Why does Ducky measure greenhouse gases in CO₂-equivalents?

In order to look at the effect of different greenhouse gases as a whole, we convert the amount of different gases to CO₂ equivalents, or kg CO₂e. This is a unit that takes into account both how much a type of gas contributes to warming and how long it stays in the atmosphere. Methane for instance has a much stronger heating effect than CO₂ but also breaks down relatively quickly in the atmosphere. In sum, 1 kg of methane emitted corresponds to 25 kg CO₂e emitted.

What is the problem with focusing on direct emissions?

Through international agreements, the countries of the world have set great ambitions to reduce direct emissions. The risk is that the measures taken in rich regions may be ineffective, and in some cases lead to an equivalent increase in emissions in regions where industry is growing rapidly. Especially if control and reporting systems are weak. This is why we must also set up consumption-based climate accounts, especially for rich regions.

What is a footprint and what does it have to do with emissions?

A footprint is a number that describes how much a person's lifestyle affects the planet. Ducky focuses on climate footprints, where we measure people's contributions to global warming. Other footprints, such as land use and water consumption, are also important when it comes to sustainability.
Climate footprint is the sum of direct and indirect emissions associated with a person - a personal and consumption-based climate account. You must first understand your own footprint in order to find out which climate measures you can do that might have a great effect.

Why is the footprint on Ducky different from what I've seen before?

Since there is no industrial or academic standard for climate footprints, other calculations will vary from ours. The databases and the reference year of the data used in the calculations can also affect results. Fortunately the world is moving in the right direction and newer data often gives both higher precision and lower footprints.

Why doesn’t Ducky offer carbon offsetting services?

There are many schemes where you can pay someone in exchange for promises of emission cuts. Documentation and regulation of such promises are generally lacking. Read more about carbon offsetting and renewable energy guarantees of origin.

Which countries is Ducky available in?

Datasets are currently available for Norway, Japan and the UK. This means that our calculations are based on country-specific emissions and local statistical data. For Norway we also have fine-grained footprint baseline numbers and some additional output options.
We can quite add coarse-grained data sets further up in the hierarchy. This means if we add for instance averages for Europe, this will be used for all countries in Europe except where we have more details (currently Norway and UK).