We all know that carbon emissions are something that influence our environment, but for most of us this an extremely abstract idea. In order to help people better understand how massive our emissions really are, Utility Bidder have made this helpful guide to show the daily carbon footprints of six of the UK’s biggest cities. Read on to learn more about how they gathered the data and the surprising findings:

Methodology
Carbon emissions affect us all, from the daily difference in air quality right through to the long term effects of global warming. Using information provided by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the average daily amount of CO2 was found. By converting the CO2 into a volume, it was possible to visualise the emissions as a cube, making it easy to compare to some of the cities most famous landmarks.

London

It’s unsurprising that London tops the list, being the UK’s largest city. In 2017, each day over 81,000 tonnes of carbon emissions were produced. If converted into a cube, this would 44 meters taller than the Shard, which is the UK’s tallest building. This really puts into perspective how big the emissions are, and this is each day!

Birmingham

As a smaller city, it was obvious the emissions should be lower to reflect the population size and number of businesses operating there. Coming in at over 11,000 tonnes, it was about 1/7th the side of London’s emissions. This amount of CO2 is enough to fill a 184 tall cube, which would tower over the BT tower which is 152 meters tall.

Leeds

The emissions from the city of Leeds was most comparable to Birmingham, coming out at 10,862 tonnes of carbon emissions each day. This amount of CO2 would be the size of a 181m tall cube, which would easily tower over Leeds’ town hall which comes in at 69m tall.

Glasgow

In Scotland’s largest city, you might be surprised to know that the emissions are just over 7,000 tonnes a day. This is less than 10% of the CO2 produced in London. Despite being a much smaller amount, this would still equate to a cube that it’s 157m tall, towering over Glasgow tower by 30 meters.

Belfast

Belfast is the largest city in Northern Ireland, and it is home to the second lowest amount of CO2 emissions in this study, coming in at just over 4,000 tonnes. When comparing the 132m tall cube to Belfast’s Titanic, the amount of emissions still seems huge.

Brighton

This is the only city that had a landmark that was actually taller than the emissions cube, showing how big CO2 emissions really are. Brighton is known around the world for being a green and eco-friendly city and the results show this. With carbon emissions around 2,500 each day, which is about 1/30th of London’s emissions, Brighton’s cube stands at 110 meters. Which is whopping 52 meters shorter than the city’s famous observant tower, the i360.

While the damage we’re doing to our planet on a daily basis might feel abstract, this great study has allowed us to visualise what’s going on so we can see the real scope CO2 emissions.