August 15, 2008 – 4:47 am
(image credit Office Now)
The Internet has transformed our world into a global village. Your business and organization can expand virtually and literally anywhere, even to the moon. Generating new partnerships, or maintaining old ones, require smart enterprises to send their people to conferences. While the Internet helps you do research and make initial contact, there is nothing like the personal experience of meeting your partners and peers face-to-face in a conference hall.
Shoemakers, chipmakers, policymakers or simply moneymakers –– there are dozens to thousands of conferences one could attend each year. Business-subsidized flights means the cost of travel isn’t an issue, but all those air miles circling the earth do add up.
To counteract carbon emissions generated by conference-goers and to improve their public image, there is a new trend American conference organizers, hotels and halls are following: they are carbon offsetting on your behalf. See the latest story on the National Business Travel Association conference which used CarbonFund to help offset. (And see our interview with CarbonFund). Some of the ideas were really great –- like using print on demand with recycled paper, and giving uneaten food to food banks.
There is also another story we dug up, where conference-goers chose The Founders Inn and Spa because they offset guests’ stays by planting trees (in their own garden!) and use motion sensors in the rooms, to darken conference rooms when no one is there.
We say caveat emptor –– let the buyer, or conference attendee, beware. And we’re not the only one:
“It’s still a Wild West out there,” said Ferris Kawar, VP of sustainability for Greenopia, a publishing company and website which compiles green business guides, in the same article. “That’s what we’re dealing with at this point, because there are so few measurable standards.”
With no standards in place for monitoring or measuring claims (and with so many other things you can do yourself to reduce your impact), Carbon Catalog has aggregated a few tips you can follow to make your business trips a little lighter on the planet.
6 Tips to Lessening Your Conference Carbon Load
1. Research conferences thoroughly. Have you been to this conference before? Why are you going? Have you talked to someone who’s attended previously and was it worth it? What business objectives do you have? Are the new contacts you’d make there something you could do by Internet or phone? Select your conferences wisely and choose the ones you must attend. Or perhaps a similar conference is being organized closer to your town or city?
2. Do you really need to be there in person? This is related to the tip above. People love mingling and meeting each other at conferences. Hey, who are we kidding – it’s a social opportunity too. But ask yourself if the social opportunities you’re looking for outweigh the business ones? If so, consider that some conferences (like TED) upload their conference seminars to the Internet. Check in beforehand if this is a possibility. Who knows? Maybe you can spend the whole conference in your PJs from the comfort of your living room, and then spend the extra time saved in travel, hanging out with your buddies.
3. Walk by brochures and giveaways. Do you really need that glow-in-the-dark pen that sticks to the fridge, plastic business card holder, and the flimsy canvas bag every booth is giving away for free? We recommend that you don’t collect giveaways and pamphlets unless they add real value to your research. Take a notebook, make notes and exchange business cards. Use a portable drive to download what you need. Most companies you’ll want to be doing business with will have an Internet site with all the same information. And encourage companies, when appropriate, to reduce their giveaways and printed material.
4. Pledge more offsets, sponsor carbon-reducing promotions. Some conferences, as we’ve already learned (above) are making a commitment to offset. This is an earth-friendly step in the right direction. But maybe you can ask yourself and your company, is there something more we could do? Maybe your firm could match what the conference is willing to offset. Or maybe you could sponsor a webcast series for those who prefer to stay home, to view seminars online. Not only would this soften your carbon emissions impact, it would give your company the best PR.
5. Don’t forget about the hotel, and public transport when there. It might seem obvious, but turn your hotel lights off when you leave the room, turn off the air con/heater, and if possible take the train or public transport to the conference hall if it’s a distance from where you are staying. Carpooling with other attendees is a good way to lessen your impact, and who knows, the woman you share the taxi with might become your next business partner!
6. Buy your own offsets. Carbon Catalog’s directory lists dozens of carbon offset providers. Our handy ratings system can help you, and your company, find the right offset value.
Think you have a great idea for making the conference circuit more green? Send us your idea in the comments section. We’ll feature the business with the best idea.
