG concludes that today’s forest credits “do not give us enough confidence” and advises donors to back higher‑certainty interventions such as coal‑plant retirement or regulatory advocacy.

Systemic Impact Goes Beyond Personal Choices

Most of us are familiar with the general advice to reduce our carbon footprint: drive less, switch off lights, and use more public transport. These are tangible actions that prove you care about the environment and reduce your carbon footprint. But it is also important to ask ourselves, how much impact do these actions really have? And if some actions are found to be more impactful than others, we could then focus on what truly matters.

Climate impact of lifestyle decisions compared to donating (tonnes of CO2), Giving Green

This figure is striking as it suggests that strategic donations can have a far greater climate impact than many personal lifestyle decisions. The difference in impact is tremendous, far greater than most people expect. This only goes to show that personal donations form the biggest lever that individuals have on the climate, and should be a top priority for climate-conscious individuals. But what is the reason for such a huge difference in impact between donating and, say, switching to an EV? The short answer is “systemic change”.

What is systemic change?

The concept of “systems change” is integral to understanding how to reduce the global carbon footprint most effectively. As defined by Giving Green, systems change strategies are those that change the rules of the game. “In other words, funding systems change means funding work that ultimately changes incentives and actions beyond the project being funded.” This kind of work includes policy advocacy, technology innovation, market shaping, and strategic grassroots efforts to build political will. This doesn't just address the symptoms of climate change but instead finds and fixes the root causes and the systems responsible for high emissions in the first place. This involves transforming the very frameworks within which our daily lives and industries operate. 

To illustrate how systems affect even seemingly personal choices, let us consider the example of our choice of vehicles. Electric cars have lower emissions than hybrids, which are better than diesel and petrol-fueled vehicles. But on further thought, overall emissions are still influenced by systemic factors like battery manufacturing emissions and the carbon intensity of the electricity grid used for charging. Personal decisions simply cannot be considered in isolation from the systems surrounding us. Large-scale and long-lasting impact, therefore, requires transforming these systems, even while continuing to make sustainable personal decisions.

The Global Carbon Landscape

Climate change is a global challenge, but its impacts and responsibilities for addressing it are unevenly distributed. Over the course of history, industrialised nations have contributed the most to greenhouse gases. In the present, emissions from developing economies are rising as they relentlessly pursue growth. Understanding the origins of global emissions helps pinpoint where systemic interventions could have the most impact.

Richer parts of the world, whether by income or region, are responsible for a disproportionately large share of global CO2 emissions compared to their population, even when accounting for emissions from traded goods i.e. exports from India. While global northern countries have higher per capita emissions, developing nations face the challenge of simultaneously growing their economies while adopting low-carbon pathways. India, for example, has committed to achieving a net-zero emissions target by 2070.

We must also acknowledge that even though lower-income countries have contributed minimally to historical emissions, they are especially vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change, due to reasons such as fewer resources, weaker institutions, or being in areas that are affected by rising sea levels. This makes it crucial to support systemic solutions in these regions.

When deciding which specific systems to target, we must look at the distribution of emissions across different sectors. 

Global GHG emissions by economic sector: Sources of CO2 by sector from the 2014 IPCC Report

Some of the top sources of carbon emissions seem to be energy production, agriculture, industry, and transport. There are ways to tackle these and curb emissions at the source:

• Energy (Electricity & Heat, Industry): Shifting from fossil fuels to renewable sources like solar, wind, and hydropower is an important intervention. This involves the large-scale transformation of electricity grids, industrial processes, and energy infrastructure.
  

• Agriculture, Forestry & Land Use: Sustainable land management, reforestation, and shifting away from intensive factory farming can potentially reduce emissions from food production.
  

• Transport: Decarbonising transportation can involve the adoption of electric vehicles, making public transport more usable, and shifting to cleaner fuel and more sustainable logistics.
  

We can now clearly see the structural nature of emissions and the fact that targeting specific industries and finding solutions could significantly decrease the global carbon footprint.

How to Implement Systemic Change

At Impactful Giving, we want to help direct resources toward interventions that change the rules of the game, with emphasis on scalability and impact in critical areas. Here are some pathways for giving impactfully to tackle climate change systemically.

Investing in Transformative Technology

• Renewable Energy: We need to go further than deploying solar panels by supporting better energy storage methods, smart grid technologies, and research into next-generation renewables (e.g., advanced geothermal, green hydrogen).
  

• Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU): In sectors where reducing emissions is difficult, CCU technology could enable the capture and recycling of carbon. Funding research and advocacy for CCU deployment in these challenging industries can help.
  

• Sustainable Land Use Solutions: Silvopasture (integrating trees, forage, and grazing animals) and forest restoration can sequester carbon while also supporting local economies and biodiversity.
  

Policy and Regulatory Reform

• Many of the most impactful changes occur at the policy level. This includes advocating for stronger energy efficiency codes, market mechanisms such as carbon pricing, and clean energy standards.
  

