Offset your entire life’s carbon footprint

We all produce CO₂ as a result of our lifestyle. Flying, traveling by cruise ship or using a car for our daily commutes—all of this drives global warming. The infrastructure of the world we live in is responsible for some of these CO₂ emissions, think of for example the use of electricity generated from fossil fuels. The rest of our emissions, however, are shaped by our decisions.

In a lifetime, this adds up to a lot of CO₂. What if you could offset your impact on the climate?

Offset now the average carbon footprint that a person in Germany generates over their lifetime:

What is the carbon footprint of an entire lifetime?

Determining the CO₂ footprint for an entire lifetime is highly individual. The amount of CO₂ emitted depends on a number of personal lifestyle choices. Do you fly a lot or never? Do you eat meat every day, only a little, or none at all? Do you often buy new clothes, or do you repair your old shoes yourself? Many factors have an impact on your carbon footprint, especially when it is calculated over a lifetime. It is therefore easier to work with averages.

The current average life expectancy in Germany is 78.3 years for men and 83.2 years for women. If we assume an average CO₂ emission of 9.1 tonnes of CO₂ per capita in Germany, we arrive at a CO₂ quantity of 712.53 tonnes for men and 757.12 tonnes for women. If we take the mean value of these numbers, we can say that on average, a person in Germany produces around 734,825 tonnes of CO₂ over their entire lifetime, i.e. roughly 735 tonnes of CO₂.

So let’s say that 735 tonnes of CO₂ is the average carbon footprint for a lifetime in Germany.

Can your life be carbon neutral with CO₂ offsetting?

You can offset the 735 tonnes of CO₂ that you produce on average in your lifetime through effective climate protection. However, you must bear in mind that carbon offsetting always works with a time delay. You will not be CO₂-neutral right away.

For example, if you offset a certain amount of CO₂ today through reforestation in Germany, it will take 80 years to completely remove that same quantity of CO₂ from the atmosphere. Only then will the trees have absorbed the entire amount of CO₂ required for a complete offset.

Carbon offsetting is therefore always about the long-term effect. If you want to offset your life, you are not immediately CO₂-neutral. However, you are giving all future generations a gift.

At ForTomorrow, you can offset CO₂ by reforesting mixed forests in Germany or buying and decommissioning EU emission rights.

What does 735 tonnes of CO₂ look like?

735 tonnes of CO₂ sounds quite abstract. Is that a lot or a little? It is easier to comprehend when we compare the 735 tonnes of CO₂ with everyday things.

For instance, 735 tonnes of CO₂ is equivalent to 735 flights from Frankfurt to New York, driving 2,425,500 kilometres by car or making 6,468,000 cups of coffee. The data is based on this source.

To absorb the 735 tonnes of CO₂, you have to plant 3,675 trees. In 80 years, these 3,675 trees will then have removed 735 tonnes of CO₂ from the air.

Put simply, one human life in Germany produces as much CO₂ as 3,675 trees take out of the air in 80 years.