...but Britons flummoxed by their ‘carbon footprint’

MORE than two-fifths of Britons do not understand the term ‘carbon footprint’, a poll has found.

Despite massive media coverage, researchers found that 42 per cent of people do not know the meaning of the climate change phrase. In Leicester the figure is 53 per cent, and in Newcastle it is 46 per cent.

Of those questioned in the survey, 14 per cent thought it meant recycling waste, while another

14 per cent thought it was ‘something to do with the weather’.

And five per cent admitted they had ‘no idea’ at all what it meant. Of the 13 cities surveyed for food firm Upfield, those with the best knowledge of the term were Glasgow, which is due to host the COP26 summit, and London, where 36 per cent did not understand the term. In both Cambridge and Liverpool, it was 39 per cent.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, ‘carbon footprint’ means the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere as a result of the activities of a particular individual, organisation, or community.