Going “Carbon Neutral” at the UN Conference on Climate Change
It’s the Kyoto Protocol in action.
The United Nations Climate Change Conference, which begins today, November 28 and runs until December 9, 2005, has been deemed a “carbon neutral” event.
What that means is that organizers have pledged to set a new standard for conferences by offsetting the greenhouse gas emissions that will be produced at the Conference by undertaking environmentally friendly actions elsewhere. These actions range from planting trees, using bio-diesel buses and hybrid cars for transportation to handing out transit passes.
It’s a big commitment, with 10,000 delegates, observers and media expected to attend the two-week event, at the two main sites in downtown Montreal (the Palais des Congres and Complexe Guy Favreau). It’s especially daunting given that there are approximately 60 hotels in the city accommodating all the guests.
With all this activity taking place, organizers estimate the Conference activities alone will generate an estimated 10,000 to 12,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent; about the same amount as 3,000 average-sized vehicles produce annually. To offset these, the Government of Canada is partnering with the Pembina Institute to retire approximately 10,000 tonnes of certified emission reduction credits from Canadian-generated wind power.
“We want to set this meeting up as a legacy for others to emulate,” said Berny Latreille, the Director of Environmental Affairs at Environment Canada who has been championing carbon neutral conferencing and green purchasing for years. “We have developed a guide to greening meetings and making them carbon neutral and we will prepare a report with statistics on the green results of our efforts during the two weeks.”
At the Conference, the carbon neutral and greening strategy started with encouraging developed countries to absorb their own emission costs, mostly generated by long-distance airline flights and hotel electricity use over the two-week event.
The “green Conference strategy” also includes the following actions:
- 5,500 free transit passes to promote public transit to various sites – these are available to delegates at the Tourism booth of the Palais des Congrès;
- Planting 10,000 trees in the Province of Quebec, one per delegate;
- Minimizing the amount of paper the 10,000 delegates receive by encouraging them to “build their own”, that is making information available electronically and only requesting printed materials when necessary;
- Providing 450 on-line computer terminals so delegates can access Conference programs easily;
- Bio-diesel buses and hybrid cars will shuttle delegates from hotels to conference venues;
- General Motors has offered 12 cars using a made-in-Canada fuel derived from straw that spews 75% less carbon dioxide than ordinary gasoline;
- Environment Canada has conducted training courses for conference drivers on how to drive cleaner, such as keeping tires properly inflated to save gas and to stop idling their cars while waiting for passengers;
- Computers are Energy Star certified and photocopiers are programmed for double-sided printing on recycled paper;
- Fair trade coffee will be served, trashed sorted from the 32 Recycling Centres at the Conference Centre, and leftovers sent to local shelters;
- Hotels have been offered tips on energy use, water conservation and recycling; and
- A limited number of “wind-powered computer” certificates have also been purchased and will be distributed. This will certify that GHG emissions related to the use of laptop computers bearing these stickers are offset for a full year, from windpower.
Private sector partnerships are key to making the conference several times carbon neutral. That is why partners in conjunction with Hydro-Quebec will invest in carbon sequestration projects to offset 35,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. This includes planting 10,000 trees in 100 communities in Quebec on Earth Day 2006. Members of the EXCEL Partnership, a group of leading Canadian businesses who are interested in demonstrating leadership on environmental, social and sustainability issues, will also contribute more than 25,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide as offsets.
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