What is Carbon Dioxide?
Carbon Emissions & Offsets
Conferences and events can have both positive and negative impacts on the communities in which they are held:
Offsets bridge the gap: Some emissions are impossible to avoid. Impact can be mitigated through carbon offsets and funding greenhouse gas and renewable energy projects that reduce greenhouse gases.
Carbon Offsets
A carbon offset is a project implemented specifically to reduce the level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Offsets are so named because they counteract or offset the purchaser’s GHG emissions.
Scope 3 Emissions
In recent years, collecting emissions data at all tiers has evolved at a rapid pace within corporate sustainability. At both event and organizational levels, we continue to witness a dramatic acceleration in the assessment and reporting of sources that fall under the category of Scope 3 emissions.
What are Scope 3 emissions?
These refer to the “indirect” greenhouse gas impacts of a company’s supply chain. They encompass the areas beyond an organization’s direct control such as business travel, employee transportation, and material manufacturing and disposal. Because of the complex, interconnected, and nuanced reach of Scope 3 emissions, they have historically fallen into a reporting “gray area” within emissions responsibility. Given their extensive breadth across an enterprise, Scope 3 emissions often comprise the vast majority of a company’s carbon footprint!
Presently, under the Greenhouse Gas Protocol’s current Corporate Standard, Scope 3 reporting is voluntary, but all signs indicate this domain will be one of the most significant categories at the forefront of climate action, decarbonization strategies, and corporate disclosure. Event emissions, by their very nature, nearly always reside in the realm in Scope 3. As a third-party consultant, with extensive conference footprint assessment experience, our team at MeetGreen can help to benchmark your event’s emissions impact as well as supporting specialized investigation of your Scope 3 emission sources that might operate outside the traditional purview of your sustainability team.
Carbon Offsets Pros & Cons
Pros
Cons
Carbon Offsets Considerations
Step 1: Consider Fit
- Is a carbon offset program right for my organization?
- Will members be accepting of the option?
- Should the program be voluntary, or mandatory?
Step 2: Consider Type of Offsets
- What kind of offset project does the organization want to support?
- Is it important where the offset project is located? Does it need to be local?
Step 3: Consider Funding Options
- Is the offset program to be funded by the organization, sponsors, the individual attendee or all three?
Sample Event Carbon Profile
Offset Project Categories
Waste Management Projects
Trash buried in landfills decomposes slowly, producing methane which escapes into the atmosphere. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas – 84 times as powerful as carbon dioxide. Projects which capture and destroy that gas benefit the environment.
Wind Energy Projects
Most electricity comes from fossil fuels, such as coal and natural gas. These conventional sources produce carbon dioxide emissions. Wind energy allows electricity to be produced with little emissions. Funding wind offsets helps lower the proportion of electricity derived from dirty power sources.
Forest Management Projects
Sustainable forest management increases carbon in the forest and in durable, harvested wood products. Projects can focus on increasing the overall age of a forest, increasing forest productivity by thinning diseased or suppressed trees or managing brush, improving harvest practices, and maintaining stocks.
Agricultural Projects
Help farmers capture and destroy the methane, a powerful global warming gas which forms when managing animal waste. Projects support the installation and operation of anaerobic digesters, lagoon covers, and electricity generators.
Sample Offset Projects
Crow Lake/Prairie Wind Offsets – Renewable Energy (South Dakota)
- Spans three counties in South Dakota and is the largest wind project in the United States owned solely by a cooperative. Has a capacity of 151.5 megawatts.
- Example of public sector and private sector partnership that provides positive local impact. The transition from fossil fuel energy generation to new renewable energy can directly reduce atmospheric carbon emissions.
Lancaster Landfill Gas to Energy – Pennsylvania
- Extraction of landfill gas from a municipal solid waste landfill, resulting in a net reduction of new greenhouse gas.
- Approximately 55% of 220 million tons of waste generated each year in the United States ends up in one of the over 3,500 landfills, the funding from carbon credits enables these landfills to reduce greenhouse gases for municipalities.
Great Bear Forest Carbon Project – Improved Forest Management Protocol, Canada
- Home to the largest intact coastal temperate rainforest remaining in the world.
- Ecosystem Based Management (EBM) approach that values the forest not as a source of lumber alone, but as a balanced system that sustains biodiversity and an enriched community.