Climate action often gets boiled down to relatively trivial stuff: reusable coffee cups, shorter showers and remembering your green bags at the supermarket. 

Those are all good habits to build. But if you're wondering where your time and energy can have the biggest impact, they're probably not top of the list. 

Some of the most powerful climate actions happen in places we don't always think about: the way we travel, what we eat, how we power our homes, where our money is invested and the choices we make as citizens - both individually and collectively.  

You’re not only a consumer. You’re also an investor, a super member, a worker, a voter and part of a community. The decisions you make in each of those roles can help shape the systems of the future. 

The good news is that you don't have to do everything perfectly. 

Climate action is not a competition. Forget about chasing perfection. It's about understanding where your choices have the greatest influence, then taking the steps that work for your life. 

Different actions, different kinds of power 

Not every climate action works in the same way. 

Some reduce your own carbon emissions directly. Others help shape the systems that influence emissions across the whole economy. 

That's why we've avoided ranking these actions from ‘best’ to ‘worst’. They’re all powerful for different reasons.

Climate power moves at a glance 

These ratings are a general guide, not a universal score. The impact and effort involved will depend on your circumstances, including where you live, what infrastructure is available and the choices you’re already making. 

1. Travel mindfully 

Transport is one of the biggest sources of emissions for many Australians. But this is a big country with big distances, and besides, it deserves to be explored. The good news is you don't have to sell the car or swear off holidays forever to make a difference. 

Instead, look for opportunities to travel a little more intentionally. 

That could mean: 

• walking or cycling for shorter trips 

• using public transport when it's practical 

• combining errands into one journey 

• considering an electric vehicle next time you’re buying 

• choosing a holiday closer to home occasionally 

• flying less often if you’re a frequent flyer. 

Research from the World Resources Institute identifies living without a car and flying less among the personal actions with the greatest potential to reduce emissions. But that potential depends heavily on your starting point – everyone’s circumstances are different. Someone who drives long distances or flies regularly has more scope to reduce their transport footprint than someone who rarely does either. 

If you live regionally, have accessibility needs or rely on your car for work, many of these options may not be realistic – and that’s fine.   

Climate action isn't about passing a purity test; it's about making the changes that are available to you – and supporting the infrastructure that makes lower-emissions travel possible for more people. 

2. Put more plants on your plate 

Food is another area where small changes can add up over time. 

Research consistently shows that diets containing more plant-based foods generally have a lower climate footprint than diets high in red meat, particularly beef and lamb. Adopting a plant-based diet had considerably greater emissions-reduction potential than composting, avoiding packaged foods or reducing food waste. 

That doesn't mean everyone needs to become vegan overnight. It can just mean introducing more plant-based dinners, replacing mince with lentils in a favourite recipe, experimenting with tofu or tempeh, or using more of the food already in your fridge. 

Reducing food waste is useful too. Planning meals, storing food properly and getting creative with leftovers can help reduce the resources that go into producing food that is never eaten. 

Climate-friendly eating doesn’t have to be expensive, complicated or carefully arranged in a wellness-branded bowl. Sometimes it’s a supermarket-rejected cabbage, stir-fried with crispy tofu, pepitas, broccoli and a bit of spice, costing less than $3.  

3. Power your home for the future 

The way we power our homes is another significant part of the picture. 

Using renewable electricity at home is among the higher-impact household actions you can make as an individual. Energy efficiency and electrification can also reduce household energy use and reliance on fossil fuels over time. 

Depending on whether you own your home or rent, have a think about whether you could: 

• choose a renewable electricity option – after checking how the provider substantiates its claims 

• improve insulation or draught-proofing 

• replace old gas appliances with efficient electric alternatives when they reach the end of their life 

• install rooftop solar  

• upgrade to more efficient heating, cooling or hot-water systems. 

Not every upgrade is possible for every household. Some cost a lot of money, while renters may have limited control over appliances or building improvements. 

That doesn’t make tenants powerless. Asking landlords for efficiency upgrades, raising improvements through strata committees and supporting stronger rental energy standards can help extend the benefits beyond one household. 

There’s no need to discard a working appliance for the sake of feeling greener. But when something needs replacing, choosing an efficient electric option can be a practical investment in a lower-emissions home. 

4. Use your voice 

One of the most powerful things any of us can do – costing zero dollars – is participating. 

Our influence extends beyond our personal carbon footprint. We can vote with climate policy in mind, contact representatives, ask businesses and financial institutions detailed questions, encourage better decisions at work and support community organisations creating change. 

The Climate Council highlights political participation and collective action as important parts of an effective personal climate response. 

The impact of one conversation, email or vote cannot be converted into a neat carbon-saving figure. But public policy, infrastructure and corporate decisions operate at a scale individual household changes cannot reach. 

