Reducing my carbon footprint: simple actions to adopt on a daily basis.
- Jabu
- Nov 4
- 4 min read
It's being talked about more and more, and yet, this question remains unclear for many: how can I reduce my carbon footprint? Do I have to change everything, stop everything, give up my habits to hope to have an impact?
Not necessarily.
Reducing your carbon footprint doesn't mean living in the dark, turning off the heating in winter, or eating seeds with every meal. It's primarily about making daily choices —sometimes tiny ones—but which, added together, ultimately make a difference. In a good way.
And above all, it's a collective matter . Because the more of us who make these choices, the greater the impact.
So, what can we do today, concretely, without turning everything upside down?
Eat a little less meat and vary your meals!
Food accounts for about a quarter of our individual carbon footprint . And the largest share comes from meat, especially red meat. This isn't about becoming a vegetarian overnight. It's simply about asking yourself: do I really need to eat it at every meal?
Reducing the frequency of meals and varying your protein sources (eggs, legumes, local produce) is a simple step. And it's also a way to rediscover other ways of cooking.
The FAO ( Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations ) points out that livestock farming is responsible for nearly 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions . This is a huge share, which can be reduced if everyone adapts their habits, at their own pace.
Back to common sense: buy local, seasonal products… and a little less packaged.
We have gradually become accustomed to eating strawberries in January, avocados all year round, and tomatoes that have never seen the soil. Yet, the environmental impact of a food product comes as much from its production as from its transport, storage, and packaging .
Eating local and seasonal produce isn't a fad; it's a highly effective way to reduce the carbon footprint of your meals. And it doesn't mean eating turnips for six months: there are now many tools available to help you find the right products at the right time. A return to a kind of consistency... that tastes good.
Eat Move – Seasonal Fruit and Vegetable Calendar ➡️ Offered by the French National Nutrition and Health Program (PNNS), this interactive calendar allows you to view, month by month, the products to prioritize. 🔗 mangerbouger.fr-calendrier
The ADEME calendar ➡️ The French Agency for Ecological Transition (ADEME) provides a highly visual PDF guide summarizing seasonal produce and offering practical advice. 🔗 ADEME Guide - Eating More Sustainably
What if I stopped throwing things away to reduce my carbon footprint ?
Food waste is probably one of the most absurd things we do every day. In France, we still throw away 30 kg of food per person per year , 7 kg of which is still in its packaging . That's literally products we bought just to... throw them away.
Behind this waste lies an invisible but very real carbon footprint: the resources used to produce, transform, transport, store... all of which end up in the trash.
Taking action on this is within everyone's reach: cooking with leftovers, keeping an eye on expiration dates, organizing your fridge better, adjusting the quantities you prepare… It's not about becoming perfect, just a little more mindful. To help you, why not make a meal plan before going grocery shopping?
Less car driving, more physical activity: a double win!
According to an INSEE analysis published in 2021, 60% of home-to-work journeys of less than 5 km are made by car . Yet, these short trips are the ones that pollute the most proportionally.
Why? Because the engines are cold, fuel consumption is higher, and the distances are too short to be efficient.
A 4 km car journey emits an average of 800 g of CO2 . For comparison, this is:
the equivalent of a beef dish on your plate,
or a 60 km TGV journey ,
or even a laptop used for 60 hours .
And that figure is for a single one-way trip . Do it morning and evening, five days a week, and you're already at more than 400 kg of CO₂ per year ... just to go to work (not counting the ribeye steak at the client meeting at lunchtime, which also weighs its carbon footprint).
So, walking, cycling or taking the bus when possible is not a minor detail. It's a gesture that contributes to living well together .
And if it's not feasible every day? No problem. Doing it every other time already halves the impact of these journeys!
It's not a question of perfection. It's a matter of realistic, repeated choices.
Consume less, but better
We often buy things on impulse, out of a passing fancy, or to fill a temporary need. Yet, every object has a story: the materials extracted, the factories, the kilometers traveled… all of which sometimes ends up at the bottom of a drawer or worse, in the trash after a single use.
Changing your consumption habits means choosing to reduce your impact upstream , long before it becomes waste. Repairing, reusing, buying secondhand, sharing… These are increasingly easy actions to adopt, and often much more economical.
Bonus tip: take action in the canteen (even if you're not the one cooking).
What if you could reduce your carbon footprint without changing anything on your plate ? Simply by taking action where you eat: the canteen of your company, school or university .
Every day, tons of food are wasted in institutional catering. Dishes are prepared but not eaten, plates are left unfinished, and surpluses are thrown away by default . It's a huge... and often underestimated... opportunity.
At Jabu , we help canteens accurately predict customer traffic, adjust production quantities, and repurpose unsold food through anti-waste baskets. The result: up to 50% less waste , without compromising on quality.
And you can be part of the change. By talking about us to your cafeteria manager, your company, or your institution, you become a catalyst for the transition. You're not the one cooking, but it might be thanks to you that it all begins .
An individual impact, multiplied collectively
Reducing your carbon footprint is not a competition or a constraint. It's a journey, made up of small actions, gradual adjustments, trials, errors, and new desires.
And if we each start in our own corner, we end up creating something bigger . So, where do we start?
