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For younger learners

  • Early Years Foundation Stage

Comparing Carbon Footprints

Age 11 to 18
Challenge Level Yellow star
  • Problem
  • Getting Started
  • Teachers' Resources


You might like to start by thinking about which items/activities might have very large, or very small, carbon footprints.


The list below, showing the amount of carbon used by different items/activities, may provide a useful guide:

10 grams to 100 grams - a pint of tap water

100 grams to 500 grams - travelling a mile by bus

500 grams to 1 kg - a portion of fish

1 kg to 10 kg - washing and drying a load of laundry

10 kg to 100 kg - using a smartphone for a year

100 kg to 1000 kg - a 50 litre tank of petrol

1 tonne to 10 tonnes - a tonne of nitrogen fertilizer

10 tonnes to 1000 tonnes - building a new house

Millions of tonnes - annual emissions for the UK

Billions of tonnes - global deforestation per year

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The NRICH Project aims to enrich the mathematical experiences of all learners. To support this aim, members of the NRICH team work in a wide range of capacities, including providing professional development for teachers wishing to embed rich mathematical tasks into everyday classroom practice.

NRICH is part of the family of activities in the Millennium Mathematics Project.

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