Lasting progress usually comes from people acting together: building support, shifting expectations and making ambitious decisions easier for governments and organisations to take. 

Using your voice could begin with something small. Ask your super fund how it manages climate-related investment risks. Write to your local representative about public transport or home electrification. Raise an idea at work. Join an organisation already doing the work. 

Individual action becomes much more powerful when it helps create collective momentum. 

5. Look at where your money is going 

Most of us think carefully about what we buy. Far fewer think about where our super, savings and investments are working while we’re asleep. 

Australia’s superannuation system manages more than $4.4 trillion dollars on behalf of its members. That money is invested across the Australian and global economy, in businesses, infrastructure and property. 

In other words, super isn’t simply money sitting in an account until retirement. It’s active capital, invested in real assets that are shaping the economy we’ll retire into. 

So it’s worth asking: What is my money helping to build? 

Different super funds take different approaches to climate-related investment risks and opportunities. Super funds may use investment screens to minimise or avoid exposure to certain industries and activities, actively engage with companies they own to encourage change, and invest in climate solutions like renewable energy. (Of course, all these things are part of our core investment strategy.) 

These approaches do not all work in the same way, and no single investment decision can solve climate change on its own. Moving your super also cannot be translated neatly into a personal carbon saving in the same way that driving fewer kms might be. Its influence is more systemic. 

When people ask questions about where their money is invested, and examine the claims made by financial providers and choose funds based on a full understanding of their investment approach, they help create demand for a financial system that takes climate-related risks and opportunities seriously. 

Collectively, the capital allocation decisions made by super funds on behalf of their members can influence which industries, technologies and projects attract investment. Member expectations can also influence how financial institutions approach screening, stewardship, transparency and investment in long-term climate solutions. 

Checking where your super is invested may be one of the most overlooked climate actions available to Australians. 

So your impactful action is: Look behind broad sustainability or ESG labels. Read each fund’s investment approach, examine its holdings where available, and check how terms such as ‘sustainable’, ‘responsible’ or ‘impact’ are defined and supported. The decision you make about where and how to invest your retirement savings holds a lot of power. 

If you’re considering changing super funds, compare the full product – including fees and costs, investment options, risk, performance and insurance – before making a decision. 

Keep doing the small stuff 

Recycling didn’t make our top five. Plastic waste, for example, is a problem we can’t recycle our way out of, and Future Super is using its voice to address the issue in Australia.  

But that doesn’t mean it makes no difference. Reducing, reusing and recycling are important ways to reduce our impact on the planet. Buying second-hand, repairing instead of replacing, reducing waste, composting food scraps and recycling properly are all worthwhile habits. 

The evidence simply suggests that actions around transport, food, home energy, finance and civic participation generally have greater potential to reduce emissions or influence larger systems. 

That isn’t a reason to stop doing the smaller things. It’s a reason to look beyond them. Most people build climate-friendly habits gradually, one decision at a time. 

A future worth building together 

Climate change is one of the biggest challenges we’ll face in our lifetimes. It’s understandable that it sometimes feels overwhelming – or that one person’s choices can seem too small to make a difference. 

But the goal isn’t to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders. It’s to recognise the different kinds of power you already hold. The power to reduce your own emissions. To ask more of the companies and institutions managing your money. To support better policies, infrastructure and investment decisions. 

At Future Super, we believe money can be actively invested in the systems of the future. That means considering the sustainability-related risks and opportunities that may affect long-term investment outcomes, screening investments against defined criteria, taking an active stewardship approach, and seeking investment opportunities in areas such as climate solutions. 

Your super is only one part of your climate influence. But in Australia, where retirement savings represent trillions of dollars of long-term capital, it is worth understanding what that money is doing – and what kind of future it is helping finance. 

Progress won’t come from a handful of people doing everything perfectly. It will come from many people taking practical action, asking better questions and using the influence available to them. 

Nobody can do everything. But everybody can do something. 

FAQs: best climate actions 

What are some of the best things you can do for the climate? 

High-impact opportunities include changing transport habits, eating more plant-based food, improving household energy and participating in collective or political action. Financial choices may also create wider influence, although their individual emissions impact cannot be measured in the same way. 

Is changing super a climate action? 

Checking where your super is invested can be a climate-related action because super funds allocate capital across the economy and may use strategies that impact emissions in the real economy, including screening, stewardship and investment in climate solutions. However, changing funds cannot be translated into a simple personal carbon saving. 

Is recycling a powerful climate action? 

Recycling is worthwhile, but research suggests that transport, diet and household energy can offer greater emissions-reduction potential for many people. 

What can renters do for the climate? 

Renters can reduce energy use, choose renewable electricity plans where available, ask for efficiency improvements and support stronger rental-energy standards.