What can you do for the climate?

The most important piece of advice is that everybody can do something!

If you want to reduce your impact on the climate you can start by reducing your energy consumption. Below is a checklist which presents the various stages which you as a private individual can take if you want to reduce your energy consumption and thereby your impact on the climate.

1. Identify and implement measures
   

   How are you using energy and do you need all the energy you are using? Where can you reduce your energy consumption?
   
   Here are some tips on how you can reduce your energy consumption.
   
   Your municipal and climate adviser offers free advice on how you can reduce your energy consumption.
   
   Contact information to all the energy and climate advisers in the country (only in Swedish)
   
   You can then implement concrete measures to reduce your energy consumption. Perhaps you should start using low energy lamp bulbs and add additional insulation to your loft.
   
   

2. Choose environmentally-friendly energy sources
   

   If you want the energy you use to be as environmentally-friendly as possible, you should choose renewable electricity and district heating.
   
   Contact your supplier to find out whether the electricity and district heating you are using today is environmentally friendly. The supplier will be able to show you and assure you that the electricity or the district heating you are using really is good for the climate. Electricity and district heating marked with “Bra miljöval" has, for example, always been examined by a third party and fulfils requirements in order to be called green electricity and heating.
   
   However, choosing energy which is as environmentally friendly as possible is not a reason for not reducing your energy consumption. By reducing consumption, you are making it possible for others to purchase environmentally-friendly electricity or district heating which can result in a reduction in the total amount of carbon dioxide emissions.
   
   

3. Climate compensate
   

   If you want to offset the emissions which your activities cause and which you cannot reduce by taking action, there is something called climate compensation. This means that you purchase emission rights which reduce emissions with someone else. There are many companies and organisations that offer climate compensation and it is important to choose a serious operator. The Swedish Energy Agency recommends that those people who want to climate compensate do so within the regulations described by the UN and the EU.

How much are the emissions reduced by?

By reducing your energy consumption, you're making it possible to reduce energy supply, for example, energy produced by burning coal. If you reduce energy consumption by 1 kWh, you are making it possible to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 1 kg.

You cannot however in advance know what type of energy supply will be reduced when you reduce your energy consumption. It may be coal-fired energy production, but it could also be another form of energy production, such as hydroelectric power. This makes it difficult to provide general and exact figures as to how much each action impacts on greenhouse gas emissions. But it is important to remember that everybody can do something for the climate!