A Case for Climate Neutrality

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A CASE FOR CLIMATE NEUTRALITY CASE STUDIES ON MOVING TOWARDS A LOW CARBON ECONOMY UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME

A Case for Climate Neutrality—Case Studies on Moving Towards a Low Carbon Economy A publication of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the UNEP Climate Neutral Network Division of Communications and Public Information (DCPI) PO Box 30552, Nairobi, Kenya

Acknowledgements The author and UNEP would like to thank the staff from the featured participants of UNEP’s Climate Neutral Network (CN Net) for their generous contributions, which made this publication possible. The following CN Net participants were integral in developing this work:

Tel: (254 20) 762 1234 Fax: (254 20) 762 3927 www.unep.org/climateneutral

- The Government of Iceland - The Government of Norway - The Government of the Republic of Maldives - City of Arendal - County of Aust-Agder, Norway - Antipodes Water - Atea - Autostrada Eksploatacja - BioRegional - Brandlab - CO2focus - Co-operative Financial Services group (CFS) - Dell - Deutsche Bank - Deutsche Post DHL - Dole Fresh Fruit International - Fjordkraft - GHG/e)mission - Greenfest - Greening 2010 FIFA World Cup - Hove Festival - INOXIA - International Union of Railways (UIC) - Kaffehuset Friele - Landcare Research carboNZero programme

Writer: Tim Hirsch Editors: Nick Nuttall, Niclas Svenningsen, Xenya Cherny Scanlon, Maya Alexandri, Geoff Thompson, Fanina Kodre-Alexander, Stuart Roberts Distribution Manager: Manyahleshal Kebede Contributor: Millicent Muriithi Graphic design: Enid Ngaira Disclaimer The contents of this publication do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of UNEP or contributory organizations or the editors. The designations employed and the presentation do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNEP or any contributory organization concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or its authority, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Cover photo: © Tine Harden / City of Copenhagen Facing page photo: © Biosphoto / J.-L. Klein & M.-L. Hubert / Still Pictures November 2009. Revised and reprinted June 2011.

- Live Earth - Nature Air - Nedbank Group - New Zealand Wine Company - News Limited - Norwegian Golf Federation - Revolution ID - Skanska Norge-Arendal - Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games Organising Committee - Toyota Motor Europe - URBN hotels - Urgent Couriers

UNEP promotes environmentally sound practices globally and in its own activities. This publication is printed using 60% sugarcane bre. Recycled content is 15% pre-consumer waste with 25% FSC certi ed mixed source bre, the inks are vegetable based. Our distribution policy aims to reduce UNEP's carbon footprint.

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

7 CLIMATE NEUTRALITY IN ACTION 11 GETTING MOVING ON CLIMATE NEUTRALITY 17 A LOW CARBON DIET 21 BANKING ON CLIMATE NEUTRALITY 25 COOLER PLANET, COOLER CULTURE 29 VIRTUAL CLIMATE NEUTRALITY 35 BUILDING FOR A COOLER CLIMATE 39 HEADLINING CLIMATE NEUTRALITY 43 PLAYING FAIR WITH THE CLIMATE 47 ISLANDS IN THE CLIMATE STORM

Climate neutrality means living in a way which produces no net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This should be achieved by reducing your own GHG emissions as much as possible and using carbon offsets to neutralize the remaining emissions. Kick the Habit: A UN Guide to Climate Neutrality @ Alfred Pasieka/Still Pictures

FOREWORD

Net participants have identified directly with the particular projects they are supporting through their purchases of carbon credits, and see the benefits to communities and biodiversity that can accompany climate change action. Finally, the climate neutrality process shows how your impact can extend well beyond the emissions directly created by the activities of your company, city or organization: suppliers making the materials you use, as well as customers using your products or services—all are part of the wider footprint of your activities. Several of these case studies relate examples where influencing those “upstream” and “downstream” impacts is regarded as even more important than the direct emissions of an entity’s core activities. There is no “one-size-fits-all” approach to being climate neutral. It involves different practices and priorities for different organizations. But the accounts in this volume show that going climate neutral can be an enriching and worthwhile experience, making climate change a real and tangible issue, and a way of translating the political process into real and sustainable action on the ground. I hope that you will enjoy reading these case studies as much as I have, and that they will inspire more companies, organizations, cities and governments to join the Climate Neutral Network and start down the path to climate neutrality as one transformative avenue towards a resource-efficient, twenty-first century Green Economy.

Since its launch in February 2008, the ClimateNeutral Network has attracted a growing number of participants dedicated to reducing and eventually eliminating their negative impact on the climate. They include companies, associations, cities, regions, international bodies and even countries. As governments continue to strive to reach agreement to secure an effective global response to one of the critical challenges of our times—climate change—making available the experience of those taking positive action is especially important. These case studies convey frank and personal testimony surrounding thechallenges, rewardsandoccasional frustrations involved in pushing the boundaries on climate change action. Overwhelmingly, though, the CN Net participants profiled in these case studies have positive experiences to report and share which should inspire many others to commit to climate neutrality. Certain key messages come through. First, measuring emissions and identifying ways of reducing them has often led to substantial savings in the costs incurred by companies and public bodies—it doesn’t cost the Earth to save it! Second, some participants see the process of going climate neutral as a good way of getting ahead of the game—taking action now before regulations direct markets towards a low carbon future.

