A carbon handprint describes the positive climate impacts generated by an action, solution, or decision. While a carbon footprint indicates the greenhouse gas emissions caused, a carbon handprint focuses on how much emissions can be avoided or reduced compared to a conventional alternative. The method helps identify and demonstrate the most effective climate actions, for example in the development of cities, transport, and land use.

What does the carbon handprint approach mean?

The carbon handprint method is a life cycle–based approach developed by LUT University and VTT for assessing the positive climate impacts of solutions. The core idea of the method is to compare two alternatives:

• a baseline solution, representing a conventional way of delivering a given function, and
• a handprint solution, which provides the same function but causes lower life time greenhouse gas emissions.

The difference between these alternatives constitutes the carbon handprint, that is, the climate benefit achieved by adopting the solution.

From a city perspective, the carbon handprint helps identify climate actions whose impacts extend beyond the city’s own operations. For example, solutions related to mobility, land-use changes, or services that improve energy efficiency can reduce the carbon footprints of other actors, such as residents. The method can be used to support decision-making, to prioritize climate actions, and to communicate climate benefits transparently.

In the HALT project, the carbon handprint method is applied particularly in the land-use and transport sectors to identify cost-effective and impactful actions for climate change mitigation in Lappeenranta and to generate insights that can also be used by other cities.