Mobile application calculates carbon footprint

The European Commission has launched a mobile application that allows users to calculate their carbon footprint.

Available in 21 languages, mobGAS was developed at the Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC). The Java-based application takes the user's data on their activities such as cooking, transport, lighting and appliance use, and calculates their carbon footprint in terms of the three major greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide.

The resulting calculations can be fed into a secure website to allow comparisons with national and world averages The application even includes an animation to represent the user's contribution to the Kyoto Protocol target.

According to an Commission statement released on Friday, mobile phones are the ideal way to present an application such as mobGAS, because they are carried around all day long and encourage data entry during "quieter moments" such as bus journeys.

The European Commission recently launched a major push towards green technology, with the hope of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent within the next 13 years.