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The software, called mobGAS, allows you to see how your daily choices are impacting the environment.  To use it all you need to do is tell the program what you are doing, and for how long.  For example, if you are watching television you simply tell the program how long you are watching it for, and the program works out your CO2 contribution.

According to the makers, the technology is fun to use, and offers practical tips.  They hope it will demonstrate to users that climate change is not just a distant issue for others to tackle, but something that they too can really influence.

Although easy to download and use, mobGAS is a sophisticated application that calculates an individual's emissions of the three main greenhouse gases - carbon dioxide CO2, methane CH4, and nitrous oxide N2O. It does so by compiling basic information inputted by the user on, for example, how they regulated their heating, what means of transport they took or the household appliances they used. Calculations of individual emissions of greenhouse gases can be accessed by users at the touch of a button at any time of the day. A users-diary of daily, weekly and yearly emissions can be registered on a dedicated website that allows them to compare their results with other country or world averages. The application also includes an animation reflecting the user's contribution to the Kyoto Protocol target.

Individuals can have a significant impact on reducing emissions. According to recent Eurostat figures, 21% of emissions are related to industrial and associated processes, while 31% are from energy production, 20% from transport, 9% from agriculture and 3% from waste, and the remainder from other sources. All of this shows that individual behaviour, such as how we travel, the appliances we use or the food we eat, can make a real different to emissions. Lifestyle and consumer choices are a key factor, so it is important that people are aware of the implications of their personal choices.

The makers believe that users would use the software very much like you would keep a diary.  They say that because it is on a mobile phone, something that you have with you all the time, "it is possible to make use of quieter moments – travelling on a bus, or waiting for an appointment, for example – to input the data for that day. This could include the means of transport they took, how they heated their house, how long they watched television and what they ate."

The software is free to download, but your phone does need to be internet enabled, and data is sent back to the makers via a secure internet connection.  On privacy, the mobGAS website is not very forthcoming, so it's not clear how mobGAS will use your data, or who they will make it available to.  Indeed, there is a User Rankings page, but as yet Tenbees has not been able to ascertain whether users have any control over whether their data appears there.

The software will be demonstrated by scientists of the JRC at the EU pavilion during the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali from 3 December.