What Do We Owe?

Once you have worked out your carbon footprint we can calculate how much more than your Fair Earth Share you are using and what you “owe” your partner school.

Take a deep breath, it might be more than you think!!

How we work out how much you owe

We follow these simple steps to calculate how much your school owes:

1. Calculate your school's Fair Earth Share
   = 2.5 tonnes x number of students / 10
2. Calculate your school's additional CO₂ 
   = Your school's current footprint -  your school's Fair Earth Share
3. Multiply this figure by £17.20
   = £ your carbon debt

As a reminder, the Fair Earth Share is the maximum amount of CO₂ that scientists have calculated each person can emit before it becomes unsustainable for our planet. And it’s around 2.5 tonnes per person (per year) so a huge reduction from the current 10 tonnes per person that the average Brit is currently producing. In this calculation we take an estimated 10 percent of this figure as we are only measuring the emissions resulting from the time spent at school.

We are using the figure of £17.20 / tonne of CO₂ as this is the figure being used by government in the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme. However some scientists have said that they think a fair price would be more like £45 / tonne!

You may be surprised by the amount of your debt but don't panic! The aim of the Carbon Partners project is not necessarily to repay all of this amount, but to use carbon footprinting to demonstrate the differences in carbon emissions that exist and encourage UK students to take responsibility towards their partner schools in the South for the extra CO₂ that we are producing.

Now it’s time to take action!