Conference Sustainability

The organizing committee is working to create an ESEE Conference in 2015 that is as sustainable as possible. We are reducing the amount of meat served and on one of the days we will serve only vegan food. The money that we save doing this will be invested in local and organic produce. We are doing all we can to reduce waste and aim to recycle 95% of waste generated. In terms of carbon emissions, we will offset emissions from the venues, accommodation and catering, and we are asking participants to offset their travel emissions. Besides the option of carbon offsetting, other actions and activities have been planned in close connection with the University of Leeds who has developed strategies and targets to improve sustainability inside and outside campus. http://www.leeds.ac.uk/sustainability/strategy.html. 

A more detailed environmental plan will be published here in due course providing further details.

Carbon Offsetting

The ESEE conference committee would like to encourage participants to offset the emissions from their travel. The offsetting scheme that we have partnered with is through a non-profit campaigning organisation called Sandbag (http://www.sandbag.org.uk). Sandbag campaign for reform on emissions trading policies, but also offer an innovative service that enables individuals, households and companies to use the Europe-wide market in Carbon Dioxide to destroy the equivalent of the CO2 footprint they produce from European carbon markets. Sandbag does this by buying and retiring Carbon Allowances (EUAs) in the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). Because Sandbag permanently removes Carbon Allowances from circulation, the major European ‘emitters' of CO2 are forced to emit less by the same amount as you offset.

On registration you will have the opportunity to purchase a tonne of CO2 for £6.50. The table below indicates the emissions from different modes of travel, which will help you calculate how much ETS permits you might want to take out of circulation.

All figures include carbon emissions associated with extraction, refining and manufacture of fuel, roads, vehicles and including radiative forcing of jet emissions. Source: Carbonindependent.org.

If you are booking flights, you may also wish to consider which airlines are more or less carbon inefficient. This report provides a ranking of a large number of airlines.