Carbon Watch: India's first app to assess individual carbon footprint

Chandigarh became the first state or Union Territory in India to launch the Carbon Watch app, which is India's first mobile application to assess an individual's carbon footprint.

A carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases (including carbon dioxide and methane) released into the atmosphere by particular human activity.

CarbonWatch application was rolled out by the Department of Environment and Forest of Chandigarh. "Making the people Climate-Smart Citizens while making them capable of accessing their carbon footprint, along with providing them with steps to reduce it, is the motive behind the application," said Debendra Dalia, the director of UT Environment Department.

The app can be downloaded from the Google Play Store or through a QR code in Android-supported smartphones. Even though anyone and everyone can use the application, it has specific features for the residents of Chandigarh to compile a detailed study.

Users can add their address pin code in the app and analyze their average carbon footprint.

Upon downloading the application, the users will be asked to fill in four parameters: water consumption, energy use level, waste segregation, and mode of transportation used. The app will then inform them about the extent of their carbon emissions and suggest ways to reduce their carbon footprint.

Once the details, like the amount of water consumed by the user per month is filled in, the app will give a score between 0 to 10, which is the user's carbon footprint or the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere as a result of the person's activities.

The introduction of this application is part of an attempt to gain individual efforts from all the people to contribute to reversing climate change. The app will make aware people by providing them information such as the national and world average of the emission, the individual's level of emission generation, and suggest measures to reduce the total emission.