About the Footprint Justice project

This project proposes a social movement centered on carbon tax justice for providing free public transportation. It suggests that everyone should have access to public transportation for free while receiving payments for maintaining low carbon footprints.

These compensation payments and free public transportation will be funded by increased taxes on entities generating high levels of greenhouse emissions, in particular by taxing more the major fossil fuel companies. The campaign is promoted through customized printed hangers, poster campaigns, and online videos, to engage citizens who take on buses, trams, metros, and trains. This is not just about making transportation free; it's about holding those responsible for our planet's degradation accountable.

The core objective of the project is to advocate for carbon tax justice and fair policy reforms at the European level. As provocation and radical demands, the campaign wants to highlight the current contradictions and inefficiencies of climate policy in Europe. To this end, the proposal of a carbon tax to provide free public transportation is lobbied through a petition in form of complaints sent to the European Commission.

The project aims to stimulate engagement with citizens on the intricate ethics surrounding climate justice. It seeks to provoke discussions on individual responsibilities versus the political and economic responsibilities for climate change. These debates delve into the ethics of climate change and the emerging moral standards and greenwashing surrounding the concepts of Carbon Footprint.

Footprint Justice is a project by Paolo Cirio and it was commissioned by LETHICA Institute of the Strasbourg University.

Join the Movement

Footprint Justice is a collective voice demanding change by advocating for policies that ensure that public transportation will be funded by those who have long evaded their environmental responsibilities.

Follow us on Social Media: YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.

Bring the campaign in your city:
Download the files of the Posters and Flyers.

Claim your Footprint Credits

Participate in the collective claim to get free public transportation in Europe.

Send the claim for refund of your bus, tram, train ticket to the European Commission.

Sending this claim for refund and credit will also work as complaint and petition to demand the European Commission to tax more major fossil fuel companies to pay for the free public transportation you deserve. Send your complaint to those in charge for the Climate Change’s policies in the European Commission. You can send an email with your claim with the yellow button here below or mail them a postcard by printing this form.

I demand a full refund for my bus, metro, and train tickets.
And I want to receive credits for my low carbon footprint.

Footprint Credit: Claim What's Yours

Introducing the concept of the Footprint Credit — a revolutionary idea that allows every individual to claim benefits directly impacted by the environmental negligence of large polluters.

Every tram ride, bus journey, and train trip represents more than just a mode of transportation; it's a step towards reducing our collective carbon footprint. However, with rising public transportation costs, this step is becoming increasingly difficult for many to take. Meanwhile, big oil companies continue to pollute without paying their dues in taxes for their CO2 emissions.

Every day, people are squeezed by ever-increasing prices for basic needs as energy, transportation, food, and housing, while big companies make huge profits. They might even fine you if you take public transportation without a ticket, however, they won’t fine those that destroy the planet by polluting through huge amounts of greenhouse gases.

Only 32% of European citizens make use of public transportation at least once a week and nearly 25% never do. You deserve free public transportation as you are the one polluting less and making the effort to take expensive public transportation.

CALCULATE YOUR FOOTPRINT CREDIT

INPUT THE AMOUNT OF YOUR TICKET TO REFUND
This site doesn’t collect any personal data, you can calculate your monetary claim anonymously.

ESTIMATE YOUR REFUND

Carbon Tax in Europe

The costs of public transportation should be covered through the implementation of a carbon tax, which historically has not been applied to fossil fuel companies as they have opposed it for decades through lobbying efforts and manipulation of public opinion.

Fossil fuel producers pay very little in taxes and often enjoy governmental subsidies. Instead, several countries have imposed national carbon taxes on consumption, shifting the burden onto workers and everyday citizens, who end up shouldering the cost of the damages they will still inevitably suffer. While taxes on consumers increase the cost of living, fossil fuel industries often enjoy various privileges, including subsidies, tax breaks, and royalty-free offshore profits. Currently, carbon taxes vary widely from one country to another, with each nation adopting individual tax rates and objectives.

In Europe, carbon taxes are either absent or unbalanced between social classes of consumers. At the moment each country in the E.U. and in the world adopts individual carbon taxes with different percentages and scopes. Ideally, the revenue generated from a carbon tax should be reinvested directly and transparently in infrastructures that lower carbon footprint such as public transportation and in renewable energy sources. Instead, in many instances, these revenues are diverted towards fossil fuel subsidies, a consequence that defies logic.

The campaign Footprint Justice aims to equalize the European carbon tax and its price. Mostly, the investment of the revenues lacks transparency. The campaign also promotes international carbon tariffs for a single global carbon taxation. At the moment, there are no real international tariffs or embargoes policies on countries producing emissions, only standards from the Paris Agreement. This campaign promotes more effective economic and legal measures and also criticizes false solutions such as Carbon Neutral, Net-Zero, and the ETS Scheme of the Carbon Credits as ineffective instruments.

Ultimately, the project Footprint Justice proposes that the revenues from a new advanced carbon tax have to be directly and transparently reinvested in public transportation to make it free and compensate citizens with a low footprint.

How big oil is big polluter and big money

All largest oil and gas firms reported record profits for the year 2022 thanks to higher oil and gas prices since Russia invaded Ukraine. For example, BP reported net profits of $27.7 billion for 2022, Shell also reported almost $40 billion in profit, meaning both firms doubled their profits from 2021. In the United States, ExxonMobil posted a record $56 billion profit for 2022, a 143.48% increase from 2021. Saudi Arabia company Aramco’s net income increased by 46.5% to a record $161.1 billion in 2022, compared to $110.0 billion in 2021. This adds up to decades of profits amassed by these companies, often with minimal taxation.

In France, oil major TotalEnergies, made a record net profit of $36.2 billion in 2022, double the previous year. In 2023, it reported the highest profit of its history, underpinned by performances in its liquefied natural gas and electricity divisions as it continues to invest heavily in fossil fuel production. The group announced in September 2023 that it would increase hydrocarbon production by an annual two to three percent over five years. Even though it propagandizes investments in renewable energy, in reality the majority of its activity is in fossil fuels and it aims to expand it. Several court cases against the company are pending, including for its land acquisition for controversial projects in Uganda and Tanzania for the construction of the biggest oil pipeline ever built, the so-called EACOP.

Meanwhile, the 2022 annual reports of six global fossil fuel majors and six European oil and gas companies, revealed that a minuscule 0.3% of their combined 2022 energy production came from renewable power. According to the report, BP, Equinor, Wintershall, and TotalEnergies actually reduced their investments in low carbon or renewable products in 2022, compared to 2021.

In April 2024, it was revealed that just 57 companies are linked to 80% of greenhouse gas emissions since 2016, and that world’s biggest economies are still pumping billions into fossil fuels projects. The historical study Carbon Major Database by the Climate Accountability Institute has found that the 100 major oil, gas and coal producers have generated over 70% of greenhouse gas emissions, making them the greatest threat to human society.