It is important to question, and address the accuracy of Carbon Footprint techniques, especially due to its overwhelming popularity.
One tool industry uses is Life-cycle assessment (LCA), where carbon footprint may be one of many factors taken into consideration when assessing a product or service.
The International Organization for Standardization has a standard called ISO 14006 that has the framework for conducting an LCA study.
Scope 2 emissions are the other emissions related to purchased electricity, heat, and/or steam used on site.
The study also found that most government resources on climate change focus on actions that have a relatively modest effect on greenhouse gas emissions, and concludes that "a US family who chooses to have one fewer child would provide the same level of emissions reductions as 684 teenagers who choose to adopt comprehensive recycling for the rest of their lives". Walking, biking, carpooling, mass transportation and combining trips result in burning less fuel and releasing fewer emissions into the atmosphere.
Finally, throwing food out not only adds its associated carbon emissions to a person or household's footprint, it adds the emissions of transporting the wasted food to the garbage dump and the emissions of food decomposition, mostly in the form of the highly potent greenhouse gas, methane.
Options to reduce the carbon footprint of humans include Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Refuse.
For calculating personal carbon footprints, several free online carbon footprint calculators exist, These websites ask you to answer more or less detailed questions about your diet, transportation choices, home size, shopping and recreational activities, usage of electricity, heating, and heavy appliances such as dryers and refrigerators, and so on.
The website then estimates your carbon footprint based on your answers to these questions.
Calculated as carbon dioxide equivalent using the relevant 100-year global warming potential (GWP100). fuel burned to produce goods far away from the final consumer. This accounting approach compares how much people demand compared to what the planet can renew.