Climate Impact ≠ Environmental Impact

Did you know that climate impact and environmental impact are distinct concepts that refer to different types of environmental effects? While both terms are important in sustainability and environmental protection discussions, their substantive understanding often falls short. Let’s explain the difference between these two concepts using the example of electric cars.

Climate impact refers to the specific effect that human activities or natural processes have on global climate change.

It is a narrower concept that focuses on the emission of greenhouse gases (such as CO₂ and methane) into the atmosphere and the resulting effects, such as global warming and changes in weather patterns.

Take electric cars, for instance, a topic widely debated regarding their environmental friendliness. In the case of cars, climate impact generally occurs when fuels are burned (e.g., gasoline, oil, etc.), releasing CO₂, or carbon dioxide, into the air. That’s why we always see climate impact measured in CO₂ or CO₂e (which stands for equivalent—a universal unit of all greenhouse gases). It’s easy to understand with cars that when a car drives, it burns fuel and emits CO₂. For mid-range cars, this is about 0.15-0.2 kg per kilometer. Therefore, covering 100,000 km results in 15,000 kg of CO₂ emissions, roughly equivalent to producing 30 computer monitors. So, it’s clear that combustion engine cars are significant contributors to climate impact.

This is where the debate often starts because electric cars do not directly produce emissions while driving since they don’t use fuel combustion to generate energy. However, if the electricity used to charge electric car batteries comes from coal or oil-fired power plants, electric cars do indeed contribute to climate impact (though this impact occurs earlier, during electricity generation at power plants). You could say that electric cars don’t solve the problem unless they are charged with electricity produced with minimal climate impact (such as from wind, solar, hydro, geothermal energy, etc.). Provided that the cars are charged with clean electricity, they certainly help reduce climate impact, as emissions during driving are almost zero. Additionally, in places like Europe, where oil production is minimal, electric cars present an opportunity to use locally produced fuel (sun, wind), thereby improving regional energy security.

But what about battery production?
Indeed, another contentious point is the large energy storage units—batteries—used in electric cars. Although their production also creates climate impact, analysis suggests it is relatively small if the car is driven for 100,000 km or more. The main “green” issue in production is, in fact, environmental impact.

Environmental impact is a broader concept that encompasses all effects human activity or natural processes have on ecosystems and the natural environment.

Environmental impact can include a range of factors, such as pollution, biodiversity loss, water and soil quality degradation, resource depletion, and more. Climate impact is just one component among environmental impacts.

While climate impact can be measured quite accurately with CO₂ as the unit, environmental impact is much harder to measure and is far more abstract.

Efforts are made to assess environmental impact, such as by studying how the extraction of materials needed for battery production affects the local ecosystem, groundwater, the well-being of animals or birds, and the quality of life for people living in the area. One complexity in assessing environmental impact is that the effects may not become apparent until years later. Therefore, it seems that while electric cars, when powered by clean energy, help reduce climate impact, they tend to increase environmental impact, at least with current practices.

It’s a long and detailed explanation, but the most important takeaway is that next time you hear someone debating whether something is green or not, be sure to ask first whether they are discussing climate or environmental impact, because now you know they are two entirely different concepts 😉.