Carbon neutral events – a new dimension in event planning and management
With the National Arts Festival now upon us and the World Cup in full swing it seemed appropriate that this Makana Enviro News be dedicated to the issue of carbon neutral events.
Carbon neutral events – a new dimension in event planning and management
With the National Arts Festival now upon us and the World Cup in full swing it seemed appropriate that this Makana Enviro News be dedicated to the issue of carbon neutral events.
With insight and information kindly made available by our friends at Unlimited Energy; specialist consultants to business and government on alternative energy and carbon neutrality issues.
How it works
You don’t have to have seen Al Gore documentaries to know of the direct correlation between increased carbon levels in our atmosphere and the current calamity of global warming.
Now this is where it gets a little scary… Carbon dioxide emissions from industry, transport and deforestation have grown beyond all expectation since 2002 – increasing at a rate of 3% per annum treble the 1% annual growth between 1990 and 2000.
This shatters all previous predictions and is largely propelled by China’s recent economic boom. Boom! certainly is the probable conclusion for our 41% meteoric rise in CO2 emissions between 1990 and 2008.
With a whopping 29% of that increase coming between 2000 and now; with the amount of CO2 that now stays in the atmosphere going up from 40% in 1990 to 45% in 2008 because Earth’s natural carbon diffusion systems can no longer keep up with these mammoth increases. It’s quickening.
And it’s no longer just a few climate alarmists that are warning of a cataclysmic potential 6°C rise in Earth’s temperature
by the end of the century.
Big events, bigger emissions
Green house gas (GHG) emissions from large sporting, cultural and commercial events are often very high. One of the primary reasons is the travel required to organise the event as well as the travel of delegates and visitors who often take fl ights or drive long distances to attend with both the National Arts Festival and the World Cup as prime examples.
These events also typically use large amounts of energy for lighting and heating or air conditioning – again, just look at the stadium and theatre venue lighting involved in our two examples.
And there are of course numerous other activities which further contribute to the total emissions count of these events, such as refrigeration and food preparation. But handled properly, there is huge opportunity to calculate, minimise and offset GHG emissions from large events.
Carbon neutrality
Almost every single thing we do has a carbon component to it. For example, if you decide to have a tin of soft drink… the aluminium was mined, then transported, then a smelter was involved, then the tin was transported halfway across the world to the soft drink bottling plant, where similar consideration has to be made for all the ingredients and processes required to make and bottle the soft drink in the tin.
Then the fi nished product was transported to Grahamstown and sat in a fridge until you bought it and threw it away in an instant, while a lot of carbon remains in the atmosphere for a lot longer!
The point is that seeking total carbon neutrality can be very long winded but reasonable carbon neutrality is eminently possible!
And the things to consider when plotting a carbon neutral event are as complex as they are obvious – with Festival or World Cup-related corporate hospitality events as current examples:
• Heating and cooling. It’s winter so heaters are prevalent; while cooling or ventilation may be needed in confi ned areas.
• Transport. How are all visitors going to be transported to and from the event and to the shows?
• Food and drink. How and what will be prepared?
• Rubbish. Will this be recycled? How much of it will be recycled?
• Corporate gifts. What will they choose to give?
• Energy. Many activities are powered by generators
• Construction of hospitality villages. How is this done and what construction materials are used?
The spinoffs
No country on Earth has hosted as many global sporting events as South Africa has in the last fi fteen years – including the rugby, cricket and football world cups.
Annual cultural events such as our own Arts Festival, Joy of Jazz, the Cape Town Jazz Festival, Design Indaba and many others, are also growing in size and scope annually.
And South Africa with its climate, world class conference facilities and tourist attractions is becoming a favourite with multinational corporations as a venue for international conferences.
This global popularity of South Africa as preferred destination may however come under threat as many international players will require our venues to offer carbon footprinting and neutrality services.
Particularly given the massive proliferation of the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) a global initiative started in 2003 that seeks information on business risks and opportunities on behalf of 475 institutional investors with $55 trillion under management.
It was brought to SA in 2007, attracting a signifi cant amount of media interest, so much so that a company like Nedbank announced in September 2009 its intention to become carbon neutral, Woolworths has set a 30% carbon reduction target and Backsberg Wine Estate is already certifi ed carbon neutral.
For those organisations and events that adopt carbon neutral practices and seek structured advice from specialists in the fi eld on how to reduce GHG emissions and to offset the rest, the opportunities to not only attract more visitors and up their marketing profi les will be massive!
For more information, check out sites like unlimitedenergy.co.za or the online Science in Africa journal http://www.scienceinafrica.co.za/
Contacts for Makana Enviro-News: Nikki Köhly: nkohly@yahoo.com, 046 636 1643 / Lawrence Sisitka: heilaw@imaginet.co.za, 046 622 8595 / Jenny Gon: j-gon@intekom. co.za, 046 622 5822 / Dan Wylie d.wylie@ru.ac.za, 046 603 8409 / Nick James: nickjames@intekom.co.za, 046 622 5757 / Strato Copteros strato@iafrica.com, 082 785 6403
