Judging by the number of invitations to events, that drop into our inboxes almost on a daily basis, it appears conferences and other business events are still alive despite the UK’s economic problems. At Carbon Masters we enjoy going to many of these events to talk to businesses directly about their carbon challenges.

Our message to the people we meet is clear: the world is moving towards a low carbon future which presents risks to your organisation, but also opportunities. We can help. We assist organisations to measure, manage, reduce and report carbon emissions by taking them on a low carbon journey.

For example, two weeks ago a colleague and I attended the Business Finance Awards 2013 in Mayfair, London, which recognises individuals, teams and businesses that

have demonstrated success and innovation over the last 12 months. We calculated the carbon emissions arising from the event and answered any questions the guests had on climate change

issues such as CRC regulation and mandatory carbon reporting.

The technical part

We provide our ‘Sustainable Event’ solution at

a variety of events to demonstrate the organiser’s commitment to sustainability. Before hand, Carbon Masters work with the event organiser to identify sustainability actions to be implemented based on a best in class check list that we have developed. During the event, personnel from Carbon Masters conduct a ‘live’ carbon footprint which involves a 30-second survey with delegates, using the custom-built cloud-based software app Carbon Guru for Events. The software records travel/hotel data and instantly provides delegates with a personal on-the-spot carbon footprint. After the event, Carbon Masters compile a report presenting: i) Actions taken by the event organisers to reduce emissions, ii) Total carbon footprint in tCO2e, iii) Actions agreed for the next event to further reduce emissions. If the event organiser wishes to ‘offset’ the emissions, Carbon Masters can procure a sufficient amount to declare the event ‘carbon neutral’.

One event can equal

25% of a person’s annual carbon allowance

Carbon Masters has worked with organisers at a range of events in the UK, India, Ecuador and USA. For example, last year in Washington, USA, the total carbon footprint of the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) ­ Sustainability Summit was 235.5 tCO2e. This represented an average individual carbon footprint per delegate of 563 kg CO2e. This is quite high in our experience and reflects the fact that the majority of delegates travelled to the conference by air from destinations across the USA.

To put this in perspective in three different ways:

1. The total GHG emissions per person in the US is around 19.7

tons CO2e. So travelling to the conference used approximately 3% of a persons total GHG emissions in a year.

2. If we take the total carbon emissions that climate scientists tell us we can safely emit (to prevent temperatures rising more than 2 degrees Celsius) and divide it EQUALLY across the global population then each person would have an annual carbon budget of 2 tonnes of CO2e. In this context attending the conference would use up 25% of each person’s annual budget.

3. Finally, 500kgs of CO2e is the equivalent emissions to powering a

gasoline car for 1,250 miles or keeping a 60w light bulb burning for 15,000 hours (over 5 years at 8

hours a day)

Where next?

Over the next couple of months, Carbon Masters will be providing our solution at the Greenbuild Expo in Manchester, SHE South 2013 in Milton Keynes, and the Facilities Show 2013 in Birmingham. If you

would like Carbon Masters to come along to your event, please get in touch for more details. We always have Carbon Masters experts on hand to explain the process and aid the understanding of climate change. It’s a fun and educational way to encourage people to move towards a more sustainable low carbon future.

For more information on our Events tool, please contact me by email on tom@carbonmasters.co.uk or by telephone on +44 (0)131 472 4818.