Sustainability is a cornerstone of Earth Observation research and, for many people, becoming one of the key considerations in their day-to-day lives. As an integral part of the recent UK National Earth Observation Conference 2022 (#UKEO2022) we wanted to highlight the environmental impacts of a conference and what we can do to limit those impacts and promote sustainability.

The #UKEO2022 conference had a focus on sustainability, with the carbon footprint considered for everything from lanyards to cakes. We calculated the conference’s carbon footprint and determined that it is less than a fifth of an average conference of its size.

The impact of a conference

The venue for the conference, the National Space Centre (NSC), has a focus on its environmental impact and is working towards net zero by 2050. The NSC has installed solar panels that provide electricity to the site and have taken measures to limit their impact in other areas such as better waste management and community outreach.

With a sustainable venue in hand, we moved our focus to what we can set out within the conference to limit our footprint. One of the ways we did this was by deciding to provide a majority of vegetarian and vegan catering at the event. Reducing meat and dairy consumption are one of the easiest ways to reduce not just a conference carbon footprint but a personal one as well. In fact, by just cutting our meat options to 25% instead of the usual 75% we saved over half a tonne of CO₂.

The National Space Centre’s Home Planet Gallery is a new exhibition that tells the story of planet Earth and how we are using satellites to monitor its health and how we can live more sustainably with it.

Live carbon tracker

With all this environmental work going on behind the scenes, we wanted to ensure that our carbon savings were showcased to delegates during the conference. We put together a live carbon tracker using the carbon footprint data obtained from the venue, food and delegates. The tracker was designed to show the times of day that the carbon footprint increased (e.g. when food was served) along with the overall carbon footprint breakdown, with a specific focus on the impacts of business travel and hotel stays.

The live carbon footprint tracker was used throughout the conference to show delegates how much carbon was being used.

Mapping travel routes

In order to put together the conference’s carbon footprint, we needed data from delegates on how they planned to get to the conference. Through the conference travel survey, we collected data from a third of our delegates regarding their travel method and destination. With this data, University of Leicester PhD student Dan Potts put together an animated map showing the travel routes taken by delegates. The animation was displayed alongside the carbon footprint tracker and sparked discussion about sustainable travel and the barriers that can prevent it.

Travel animation for the #UKEO2022 showing the different methods and journeys made by delegates. Made by Dan Potts, University of Leicester.

NCEO Green Group

Also on display at the conference were NCEO’s Green Group. The group is made up of a collection of NCEO researchers who share a passion for sustainability. The group meet monthly to discuss ways of working that can promote environmental change within NCEO.

During the conference, the Green Group promoted the carbon footprint calculation and asked delegates to suggest their top tips for improving sustainability. The responses covered everything from reducing what we buy to eating a more plant-based diet.

Eleanor Morton, NCEO’s Sustainability Coordinator, at #UKEO2022 demonstrating the live carbon tracker.

Calculating carbon footprint

The calculation of the carbon footprint included a wide array of data with everything from the energy and water usage of the National Space Centre, the food and drink consumed by delegates and information provided by attendees about their travel and hotel stays considered.

Once the data has been collected the next step is to determine the conversion factor that needs to be applied to each bit of data. A conversion factor takes our data value and converts it into a value of kgCO₂e. The factor differs depending on what your data is for, e.g. water or electricity, and how you are measuring it. For most of the data collected, we used the Defra conversion factors, but for other types of data (such as food and masks) we had to find different ways to determine their carbon impact.

For the food calculations we used two amazing resources: Mikes Berners-Lee’s How Bad are Bananas? Book and My Emissions’ Food Carbon Footprint Calculator. Both resources gave us a breakdown of emissions for a set value of food which could then be scaled up to the conference size.

When all the carbon footprint data is combined, we had an overall carbon footprint value of 20.2 tonnes of CO₂e. For context, a return flight from Manchester to Italy is 500kg CO₂e. Now that we had this value for the carbon footprint, we need to see how it compares with a normal conference. Sustainable event management agency MeetGreen conducted a study finding that an average delegate attending a conference produces ~170kg CO₂e per day. For a three-day conference, this would be ~510kg CO₂e, and when multiplied by the number of attendees of UKEO we find that the average footprint for a conference of our size is ~182 tonnes CO₂e.

#UKEO2022  vs average conference CO₂ comparison

#UKEO2022  vs average conference CO₂ comparison

So, where do we go from here? As great as this result is, there are a few things we can do in the future to make it even more accurate. There are some aspects of the conference that we couldn’t capture data for, such as the waste, and there were various values that had to be estimated due to limited information.

As we move forward, our ability to record carbon footprint data will improve and become more efficient. For now, the calculation for UKEO 2022 will act as a baseline for future conferences, an indication of where we can find reductions and how we can make conferences more sustainable. As with many things, it’s often the smallest change that makes the biggest impact and this is very apparent in the world of sustainability.

Contact

For more information, contact Eleanor Morton, NCEO Sustainability Coordinator
E: em492@leicester.ac.uk>