Revealed: Britain's greenest places where a quarter are vegetarian and 20 per cent don't buy clothes
Britain's most eco-friendly places, where people are vegetarian and don't buy new clothes, have been revealed in a new study by the University of York.
Scientists tracked the habits of 300,000 people over a year between February 2019 and October 2020 to work out their carbon footprint, asking them what they ate and bought, and how they travelled.
The carbon footprint associated with the respondent’s lifestyle and consumption activities is calculated using an underlying model developed by the Stockholm Environment Institute at the University of York in partnership with the University of Leeds.
They also used the World Wildlife Fund's carbon footprint calculator, making this the largest dataset of its type.
The place where people had the most eco friendly lifestyles was Ceredigion in Wales, which scored 10.8 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. The average for a person using the calculator was 13.7 tonnes a year. More than 20 per cent of respondents spend nothing on clothing in a given month, and 10 per cent have solar panels.
People who live there have a low carbon footprint across all areas of life, including travel and consumption, which could be linked to the rural lifestyle in the sparsely-populated area. It is full of wildlife, including seals and bottlenose dolphins.
Dr Chris West at the Stockholm Environment Institute, University of York, said: "The carbon calculator analysis showed people’s desire for a lower carbon future. Meeting our climate targets will require a combination of small and big changes, such as maintaining a reduction in international travel, which is needed to bring down personal footprints.
“Changing consumer behaviours are a very important component of moving towards a low-carbon future, but these must also be complemented by a rapid transition towards renewable energy and a circular economy."
The scientists also worked out the top five towns cities with a population of more than 250,000 which had the lowest carbon footprints.
Top five eco friendly towns and cities
Exeter, with 11.6 CO2e, was the best-scoring town or city, because more than 25 per cent of respondents sourced food locally, and 12 per cent had solar panels
Plymouth, at 11.8 CO2e, had the lowest average amount of short haul European flights with 36 per cent taking these and 80 per cent of respondents waste less than 10 per cent of food.
Bristol also scored 11.8 CO2e and had the highest number of respondents in the UK on a 100 per cent renewable energy tariff (29 per cent ) and 82 per cent of respondents recycled their food waste.
Sheffield at 11.9 CO2e had a quarter of respondents on a 100 per cent renewable energy tariff and nearly a quarter (24 per cent) on a meat-free diet (compared to a UK average of 18 per cent.
Newcastle, also with 11.9 CO2e, had 45 per cent of respondents take public transport, walk or cycle as their main mode of transport and almost a fifth (19 per cent) are on a 100 per cent renewable energy tariff.
Dr Stephen Cornelius, Chief Climate Adviser at WWF, said: “This analysis shows an encouraging trend towards lower carbon footprints across the UK. The doubling in take-up of 100% renewable energy tariffs is particularly positive as this can be a chea p and easy way for people to make a real cut in their emissions.
“Travel is another important area for carbon savings and as we come out of lockdown, making deliberate decisions to walk, cycle and safely use public transport are small choices that make a big difference.
“In this critical year for environmental action, it’s vital that people also use their voices to ask businesses and governme nt to commit to the scale of transformation needed to tackle climate change and limit warming to 1.5°C.”