Achim Steiner UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director

Third, offsetting emissions is not just a matter of paying some extra money to salve your conscience—in many cases CN

Photo: courtesy of Aust-Agder county

The picturesque city of Arendal on Norway’s south coast may have a population of just 40,000, but it is a serious contender for the title of world capital of climate neutrality. Not only has the city itself made a commitment to be climate neutral, it has become the hub of a wide network of businesses, sporting bodies and even music festivals that have all espoused the principles of climate neutrality. NORWAY: CLIMATE NEUTRALITY IN ACTION After becoming a founding participant of the Climate Neutral Network, the Arendal city government completed its first emissions inventory in June 2008. The question—to which we return frequently in this publication—was what to measure?

The Greenhouse Gas Protocol, an internationally recognized system for assessing the climate impact of an organization, defines three “scopes” of emissions. Scope 1 emissions are those produced from direct activities—say, production in the case of a company. Scope 2 emissions are those produced by the electricity purchased by the organization. Both of these types must be included in any inventory following the Protocol. Scope 3 emissions are those for which the organization is indirectly responsible, such as from the travel to work by its employees. Including these is voluntary, so the strict definition of climate neutrality may vary according to what proportion of Scope 3 emissions are included in an organization’s GHG inventory. In the case of Arendal, the city government chose to include in its first inventory, covering 2007, emissions from official travel for employees (Scope 3), in addition to its Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions; more Scope 3 emissions are planned to be included in the future. The total annual emissions for the city government’s own activities were calculated at 7020 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), of which some 90 per cent comes from use of its buildings, and much of the rest from transport. Having calculated its emissions, Arendal has set ambitious targets for reducing its emissions in the future—90 per cent by 2017. Key steps include agreeing with its electricity provider that all energy should have green certificates, and introducing a programme of energy efficiency. The city is cutting its transport emissions by insisting on low-emission small cars in its leasing contract (100gCO 2 /km compared with

It sits in the county of Aust-Agder, which has also declared itself climate neutral, while Norway has pledged to be so by 2030.

So what does that actually mean? Can the world’s third- largest exporter of oil really reach a position where it makes no net contribution to climate change? Arendal itself has been transformed in recent decades, from a port largely based on shipping, forestry and mining, to one dominated by tourism and twenty-first century industries, such as the information technology sector. Among the organizations based here is the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Collaborative Centre, GRID- Arendal, which is responsible for assembling environmental data, known as the Global Resource Information Database. GRID-Arendal is therefore at the vanguard of a process which involves assembling information about humankind’s impact on the climate. In its efforts to be recognized as carbon neutral, Arendal went through the multi-stage process recommended by the flagship document on climate neutrality, a UNEP publication called “Kick the Habit: A UN Guide to Climate Neutrality”. First you measure your emissions; then you reduce them as much as possible; and finally, for the emissions you cannot avoid, you offset them through buying carbon credits that represent genuine reductions in emissions elsewhere.

“If there is a surplus for the city as a CDM investor, this will be transferred back to Mwanza for development purposes under the friendship programme.” Public suspicion about the legitimacy of offsets has hampered the development of climate neutrality in the private sector, according to Per Otto Larsen, of the Norwegian company CO2focus, which advises companies on climate and offsetting issues. “The debate around emission credits and the lack of trust in ensuring the climate effect of using offsets have to some extent delayed many companies in their decision process towards climate neutrality,” says Larsen. “This is counteracted by clear guidelines from national authorities, but there’s still a way to go to persuade public opinion. The first wave of climate neutrality initiatives involved a lot of non-official offsets and ‘voluntary standards’.” Even after it has “neutralized” all of its own emissions, Arendal’s government will have accounted for only around five per cent of the emissions originating from the city. Like many involved in the climate neutrality process, Arendal sees its influence as going well beyond the emissions for which it is directly accountable. So the city government has also set a target for reducing total emissions in Arendal to 25 per cent below 1990 levels by 2025. One way it is hoping to achieve this is through setting up the UN City Climate Partners Network, bringing together local companies with a commitment to conducting an analysis of their climate footprint and making plans to reduce it. Its members include the two counties that make up the region, the three largest cities, and 21 companies. Some 15,000 people work for network employers, generating a combined turnover of around $2.5 billion. Many UN City Climate Partners are also participants of CN Net. “Their main motivation is to develop goods and services for tomorrow’s low emission markets,” says Tveitdal. “They love seeing their business contribute to sustainable development and want to be on the right side of a social development they

the EU requirement of 120), favouring the use of biofuels, and phasing in an electric car pool system.

