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The ClimateHero Carbon Calculator estimates your carbon footprint in units of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO₂e). This is the unit that climate researchers commonly use to deal with the fact that all greenhouse gases do not have the same strength in the greenhouse effect. As an example, 1 tonne of methane gas has the same climate impact as 28 tonnes of carbon dioxide (over a 100-year period). This means that 1 tonne of methane equals 28 tonnes carbon dioxide equivalents (CO₂e).

ClimateHero uses about 30 public sources to calculate your carbon footprint. Based on these sources and your answers in the climate calculator, we can estimate the emissions from your private consumption, which amounts to about 10 tonnes of CO₂e per person per year for many of us. The world average, including those living in abject poverty, is around 5 tonnes CO₂e per person per year.

ClimateHero uses the Exponential Roadmap which tells us that climate emissions must be halved by 2030 at the latest. That leads us to a personal climate budget for the average global citizen of about 2.5 tonnes CO₂e per year. But since the world population continues to grow, we round off downwards to a climate budget of 2 tonnes CO₂e per person per year.

That is where we have obtained the four archetypes that we use to categorize your climate footprint:

1. Climate Hero (<2 tonnes) – Already today living within the 2030 global climate budget
2. Climate Friend (2-5 tonnes) – Already helping to decrease the world average
3. Climate Consumer (5-10 tonnes) – Increasing the global average
4. Climate Villain (>10 tonnes) – Exceeding the average among wealthy individuals

Out of the estimate of 10 tonnes CO₂e per capita, you can affect about 80% as a private individual. The remaining 2 tonnes is associated with public investments that you as an individual can’t change through your way of life. These 2 tonnes must be halved before 2030, which is why we single out 1 tonne of these when we calculate your footprint. That means you can’t get a lower footprint than 1 tonne CO₂e in the climate calculator.

It is important that your carbon footprint is calculated as accurately as possible. But to us it is even more important that there is a quick and easy way for you to estimate your footprint and learn from the important lessons in the test. This is why the calculation contains some general assumptions, enabling us to limit the amount of questions and estimate your carbon footprint in five minutes. As a rule of thumb, we have chosen to exclude/simplify questions if the outcome is less than 0.1 tonnes CO₂e per year.

Your carbon footprint should therefore not be interpreted as being precisely correct down to the decimal point. That being said, you will most likely end up in the correct category from the four archetypes we use to portray the carbon footprint (Climate Hero, Climate Friend, Climate Consumer, and Climate Villain).

As ClimateHero aims to help everyone on the planet to reduce their footprint, we use data sources that are internationally viable as far as possible, but supplement with country-specific data where necessary.

Click here to see a list of the data sources that the climate calculator relies upon.

A carbon credit is a tradable certificate that represents one metric tonne of CO₂e either removed from the atmosphere or prevented from being emitted.

ClimateHero offers you the option to buy carbon credits to balance your emissions — you may also hear this called "carbon offsetting," though we prefer the term "balancing" as it better reflects the goal of bringing your total emissions into equilibrium. It is a smart way to take responsibility for the emissions you have not yet been able to eliminate.

The money you pay goes to climate projects that would not have happened without this funding. These projects are mostly in developing countries, where the focus is on replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy such as solar or wind power, or on capturing carbon dioxide by preserving or planting forests.

The Gold Standard was founded by WWF and several other NGOs to ensure that carbon credits are issued with the highest possible quality and have no negative impact on the local environment. The projects are subject to the highest auditing requirements and must involve all relevant stakeholders, including the local population.

In addition to ensuring actual climate benefits, the Gold Standard requires that projects contribute to additional sustainable development goals rather than just climate action. This means the climate projects also contribute to improved health and reduced poverty for our planet's most vulnerable inhabitants.

Balancing emissions and contributing to the climate transition can be done in many different ways. The price varies depending on the type of climate solution, certification, volume, and market conditions. By purchasing large volumes, we can offer stable and competitive prices over time.

We offer two types of certified climate solutions with the following reference prices:

1. Avoided emissions, certified by Gold Standard – €25 per tonne CO₂e – Accelerates the green transition through certified climate projects
2. Long-term carbon removal – €250 per tonne CO₂e – Pyrolysis of residual biomass into biochar, which is stably stored in soil for hundreds of years

Our different services vary in price depending on the mix of climate solutions included. Each service clearly describes how the funds are used and the climate impact they contribute to.

Balance your calculated carbon footprint (subscription)

If you have calculated your carbon footprint in our carbon calculator, we balance 200% of your remaining carbon footprint through Gold Standard-certified climate projects.

The monthly fee is based on your remaining carbon footprint after climate pledges:

• <2 tonnes – €9 per month
• 2–3 tonnes – €12 per month
• 3–5 tonnes – €15 per month
• 5–7 tonnes – €24 per month
• 7–8 tonnes – €30 per month
• 8–10 tonnes – €36 per month
• 10–15 tonnes – €45 per month
• > 15 tonnes – €54 per month

The private subscription applies to carbon footprints of up to 15 tonnes per year. For larger footprints, the subscription balances a footprint of 15 tonnes of CO₂e per year.

Many people contact us asking how carbon credits can cost so little. There are three main reasons for this:

1. Green technology is becoming more cost-effective every year. That means the subsidy part for each project (which is where you come in!) does not have to be so large for the project to be initiated.
2. Today, only 0.4% of the world's total carbon emissions are balanced, but to meet the 1.5°C goal, this percentage needs to increase fiftyfold. There are still too few people and companies taking responsibility for their climate impact. This in turn means the supply of climate projects exceeds demand, which keeps the price down.
3. ClimateHero analyses and selects projects that provide the most climate benefit for every amount contributed. We buy large volumes at the best available prices, which you and all other subscribers then share. Read more about our climate projects here.

No, ClimateHero is an impact startup, meaning we are a for-profit company where profit serves our mission rather than shareholders.

We believe our mission is better served as a fast-growing digital startup than as yet another non-profit environmental organisation. Being commercially independent means we are free from political or ideological affiliations and not dependent on donations or anyone else's agenda.

Any revenue we generate is reinvested into developing the service and reaching more people, because the more people who understand and reduce their climate impact, the closer we get to our goal.

ClimateHero is run by environmentally conscious entrepreneurs committed to tackling the defining issue of our generation. Read more about us here.

The service operates through the Swedish company Climate Hero AB, founded in 2018. What started as a tool for the Swedish market has grown into an international platform, built around two core services: a Climate Calculator that helps individuals understand and reduce their personal carbon footprint, and a business tool that helps companies measure and manage their organisational emissions.

The company has five co-founders. ClimateHero was born when our CEO Robert Sabelström realised how large his own carbon footprint was and could not find a simple, engaging way to understand and reduce it. That gap became the starting point for everything we have built since.