Imagine wanting to have a green job but not really knowing HOW BAD your current job is for the environment, or HOW GOOD your dream green job might be? For most people, that’s pretty much the situation they experience when thinking about switching to a climate career.
There are loads of regular carbon calculator apps out there, but none that do a decent job of calculating your career carbon footprint. The Career Carbon Calculator would do just that: whether you flip burgers, teach high school or sell cars, you could find out just how much carbon your work currently contributes, and make a genuinely informed decision about your new career path.
The data behind the app would be based either on specific companies (if they publicly disclose their emissions), or on an industry benchmark. You could even customize it depending on your worldview: for example, if you work for Company X and don’t believe their carbon offset strategy is legitimate, you could move a slider to increase their score (and any number of other variables).
I’ve spoken to lots of people about this product idea and everyone thinks it would be useful. Obviously there are lots of challenges to developing such an app (chiefly, sourcing quality data), but there are always challenges. If you’re an engineer (or anyone else) who might be interested in developing such an app, feel free to get in touch.
Note: I have no funds for this; it would need to be a standalone product based on a co-ownership model. I don’t even object that much if you steal the idea and do it without me, as I could imagine a mutually beneficial affiliate deal if you were to succeed 😉