::Associated Content
::Hampton Roads
 Now is the time to scream “Fire!” So writes Andrew Simms, the policy director and head of the climate change program at the New Economics Foundation (NEF) –– a “think and do tank” –– in an opinion editorial at the Guardian. Carbon Catalog has heard an even less conservative five year estimate from experts we’ve interviewed (see GreenFuel’s Isaac Berzin).
On the website onehundredmonths.com, conceived by the NEF and others, we can see a second-by-second countdown of one hundred months (8.3 years) until irreversible climate change sets in. While personal carbon offsetting and lifestyle change can play a small role in saving our planet from despair, Simms reasons that this is not enough. He outlines a list of tactics we need to take today. There is no time for stalling.
According to Simms, “in just 100 months’ time, if we are lucky, and based on a quite conservative estimate, we could reach a tipping point for the beginnings of runaway climate change. That said, among people working on global warming, there are countless models, scenarios, and different iterations of all those models and scenarios.”
Simms rationale for 100 months is outlined in the Guardian story. “But, even just before that point, there is still a one third chance of crossing the line,” he warns. Here at Carbon Catalog we are very concerned about climate change and do our best to help people navigate through the carbon offsetting options.
But voluntary carbon projects (like the offset projects we rate) are likely only to have an impact in the far (not near) future (learn more here). More pressing, says Simms, are the following steps: Read More »
By Karin Kloosterman
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Posted in How-To
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Tagged carbon offset, carbon offsetting, clean energy, clean technology, climate change, energy independence, fossil fuel, fuel efficiency, government, green investments, greenhouse gas, greenhouse gas emissions, Policy, United Kingdom
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Berzin Discusses Carbon Sequestration, the Future of Biofuel and the Fate of Our Earth
Scientists dream about a massive machine that can suck up carbon dioxide, curing overnight –– or at least within our lifetime –– our ailing planet from warming up at a ferocious pace. A NASA chemical engineer working on bioreactors may have come the closest so far to fulfilling the dream: Dr. Isaac Berzin is the first in the world to have proven that growing algae off the CO2 from power plant smokestacks can be a viable carbon sink. What’s better, the algae can be used as a biofuel, a renewable fuel that may be able to curb our dependence on oil.
This year Time Magazine voted Berzin as one of the world’s most influential for 2008 for his ability to turn a dream of an oil-free future into a reality through GreenFuel, the company he founded in Boston in 2001. (His daughter saw the email notification from Time and told him it was spam). Today with a new CEO of GreenFuel in place, Berzin’s back doing what he loves best: Science.
He’s over in Israel because he believes the tiny country that’s been flourishing against the odds, has what it takes to become a renewable energy powerhouse. And he’s collecting visionaries and scientists to build solutions –– algae for biofuel is expected to be one of them. Today Berzin talks with Carbon Catalog. Read More »
 As promised, today sees the release of a new design for Carbon Catalog. Aside from (hopefully!) being more attractive, the goal is to improve clarity and ease of navigation.
Traffic to Carbon Catalog continues to grow steadily, having doubled during the last quarter. Our aim over the next few months is to reach 100 offset providers in the database (current total: 85).
We also want to make the site more useful for businesses buying offsets - if you have any comments or suggestions, please drop us a line.
Have a great summer (unless you’re in Australia!)
Gideon
If the forecasts are right, the carbon offset market could climb to $1 trillion by 2020, reports New Carbon Finance and that’s only in the United States (PDF) One trillion is a whole lot of money for something we can’t feel, see, weigh or taste.
And it’s nothing resembling Fool’s Gold: According to Plenty Magazine (via the US Environmental Protection Agency), one Metric tonne of CO2 could be worth somewhere between $37 and $51 by 2020. If in 2004 alone, the US emitted roughly 6 billion tonnes, simple logic indicates that huge money is at stake.
Who’ll be the big money makers, Plenty asked in a recent feature: Will it be the big banks, the traders, the offset providers, the projects, the greenhouse gas–emitters, or the public? Read More »
Are you a UK citizen who flies to Majorca at the drop of a hat? Do you crank up the heat in the winter, and the air-con in the summer? Maybe you can’t live without your SUV? Well there’s some bad news coming your way: if you are an energy-hogging British citizen you might just have to pay for it.
