carbon footprint

noun

|Updated on: 31 Jul 2018

Definition of carbon footprint

: the amount of greenhouse gases and specifically carbon dioxide emitted by something (such as a person's activities or a product's manufacture and transport) during a given period

Recent Examples of carbon footprint from the Web

This is problematic for our houses, our wallets, our carbon footprints, and our waistlines.

— BostonGlobe.com, "17 survival skills for modern adults," 7 July 2018
That will reduce the carbon footprint of the project, the company said.

— don stacom, Courant Community, "Gov. Malloy: Data Center On Stanley Works Site Could Create 2,500 Jobs," 2 July 2018
Domestic travel, which includes business travel, makes up a majority of the carbon footprints for each of these countries.

— susan scutti, CNN, "Global tourism's carbon footprint is four times bigger than thought, study says," 7 May 2018
Although the electric utilities have made great progress in reducing their carbon footprint, the transportation sector is still lagging.

— dale kasler, sacbee, "California beats its 2020 goals for cutting greenhouse gases," 11 July 2018
Gary Chandler, vice president of governmental affairs for the Association of Washington Business, said businesses are already doing a lot to reduce their carbon footprint.

— phuong le, The Christian Science Monitor, "Carbon fee measure poised for Washington State ballot," 3 July 2018
Transportation will connect economies, create jobs and protect our environment by reducing our carbon footprint.

— jenna portnoy, Washington Post, "Four questions for six Democrats vying to challenge Rep. Barbara Comstock," 8 June 2018
Joss Stone embarked on a tour to play in every country -- 2.7 million miles of travel in total -- while completely balancing her carbon footprint.

— cherie hu, Billboard, "Brockhampton, Ariana Grande, Childish Gambino Among Winners of Inaugural Deep Cutters Music Marketing Awards: Exclusive," 18 May 2018
The Swedish company now also offers a vegetarian version of the popular dish in many of its restaurants, launched in 2015 as part of an effort to reduce its carbon footprint and offer healthier food options.

— judith vonberg, CNN, "Abbasolute scandal: Swedish meatballs are really Turkish," 3 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'carbon footprint.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.