Father Christmas’ carbon footprint would release just 10g of carbon per child

With Christmas right around the corner, Santa and his reindeers are preparing to make the mammoth journey from the North Pole to deliver joy to billions of children around the world.

Scientists have now worked out that Santa’s journey is made as eco-friendly as possible, taking the shortest route possible to spread Christmas cheer. 

Research has shown that Elves manufacturing gifts for Santa, heating Santa’s cabin and his sleigh journey only amounts to 20,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions (Co2e). 

That’s the equivalent of 0.5 per cent of the worst estimates for the carbon footprint of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

What is Santa’s Christmas journey is the equivalent of: 

Santa uses around 20,000 tCO2e to deliver gifts to two billion children around the world this Christmas.

What is this the equivalent of?

• 1.2 million pairs of trainers being manufactured
• 23 million washing cycles
• 22.8 petrol powered vehicles driven for one year
• 13.3 homes’ energy use for one year
• 4,321 propane cylinders used for home barbeques
• 30.6 homes’ electricty use for one year
• 245 barrels of oil consumed
• 12 million smartphones charged
• One scoop of ice cream for every child in the world 

Source: epa.gov 

Santa uses around 20,000 tCO2e to deliver gifts to two billion children around the world this Christmas

Travel

Every year on Christmas Eve, Father Christmas heads out to make the whopping 99 million mile (160 million kilometre) journey around the world.

This was worked out by scientists at Purdue University who noted that Santa has to visit two billion children in the world to deliver Christmas presents.

Assuming the average household has 2.5 children, this means he has to visit 800 million homes across the globe.

If he were to take a seat on a 747 plane, travelling for a similar distance without using sustainable aviation fuel, he would use 18,4000 tCo2e, according to research by TRACK.

While he has many miles to cover in a short amount of time, children are reassured that he operates in a slightly different space-time continuum and is expected to travel close to the speed of light.

Being based on the International Date Line, scientists believe he has 34 hours to deliver presents.

Heating

Santa lives in the chilly North Pole with his wife, Mrs Clause in their 232 square metre home.

It is cold in the North Pole, with temperatures in January, its coldest month, plunging to as low as -2.38F (-19.1C).

To try and keep warm in the colder months, Santa warms his home using renewable energy sources, which researchers believe only amount to 10 tCo2e.

Manufacturing

Santa doesn’t just try to be sustainable while traveling and heating his home – he also tries to make sure the millions of gifts he delivers worldwide are eco-conscious.

Elves working hard in Santa’s workshop use recyclable materials whenever possible and do not add batteries to prevent waste.

Santa also delivers the right gifts to each child to ensure that they are played with for some time before they are passed on to younger siblings or other children in need of more toys.

Elves working hard in Santa’s workshop make sure they use recyclable materials to create children’s presents whenever possible and do not add batteries to prevent waste

Father Christmas believes recycling and sharing toys is a very sustainable solution that will help address the issue of waste on the planet.

When his Elves are forced to cut down trees to make toys, they make sure they plant another one, so their manufacturing process becomes carbon neutral.

Considering all of this, scientists believe Santa uses around 20,000 tCO2e when he travels around the world.

This is the equivalent of 10 grams of carbon for every one of the two billion children in the world.

Scientists believe Santa uses around 20,000 tCO2e when he travels around the world. This is the equivalent of 10 grams of carbon for every one of the two billion children in the world

That equates to creating 1.2 million pairs of trainers, 23 million washing cycles or just one scoop of ice cream per child.

Matt Grey Founder of event:decisions, who run TRACK, said: ‘We wanted to reassure children who are conscious of their impact on the environment, that the gifts they find under the tree this year have been delivered with Santa’s usual care – and that extends to minimising his carbon footprint.

‘If they don’t get the latest toy from Amazon, but something small and thoughtful instead, they need to know they’re really helping the planet. We hope they all enjoy their presents this year.’

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