If the IPCC’s climate report has you overwhelmed, it’s time to make these sustainable swaps

Instead of: Palm oil peanut butter

One way to strive for sustainability is by avoiding foods that contain palm oil – an edible vegetable oil that comes from the fruit of oil palm trees. It’s a versatile product, which explains why it is so widely used, even in beauty products. But, it is also extremely detrimental to the environment and continues to be a major driver of deforestation. Such wide scale forest clearance is “choking our planet and putting billions of people at immediate risk”, notes Guterres in his response to the IPCC report.

Boycotting it entirely is not the answer for a number of reasons – notably the fact that millions of smallholders depend on it for survival. Rather you can keep an eye out for brands that have been certified by the Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil and reduce your consumption where possible.

When it comes to peanut butter, many brands use palm oil to make their product creamy and spreadable. But Pip & Nut produces palm-oil-free nut butters and the brand received rave reviews in our guide to the best.

“Boasting a serious 99.7 per cent peanut content with just a touch of sea salt, we’re not sure what witchery has been employed to make this quite so impressively crunchy without using tricks like caramelisation or extra sugars, but it does have a noticeable extra bite,” praised our writer.

Instead of: Supermarket toilet roll

An estimated 27,000 trees are cut down every day just to make toilet paper and it takes approximately 160l of water to make a single roll. If that’s not startling enough, toilet roll accounts for 15 per cent of deforestation worldwide.

With the IPCC report findings at the forefront of our minds, it’s time to swap out your standard supermarket-bought bog roll in favour of an eco-friendly alternative. Enter Who Gives a Crap (WGAC). Founded in 2012 on the ethos of making a difference, it donates half of its profits to charities and projects, including Sanergy, which builds toilets and improves sanitation in the developing world.

The toilet roll came out top on test in our guide to the best plastic-free beauty products, with our writer noting that no “virgin trees are used – or inks, dyes or scents – and instead the loo roll is made from waste paper, like textbooks and old office materials”. If you’re worried about the quality, rest assured because each roll is “three-ply and still nicely soft”.

What’s more, the brand is a certified B-Corp, meaning it’s a company that meets the highest standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability. It’s an absolute no-brainer.

Read the full Who Gives a Crap review

Instead of: High street denim

According to Greenpeace, it takes a staggering 7,000l of water to create just one pair of jeans. Not only is this a drain on resources, but much of the water waste contains harmful chemicals, pesticides and coloured dyes that cause permanent destruction to ecosystems and local communities when put back into the waterways.

So consider a more sustainable brand. Nudie Jeans is a firm favourite of ours. It uses a high proportion of eco-friendly materials in its products, including GOTS-certified cotton (which limits the number of chemicals, water and wastewater from its denim products) and it also reuses most offcuts to minimise waste.

It produces both men’s and women’s jeans, as well as other clothing items, including skirts, jackets and T-shirts. But this breezy Britt blue bird pair has become a go-to in our wardrobe. Plus, the brand offers free repairs on all Nudie jeans, forever.

Instead of: Aerosol deodorants

Did you know household aerosols have been found to emit more harmful volatile organic compounds than all the vehicles in the UK?

As an alternative, we’d recommend using this natural deodorant, which took the top spot in our review of the best. It has a balm consistency with a crisp, subtle scent, and is made from “a blend of antibacterial essential oils including coconut and rosemary, as well as beeswax and bicarb”.

“We can confirm Moon Goo lasts all day and you can still smell the lovely scent it in the afternoon. We absolutely love this hardworking goo and couldn’t recommend it more,” praised our writer.

Instead of: Driving a car

Choosing how we get into work or pop to the shops is one of the biggest daily climate decisions we make. Globally, transport accounts for around a quarter of CO2 emissions, and transport networks are still focused around the car. With the ICPP report signalling the stark increase in CO2, it’s perhaps time to leave your vehicle at home and make cycling your new primary mode of transport.

This bicycle featured in our review of the best hybrid bikes, with it being noted as being “best for beginners”. With wide tyres, it also allows you to explore “gravel roads and towpaths when you head out of the urban jungle”.

“You get 16-speed gearing and hydraulic brakes for your money, with fitted mudguards and the option of adding a luggage rack,” noted our writer. It’s a great investment that will make ditching your four wheels a whole lot easier.

Instead of: Meaty meals

A report published by the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) noted that we should cut our intake of meat and dairy products by 20 per cent in order to combat the climate emergency. And the WWF has noted that beef production is one of the top drivers of deforestation. But that’s not all, as the UN has labelled the livestock industry as a “key player [in] increasing water use” and the “largest sectoral source of water pollution”. As such, diet is a big driver of global heating, water use and nature loss, so adopting a more vegetarian lifestyle is a quick and simple solution to reducing your footprint.

Unsure where to begin? Riverford’s vegetarian recipe boxes took the top spot in our review of the best veggie meal kit delivery services. It has “an easy-to-navigate website, fantastic quality produce and varied interesting recipes”, praised our writer. What’s more, all the ingredients are 100 per cent organic, with “fresh veg arriving muddy, straight from the farm”.

Instead of: Supporting large corporations

Another tip for adopting a more sustainable lifestyle is shopping with brands that take environmental responsibility seriously. KeepCup not only creates reusable coffee cups, but it’s also a member of 1% for the Planet and therefore donates at least 1 per cent of its global revenue to environmental causes.

This cup featured in our guide to the best reusable coffee cups, with our writer noting that the brand worked with “sustainability consultants who were able to calculate that the thermal has a lower impact on the planet than disposable cups after only eight uses”.

Instead of: Home electricity

According to research at McMaster University in Canada, the carbon emissions linked to using your smartphone have grown exponentially – from 17 megatons of CO2e per year to 125. As such, it’s worth considering how we charge them.

We’ve got the technology – solar and wind – we need to make a difference, so we might as well use it. Instead of relying on your plug sockets to charge your phone, why not turn to the power of the sun and reduce your emissions and impact that way.

This solar charger took the top spot in our review of the best thanks to having “everything you might need in a solar charger: high wattage, an abundance of USB ports, a business-like folding design and the leading monocrystalline panel type”. It’s powerful enough to charge tablets.

“Solar detection controls the power output as you walk between shade and sunlight to prevent dropouts and seamlessly resume charging when the panel is connected directly to your phone,” noted our writer.