Did you know that your house infects 8 tons of CO.s a year?

In Basque households, an average of 8 tonnes per person per year is generated. Experts consider this level to be "very high" and it is urgent to adopt measures to bring it closer to the objectives of the Paris Convention. This figure includes direct emissions related to the production of the goods and services we consume, such as the use of private vehicles or the heating of homes, and indirect emissions.

Arkaitz Usubiaga, a researcher at the Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3), has stressed that although the carbon footprint in the Basque Country is similar to the European average, much remains to be done to significantly reduce it.

The carbon footprint reflects not only the responsibility of governments, but also that of citizens. The territorial perspective measures the emissions of each country to set targets, and the consumption perspective, or "the footprint of each household," shows where we can act directly by changing our habits.

According to Usubiaga, most emissions are concentrated in three areas: transport, food and housing.

• Transport: Incrementing the use of private equipment, betting on public transport, bicycles or walking, and limiting flights.
• Food:  Prioritize diets with more purification and fruit, preferably close diets, reduce meat consumption and avoid food waste.
• Housing: Information, efficient use of heating and reduction of energy consumption.

The researcher also emphasizes the need for a cultural change in consumption: buying only what is necessary, extending the useful life of mobile phones, clothing and household appliances, and reflecting on the automatic consumption habits that multiply our footprint.

In the Basque Country, the reduction in the carbon footprint of households has been partially achieved: from 2010 to 2019 it was reduced by 10%, but there is still a long way to go. The United States and Australia, for example, have two or three times as much footprint, due to more intensive consumption patterns and less sustainable production systems.

For Usubiaga, the priority is not to compare with other countries, but to reduce our footprintwhile maintaining a relatively high level of well-being. "It's great to know what others do, but you have to reduce it," he says.