Moving is a great chance to reduce your carbon footprint.

Each year, nearly 7 million French people move to a new home. That’s just over 10% of the French population!

Moving is a key moment in establishing one's carbon footprint, with major consequences on the most significant factors:

• Housing, of course: size, age, insulation, heating system...
• Transport, especially: changes in commuting distances to work, school, and shops...
• Consumption, as moving is often a time of major purchases, sales, or donations of furniture and appliances.

It is common for users of carbon footprint calculators to run before-and-after simulations to assess the impact of their recent or upcoming move. Have you tried it?

Now, let's explore how to take advantage of this moment to significantly reduce your climate impact.

Transportation

Changing your place of residence is a perfect opportunity to rethink daily commutes. Here are two points to consider when planning a move.

Reducing distances

The distance between home and work has only increased since the rise of private cars. It has grown from 3 km on average in the 1960s to 13.3 km according to the latest “mobility survey” (2021).

Reducing daily travel distances has enormous decarbonization potential: regaining the 10 km lost since the 1960s could reduce emissions by an average of 880 kgCO2e per year.

Calculation details: 220 (days) x 10 (km) x 2 (round trip) x 0.200 (g CO2e/km)

Switching to low-carbon transport

… Not to mention that reducing travel distances makes it much easier to switch to fully decarbonized transport. It is far easier to use a bike as a daily transport mode when your commute is less than 5 km.

From a qualitative standpoint, moving is an opportunity to consider the new location’s ability to support low-carbon mobility. It is useful to check:

• Cycling infrastructure: are the cycling facilities in the area suitable for daily commuting by bike (or other so-called “soft” or “efficient” transport modes)?
• Public transport network density and intermodality: is the local public transit system convenient? Can walking or cycling easily be combined with public transport?

🧮 Estimated potential for switching trips under 5 km to cycling: 320 kg CO2e

Housing

Housing is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. Its footprint is divided into two main components:

• The energy consumption footprint: electricity for appliances and energy used for heating and cooling.
• The construction footprint (and possibly a swimming pool): amortized across a 50-year horizon in our calculator.

Moreover, Nos Gestes Climat includes the emissions from nights spent away from home for vacations, though this aspect is not directly affected by moving.

The energy consumption footprint

Key factors to consider:

• The DPE rating of the home provides a good estimate of future energy consumption.

• The heating system (air/water): Avoid homes heated with oil or gas whenever possible (or consider changing the heating system).

The housing construction footprint

Several considerations can help reduce this footprint:

• Surface area: for decades, the average living space per person has been increasing. It is currently 40 m² per inhabitant (meaning an average home size of 90.9 m² for a household of 2.2 people). This expansion contributes to land artificialization and excessive use of construction materials.

🧮 Estimated impact of housing construction amortized per m², to be multiplied by the number of m²:
(425+525) / 2 / 50 = 9.5 kg CO2e / m² / year.

• Housing type: individual or collective? Choosing collective housing helps increase urban density, reduce land artificialization, lower heating energy needs, and sometimes share resources (such as a laundry facility).
• Construction materials: not all building methods have the same footprint. For a lower impact, choose eco-built homes with wooden frames.
• Additional structures: Do you really need an individual swimming pool?

🧮 Average footprint of a swimming pool: roughly 300 kg CO2e/year.

Purchases

Moving often involves replacing furniture and appliances. In both cases, the main carbon footprint comes from manufacturing, not from use (although appliances also have an energy footprint, it is minor compared to their production impact).

If your move includes purchasing new furniture or appliances:

• Prioritize second-hand or refurbished purchases.

🧮 Bed frame + mattress: ~450 kg CO2e over 10 years
Sofa: ~180 kg CO2e over 10 years
…

• Donate or resell items you no longer need so they can have a second (or third, or fourth) life.

What about food?

Moving is unlikely to change your eating habits. However, it could be a great opportunity to improve your shopping habits. You might explore the availability of:

• Local producers, for short supply chain consumption.

🧮 Estimated potential: ~50 kg CO2e/year.

• Zero-waste stores, for a more sustainable lifestyle.

And what about the move itself?

We haven’t even discussed the act of moving. Might as well make it as low-carbon as possible. A few ideas:

• Packing materials: avoid buying new boxes or bubble wrap; instead, reuse materials from friends, stores, or previous moves.
• Furniture and box transport: choose an eco-friendly transport method (freight for long distances, bike trailers for very short ones!).

So, what is your current footprint? What will it be in the future?