• Johannes Ackva of Founders Pledge notes that "the degree of action is [determined by] what's feasible to do politically." This underscores the vital role of organisations that identify and advocate for politically feasible, high-impact climate policies.
  

Capacity Building and Awareness

• Investing in people, particularly in regions where communities rely on carbon-intensive industries, can help transition to greener economies. This includes supporting programs that train and reskill workers for green jobs
  

• Funding organisations that increase the capacity of government agencies and industries to implement and enforce new policies and technologies.
  

• Promoting public awareness and education on systemic changes can foster a societal shift toward sustainability
  

Giving Green’s modelling shows that changing government policy is usually ten to a hundred times cheaper than buying a carbon credit. One dollar given to a specialist group such as the Clean Air Task Force can stop roughly one metric ton of climate.

By contrast, a high‑quality cook‑stove credit costs about five dollars per ton, and destroying old refrigerant gases costs around eighteen dollars. Purchasing offsets for flights or food delivery is still useful where you need to see immediate reductions, but for most people seeking maximum climate benefit per dollar, policy advocacy wins.

Heavy‑industry clean‑up is a striking opportunity: it creates almost a third of world emissions yet receives just over 2% of foundation money.

How You Can Help Reduce Carbon Footprint

Impactful Giving identifies and recommends high-impact nonprofits that are driving these systemic changes to tackle climate change. We dive into the research so that you don’t have to. We care about initiatives that aim to fundamentally alter the trajectory of emissions. We specifically support climate challenges most neglected and are on critical development pathways for India. Impactful Giving has partnered with Vasudha Foundation and CSTEP to help advance technologies for climate transition. Vasudha Foundation is running the numbers on a straightforward switch: feed cement kilns and fertiliser reactors with clean‑burning hydrogen instead of coal or gas. Their techno‑economic models track how falling renewable‑power and electrolyser prices could make this zero‑carbon fuel stack up against today’s fossil heat. If the sums work, factories keep churning while the skys stay clear. Government incentives, changing fossil subsidies and competitiveness to fossil fuels and plant‑level efficiencies can close that gap fast enough for early projects to make sense. Another promising technology is agrophotovoltaics, putting solar panels on tall frames over fields, letting farmers grow crops and make electricity on the same land. Because plants stop using extra‑bright noon light, the shade keeps them cooler and cuts water loss without hurting yields. CSTEP is testing panel spacing to ensure yields are optimised and costs to see if the added power income can boost farmers’ profits.

You can be confident that your donations, channelled through Impactful Giving, are helping systemic shifts. Imagine your contribution enabling the next breakthrough in climate-resilient agriculture in a vulnerable community, influencing policy that accelerates renewable energy adoption across an entire region, or empowering a nation to embrace energy-efficient building practices at scale. This is the power of a systems perspective in giving.

Conclusion

We now see that reducing our carbon footprint is a multi-faceted issue that requires us to do the hard work of transforming the very systems that shape our world. Impactful Giving directs your resources towards work that brings about the large-scale changes we need. By supporting high-impact nonprofits, you contribute to a future where sustainable development and a low-carbon economy are a reality for everyone, everywhere. Join us in making a lasting impact on the climate crisis. For more information, book a call with us or check out our recommended climate nonprofits.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I reduce my carbon footprint without sacrificing comfort?

The most impactful way to reduce carbon footprint is by donating to organisations that drive systemic changes. Impactful Giving recommends nonprofits that are doing excellent work in this area, and even a small donation can have more impact than a personal lifestyle change. Other options are to choose electric vehicles and energy-efficient home appliances. Taking public transport and switching to more plant-based diets also help.

What is the role of carbon offsets in reducing the carbon footprint?

Carbon offsets help reduce carbon footprint by funding organisations that reduce or remove carbon emissions elsewhere to compensate for one’s own emissions. While this helps, the most impactful approach is still to support systemic change that directly addresses root causes. If we only donate to offset our own personal emissions, it restricts the impact we could potentially have. Either way, choose carefully and evaluate which options have the greatest impact before donating.

How can I encourage others to reduce their carbon footprint?

You can encourage others to reduce carbon footprint through leading by example, by prioritising impactful giving towards systemic climate solutions, and making these donations public. Many people want to help tackle climate change but do not have enough information on how to do it effectively. It is helpful to engage in constructive conversations about the climate challenge and how systemic changes need to be part of the solution. You can also support organisations that focus on capacity building and public awareness to foster collective understanding and enable societal shifts toward sustainability.

Sources:

1. Climate and Lifestyle Report, Founders Pledge (https://www.founderspledge.com/research/climate-and-lifestyle-report)

2. How and why we think about systems change as a climate funder, Giving Green (https://www.givinggreen.earth/mitigation-research/how-and-why-we-think-about-systems-change-as-a-climate-funder)

3. Climate giving strategies, Giving Green (https://www.givinggreen.earth/climate-change-mitigation-strategies)