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1. Walk or cycle to work
Replace some or all of a journey with walking, running or cycling.
In a recent TravelWest survey, people who choose to walk or cycle to work reported higher levels of satisfaction than those who travel by other modes.
Known as “Active Travel”, it’s a great way to be more sustainable and keep fit!
2. Have a meat and dairy-free day
Most of us will have heard of “Veganuary” or “Meat-free Monday” but have you ever tried going meat or dairy-free for yourself, even for just a day?
As well as the health and financial benefits of eating a more plant-based meals, the environmental benefits are significant and are a quick, easy, and delicious way of reducing your carbon emissions in 2022.
In fact, a plant-based diet that cuts out all meat, fish, dairy and eggs would reduce an average person’s carbon footprint by 50%...!
3. Ditch single use plastics
Never has a society been more aware about the damaging use of plastic on our environment than we are as we enter into 2022, and there is plenty of changes you can make at home to help. Small steps like taking your own reusable tote bags to shops, changing to a bamboo toothbrush, swapping cling film for beeswax wraps or using your own cutlery for takeaway lunch all make an impact.
As well as saving waste from landfill, you're helping to reduce demand (and therefore production) of single-use plastics, which are manufactured by using fossil fuels.
4. Switch to an EV
It has never been easier to make the change from petrol or diesel to an electric vehicle, so why not consider making this change to help reduce your carbon footprint in 2022? If you’re in a position to do so, replacing your petrol or diesel car with an electric vehicle when you need to upgrade is one of the smartest things you can do on your journey towards becoming net zero.
While the upfront cost can be more than purchasing a fossil fuel car, the running and maintenance costs of an EV are far less than their fossil-fuelled cousins.
To help with the cost, ask your employer if they have a salary sacrifice scheme, consider leasing an EV or sign up to a car club.
5. Choose 100% renewable energy
This may be the biggest change you can make to reducing your carbon footprint in 2022, and despite the hassle you may think it involves, is actually quite easy to do so. Despite the rise of seemingly environmentally-friendly tariffs, not all “green energy” tariffs are, well, green.
Partly because of demand on the Grid, at peak times, even some green energy tariffs are supplemented with power sourced from fossil fuels.
Uswitch and Rightcharge are two comparison websites that can help navigate through “greenwash” to get a tariff that is best for you and the environment so find out more and make the change to help you on your way to becoming net zero.