New SEI tool empowers communities to reduce environmental footprints

Press Release: November 24, 2011

Today scientists from the Stockholm Environment Institute at the University of York launch a free online tool – REAP Petite – which helps individuals and community groups to calculate their environmental impact.

Schools, clubs, workplaces and other community groups can use the tool to compare their individual or household carbon and ecological footprints with peers, and with the UK average. REAP Petite asks questions about users’ consumption activities, including energy use, travel, food, and goods consumed, to build complete footprints at the household level.

The research team at SEI in York hopes that REAP Petite will contribute to the new wave of “citizen science”, where people can better understand and contribute to scientific research by helping to input and collect data.

The tool includes a ‘pledges’ section, which suggests ways that users can decrease their footprints through, for example, home improvement or behavioural change. Pledges have a direct impact on users’ carbon footprints and can be compared with original individual or group results.

“Users can observe in real time the impacts that different activities and pledges have on their footprints. We hope that REAP Petite will collect data across the country which can be used, anonymously, to inform science, research, policy and practice in the future”, says Dr Chris West, SEI Research Associate at the University of York.

An early beta version of the tool was used to support the York and North Yorkshire Green Neighbourhood Challenge.

“The tool successfully helped six neighbourhood teams in York to identify which actions they could take to reduce their impact on the planet and their pocket. Now other community groups can do the same”, says Dr Gary Haq, Research Associate at SEI and coordinator of the York Green Neighbourhood Challenge.

REAP stands for Resources and Energy Analysis Programme, a research area set up by the Stockholm Environment Institute to focus on sustainable consumption and production. REAP Petite was built and designed by SEI in partnership with the web development company Isotoma.

The tool builds on earlier work, such as the footprint calculator developed by WWF. REAP Petite is based on the SEI-developed REAP suite of models, which has been used to provide policy advice in the UK and around the world.

Read more about REAP Petite: www.reap-petite.com

For further information, please contact:

Ylva Rylander, Press and Communications Advisor, Stockholm Environment Institute
ylva.rylander@sei-international.org +46 731 50 33 84

Dr Chris West, Research Associate, Stockholm Environment Institute in York
chris.west@sei-international.org + 44 1904 32 45 59

Stockholm Environment Institute is an independent international research institute. The institute has established a reputation for rigorous and objective scientific analysis in the field of environment and development. SEI aims to bring about change for sustainable development by bridging science and policy. www.sei-international.org

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