Individual action on climate change can include personal choices with regards to diet, travel, lifestyle, consumption of goods and services, family size and so on. Individuals can also get active in local and political advocacy work around climate action. People who wish to reduce their carbon footprint, can for example reduce air travel and driving cars, they can eat mainly a plant-based diet, use consumer products for longer, or have fewer children. Avoiding meat and dairy foods has been called "the single biggest way" how an individual can reduce their environmental impact. Scholars find that excessive consumption is more to blame for climate change than population increase. High consumption lifestyles have a greater environmental impact, with the richest 10% of people emitting about half the total lifestyle emissions.

Greta Tintin Eleonora Ernman Thunberg is a Swedish environmental activist known for challenging world leaders to take immediate action for climate change mitigation.