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Environment
William Perry, Postdoctoral Research Associate at the School of Biosciences, Cardiff University

What's the carbon footprint of owning pet fish? An expert explains

One of the most popular species of fish found in tropical marine aquariums is the common clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris). jflin98/Shutterstock

While the environmental impact of having dogs and cats as pets has been examined to some extent, the impact of keeping pet fish has remained unexplored – until now.

Dogs in particular have a significant carbon “pawprint”. An average-size dog (weighing 10-20kg) in Europe is responsible for between 349 and 1,424kg of CO₂-equivalent emissions per year – compared with between 150kg and 251kg of CO₂-eq for an average-size cat (weighing 2kg-6kg).

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