In a bold move, the UK’s House of Commons suggested that Parliament create a personal carbon-trading scheme for all UK citizens. It would work like food rationing –– each citizen would be allotted his or her own “carbon emissions allowance.”
That would mean globetrotting celebs like the Beckhams would have to purchase additional carbon credits, or take part in carbon emissions reducing activities in order to continue using their private jet. Read More »
Unlike U.S. President George W. Bush, considered one of the worst presidents for the environment in the modern era, both frontrunners for America’s presidential seat have listened to their advisers and are paying attention to what’s important to Americans today. Global warming is on the agenda.
Both Sen. Barack Obama, a Democrat, and Sen. John McCain, a Republican, have action plans to fight global warming in their campaigns. (We’ve written about the Democrat’s plan earlier on Carbon Catalog). We’re curious as to how these plans might differ and what that might mean for America’s – possibly the world’s – future. Read More »
By Karin Kloosterman
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Posted in News
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Tagged alternative energy, cap-and-trade, carbon credits, carbon dioxide emissions, clean technology, CO2e, global warming, green technology, politics, renewable energy, United States
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 The Dutch are known to be earthy and sensible people, and thanks to the little boy who stuck his finger in the dyke, resourceful too. All these elements combined may be why the tiny country is, according to today’s featured guest the Climate Neutral Group, ranking second in Europe after the UK, in carbon offsetting.
In fact the word ´klimaatneutraal´ (climate neutral in English) was chosen as a top 3 Dutch word for 2007, reports the Climate Neutral Group, the for-profit provider which likely played a major role in exposing the importance of carbon offsetting in Holland.
After touring around the world talking to non-profit providers (see the round-up story here), Carbon Catalog for the last month or so has been interviewing carbon offset providers in the for-profit sector.
See:
Will for-profits be more effective and competitive in the long term? Will there be consolidation as the market expands? How do companies feel about stringent cap-and-trade regulations, or a carbon tax? What are their favorite environmental heroes?
These are some of the questions we’ve been asking in our series. Today we speak with Mr. Niels Korthals Altes, the Business Development Director from the Climate Neutral Group. (A round of applause please.) Read More »
 The practice of carbon offsetting as a means to lightening the impact of global warming on our earth is picking up steam. From carbon labels on suits and chips, to ways you can offset your wedding – Carbon Catalog hopes that carbon offsetting is well on its way to being a mainstream practice, like recycling bottles.
True to our mission, Carbon Catalog is here to help people find the most effective means for carbon offsetting and fighting global warming. When given a choice, where should you put your carbon offset money? Should you take the “noble” route and support non-profit carbon offset providers? Or are offset providers who operate for-profit better suited to make an impact on your behalf?
The question’s a difficult one and with the gracious help of the organizations and companies we’ve been talking to, you might find the answers you need in our ongoing series of interviews.
Over the last several months, Carbon Catalog’s talked with both non-profit and for-profit carbon offset providers. Earlier in the for-profit series, we’ve talked with Canada’s ZeroGHG, America’s TerraPass, and Belgium’s Climact.
Today we speak with Climate Friendly from Australia, a for-profit provider that is a “profit-for-purpose.” The term, explains Climate Friendly’s communications coordinator Jessica Miller, “acknowledges that in order to make a real carbon emissions reduction,” she says, “our business model has to also be sustainable…”
“A major difference between us and an NGO,” explains Miller, “is the capacity to deliver major emissions cuts quickly - because we are not tied to donor funding we are able to act more quickly and focus less on campaigning and advocacy, where our NGO friends are expert!”
Now for the interview with Climate Friendly: Read More »
 This week saw the release of the 2008 State of the Voluntary Carbon Markets report, subtitled “Forging a Frontier”.
A joint work by Ecosystem Marketplace and New Carbon Finance, the report is based on a survey of 150 players in the carbon offset market. Direct download here [2Mb PDF].
It’s a treasure trove of data on volumes, projects, countries and buyers. But in terms of carbon offsets, there are a couple of points to bear in mind. Read More »
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