The carbon footprint of your day
Driving, the air conditioner, lunch, a delivery, a trip abroad: each one releases carbon dioxide. Guess how much a UAE resident emits in a year, then build your own day and find the swaps that cut the most.
Build your day
Set a normal day. Each group shows its kilograms of CO₂, and the panel adds them up. Nothing you enter is saved.
Three swaps that save the most
Worked out from your day. Tap one to try it and watch your total change.
Why this matters
Most UAE electricity still comes from natural gas, so every kilowatt-hour for the air conditioner releases CO₂. Each degree warmer on the thermostat can cut cooling use by up to 5%.
Beef has by far the biggest footprint of common foods: around ten times chicken per kilogram, because cattle need lots of land and release methane.
One long return flight can equal weeks of driving. Spread over a year, it can be one of the biggest parts of a personal footprint.
National totals include power plants, industry and desalination. Your choices matter, and so do cleaner power, like solar and nuclear, which the UAE is adding.
Sources: Our World in Data, CO₂ emissions per capita, based on the Global Carbon Project's Global Carbon Budget (data for 2024): United Arab Emirates 20.1 tonnes per person (19.8 in 2023), world 4.7 tonnes; these count fossil CO₂ produced inside the country, including industry, power and desalination. Our World in Data, carbon intensity of electricity, based on Ember: UAE 468 g CO₂-equivalent per kWh (2024). DEWA, "Cooling": each degree increase in the set temperature can save up to 5% of air-conditioning consumption, and DEWA recommends 24°C or higher. Abu Dhabi Distribution Company, "Energy-friendly air conditioning": choose units with a SEER rating of 13 or above. Food: Poore and Nemecek (2018), Science, via Our World in Data, greenhouse gas emissions per kilogram of food (global averages, kg CO₂-equivalent): beef (beef herd) 99.5, lamb and mutton 39.7, farmed fish 13.6, poultry 9.9, eggs 4.7, rice 4.5, other pulses 1.8. Travel: UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, greenhouse gas conversion factors 2025, as compiled by Greencalculus: petrol car per km, small 0.143, medium 0.175, large 0.268 kg CO₂e; average local bus 0.104 and light rail or tram 0.029 kg per passenger-km; flights in economy including the extra warming from high altitude, short-haul 0.126 and long-haul 0.117 kg per passenger-km. UK Department for Transport, journey emissions comparisons: motorbike about 0.18 kg CO₂e per mile (0.11 per km), direct emissions. Assumptions on this page: one room's split air conditioner of 1.5 tonnes (18,000 BTU/h) at SEER 13 uses about 1.4 kWh per hour at full power on a hot day; a meal is 125 g of meat, fish or eggs (or pulses) plus 100 g of rice; a delivery is an 8 km round trip by motorbike; a short return flight is 2 × 1,500 km and a long one 2 × 6,000 km; you drive alone. Food and flights are in CO₂-equivalent, which includes other gases, so comparing with national CO₂ figures is only rough. Checked October 2026.