In the mid-2000s, searches for the term ‘carbon footprint’ skyrocketed on Google Search. Carbon footprint has become a ubiquitous phrase to describe how each of us lives, works, and travels, and our personal impact on the environment. Your carbon footprint is affected by every lifestyle choice you make: from how much meat you eat to how you commute to work, and suggestions are everywhere on how to reduce your carbon footprint. But did you know that the history of the term itself isn’t quite as well-meaning as it’s made out to be? The term “carbon footprint” was created by an advertising firm working for British Petroleum (BP), an oil and gas giant responsible for the largest oil spill the petroleum industry has ever caused. In the 2000s, BP released a ‘carbon footprint calculator’ so consumers could learn how much they were individually responsible for the climate emergency.

This advertising campaign was incredibly successful and part of a long pattern of fossil fuel companies blaming consumers for their climate wrongs. The truth is that a small number of corporations are responsible for the vast majority of carbon emissions: 71% of global emissions are at the hands of just 100 companies. These companies include major oil and gas producers, such as BP, ExxonMobil, and Shell. These companies have known about the risks of climate change for decades but have continued to prioritize profits over the health of the planet. Climate guilt is a marketing strategy. Fossil fuel companies like British Petroleum have a vested interest in you feeling like climate change is not your fault, for two reasons: a) it can paralyze people and give them climate anxiety, and b) it stops consumers from holding responsible the companies truly at fault, effectively stopping them from facing any accountability for the extreme damage they cause the environment.

It is time to stop blaming individuals for climate change and start holding the true culprits accountable. Governments must regulate corporations to reduce their carbon emissions and invest in renewable energy sources. Consumers can also play a role by supporting companies that prioritize sustainability and by advocating for government legislation that protects the environment: while individual action is still important, acting as if what consumers do is the be-all end-all of the climate emergency may have a much greater negative impact on consumers than any purported positive impact on the environment itself. Furthermore, the economic reality is that not everyone can change the way they live and work to minimize their effect on the environment, and it isn’t useful or in line with reality to make them feel guilty for this. The world’s richest people are the ones driving the climate emergency— both through the environmental issues with the companies they own and their individual overconsumption— not those without the financial means to transition to plant-based alternatives. Only by shifting our focus from individual responsibility to corporate accountability can we hope to address the climate crisis we face.

Works Cited

“Opinion: You Are Not the Problem — Climate Guilt Is a Marketing Strategy.” State of the Planet, 17 Feb. 2023,

Image credits: 

By Nick-D - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=86379924

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