How to reduce your carbon footprint: for homes, offices and companies
A practical avoid-reduce-replace guide for Indian households and businesses: BEE star-rated appliances, rooftop solar under PM Surya Ghar, commuting, food, waste, energy audits and renewable power purchase.
Overview
To reduce your carbon footprint, first avoid what you do not need, then reduce the energy and fuel you still use, then replace fossil sources with cleaner ones. For most Indian homes and offices that means efficient appliances, rooftop solar or renewable power, smarter travel, less food waste and better waste handling.
Photo: "Rooftop Solar panels on homes in Mehsana, Gujarat, India (69514)" by Nizil Shah, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
This guide covers individuals first, then offices and companies. It does not promise a fixed saving, because results depend on where you start. Facts are as of October 2026.
Sources: IPCC AR6 Working Group III, Summary for Policymakers (2022); Bureau of Energy Efficiency, Standards and Labelling programme; Bureau of Energy Efficiency / Ministry of Power document (March 2024); PIB, BEE notifies new energy performance standards for air conditioners (January 2020); Bureau of Energy Efficiency (UDIT), Raising AC setting by 1 degree can save 6% power (2019); PIB, Cabinet approves PM-Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana (29 February 2024); PIB, PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijlee Yojana: subsidy amounts; PIB, PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana achieves milestone of over 50 lakh rooftop solar installations (2026); PM Surya Ghar national portal; PIB, Ministry of Power notifies Green Energy Open Access Rules (June 2022); Bureau of Energy Efficiency, Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT) Scheme Energy Conservation Rules, 2012; Bureau of Energy Efficiency, About BEE (Energy Conservation Act, 2001); CEA CO2 Baseline Database, User Guide Version 22.0 (August 2026); India GHG Program, India Specific Road Transport Emission Factors (2015); Our World in Data, Which form of transport has the smallest carbon footprint?; Our World in Data, Food: greenhouse gas emissions per kg (Poore and Nemecek 2018); GHG Protocol, Scope 2 Guidance (2015); GHG Protocol, Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard
This article was prepared with AI assistance and checked by the GreenEye team against the sources shown in each section.
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