Cutting CO₂ emissions – what exactly does it mean?

We hear so much about CO₂ emissions and climate these days, with enormous numbers that are difficult to comprehend. What exactly does it mean to emit 1 kilo or 1 ton of CO₂? And how can you join us on the journey towards less CO₂ by taking the bus or tram? Read on to find out.

How do you help by taking the bus or tram?

  • If every Flemish person left their car at home for one day a week, together we would save

    1 million tons of CO₂

    every year. That’s equivalent to the whole of Flanders going vegetarian for four months.

  • If you commute by tram instead of by car for a year, you save

    3 tons of CO₂

    .

    To process all that CO₂, 150 trees would have to grow for a whole year. Taking the bus to work saves a good

    2.2 kg of CO₂ per day

    !

  • 1 bus or tram replaces dozens of cars

    on the road. That’s a lot fewer kilometres. And the more we sit on the bus, the lower the emissions per person!

1 kilo of CO₂ is emitted by:

  • driving 4.5 kilometres in the car

  • leaving a light bulb burning for 66 hours

  • leaving an LED lamp burning for 500 hours

  • drying 1 load of laundry in a tumble-dryer

  • the production of:

    • 150 plastic bags

    • 28 grams of beef

    • 100 grams of cheese

    • 1 book of 200 pages

    • 0.04 pairs of jeans (1 pair of jeans = 23 kg of CO₂)

1kg C02 infographic A

1 kg of CO₂ infographic

What do you have to do to emit 1 ton or 1,000 kilograms of CO₂?

  • Drive 6,000 km with a diesel car (3 return trips to Austria)

  • Take 8 return flights from Amsterdam to London (emission per passenger)

  • Breathe for 1.5 years (yes, we too emit CO₂!)

To offset 1,000 kilograms of CO₂:

  • 23 pongamia trees have to grow for a year

  • A 2.3-megawatt windmill has to operate for 2.5 hours

  • 9 to 10 solar panels have to generate electricity for a year

1000kg CO₂ infographic

1,000 kg of CO₂ infographic

From a household perspective:

The energy consumption of a household with an average annual consumption of 3,000 kWh of electricity and 1,500 m3 of gas causes 4.8 tons of CO₂ emissions.

A growing tree absorbs 20 kg of CO₂ a year. That means that 240 trees are needed for the domestic energy consumption of 1 house.

De Lijn aims to be completely emission-free by 2035

By 2035, we aim to drive 200 million emission-free kilometres every year with 3,430 new electric buses, in order to minimise our emissions.

To put it another way, when we are running fully electrically, we will emit an amazing 172,000 tons of CO₂ less than in 2021. That’s the same as 67 million litres of diesel less per year – and that’s pretty good! Will you help out by getting on the bus or tram more often?

Incidentally, there is a lot of science behind the targets that we must meet to be completely emission-free by 2035. You can read more about it here.