For the emissions it cannot avoid, Arendal is committed to buying offset credits, or “Certified Emission Reductions”, through the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol—each tonne of CO 2 emitted by the city is matched by a tonne kept out of the atmosphere by a project it has helped to finance in a developing country. With its partner authority, Aust-Agder county, Arendal is helping to develop a CDM project in its “friendship city”, Mwanza in Tanzania. The project involves collecting the methane produced from a waste landfill site, and flaring it—so what goes into the atmosphere is CO 2 , which is less than one-twentieth as damaging as methane in its warming effect (all GHGs are expressed as a common metric—CO 2 equivalent—that reflect their warming potential relative to CO 2 ). Eventually, the hope is to produce energy from the methane as well. If this project is validated through the UN system, the local authorities will have a direct link with the credits they are buying to offset their emissions and complete their claims of carbon neutrality. “Their main motivation is to develop goods and services for tomorrow’s low emission markets.” —Svein Tveitdal, Arendal City Climate Adviser The issue of choosing offsets is a critical one for many involved in the climate neutrality process, as it can affect the credibility of the claims being made by a company or public organization. For Svein Tveitdal, adviser to the Arendal government on achieving climate neutrality, confining offsets to UN-validated carbon credits through the CDM is an important safeguard. “We stick to CDM projects as this is the obvious choice when you are following UN guidelines,” says Tveitdal. “Through buying the credits from Tanzania, Arendal can contribute to the further development of its friendship city, as well as offsetting its CO 2 emissions.”

see coming. We believe these companies and our region will be future economic and political winners.”

Some companies are also looking well beyond the emissions arising from their own operations for opportunities to reduce climate change impacts, even though they are not required to do that to qualify for carbon neutral status. Themajor Norwegian energy supplier, Fjordkraft, for example, has a relatively low climate impact from its own activities, as it uses 100 per cent renewable energy. Fjordkraft’s Arild Soldal says the greatest contribution the company can make is to demand climate neutrality from its suppliers, who are responsible for emissions on a far larger scale. “Climate neutrality was made an absolute demand from2011. If you want to be a supplier for our company, you’ll have to be climate neutral,” says Soldal. As for Norway’s climate neutral ambitions as a country, it is still early days. The government has agreed to invest €600 million each year to purchase carbon offsets, even if they are not required to do so for the country to meet its emissions reduction target under the Kyoto Protocol. Norway has become a leading global player in the carbon trading market, and a champion of funding schemes in the developing world to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. Norway is, for example, the first contributor to the Brazilian Government’s Amazon Fund, pledging up to $1 billion over the next 10 years to schemes helping to combat rainforest destruction and support sustainable livelihoods. The reality of Norway’s carbonneutral commitment still seems rather intangible to many of its citizens—and the impacts of its oil exports will not be included in the commitment. But places like Arendal are showing that once it catches on, climate neutrality can produce networks of committed companies and institutions that, together, make a significant contribution towards reducing the climate footprint well beyond the city’s boundaries.

Photo: courtesy of Aust-Agder county

GETTING MOVING ON CLIMATE NEUTRALITY When your company’s annual emissions are about the same as Croatia’s, moving towards climate neutrality may seem like a tall order. (emissions per shipment, tonne, kilometre or square metre) by 30 per cent by 2020.

This is especially challenging as it includes Scope 3 emissions— those outside the company’s direct control. In Deutsche Post DHL’s case this accounts for the great bulk of its emissions— more than 25 million tonnes, largely from subcontracted transport companies. To achieve its target, a wide-ranging programme is being introduced across the company’s operations, spanning the use of moreefficient trailersandaircraft, newlogistics technologies tocut down on truck-miles, and specialist services and products to help customers and contractors to reduce their own CO 2 footprint. Among these original initiatives is the use of the first modern ocean-going cargo vessel to be powered partly by wind—the MS Beluga SkySails. SteffenFrankenberg, VicePresident of theGoGreenprogramme at Deutsche Post DHL, says, “Our customers are asking more and more for green solutions. Currently we are running efficiency analysis projects for the supply chains of some of our top customers.” In addition to joint consulting and efficiency projects, Deutsche Post DHL already offers the carbon neutral shipping service, GoGreen, to its customers. If a customer chooses to send their letter, parcel or express shipment “green”, the company calculates the transport-related CO 2 emissions and offsets themwith investments in international CDMclimate protection projects. Another delivery company, on a more modest scale but still a significant player in its own area, is making carbon neutrality a high-profile selling point for its services. “We believe in the opportunities of a low carbon economy— for us and for our customers.”

But Deutsche Post DHL—the world’s leading mail and logistics services group—is among a number of key players in the transport sector to have joined the Climate Neutral Network. Transport accounts for about one-fifth of global carbon dioxide emissions, and that proportion is projected to rise steadily as car sales soar in developing countries, and aviation continues its relentless expansion. The International Energy Agency forecasts that transport emissions will rise by 80 per cent between now and 2030. Yet transport has barely been touched by the international mechanisms designed to tackle climate change. Of more than 1800 projects earning carbon credits under the UN Clean DevelopmentMechanism(CDM),justtwoaretransport-related. Two crucial parts of the sector—international aviation and shipping—are entirely excluded from the targets of the Kyoto Protocol, because no single country is deemed responsible for their emissions. So the involvement of major transport companies in voluntary initiatives to calculate, minimize and offset their emissions is crucially important. Deutsche Post DHL’s global footprint in 2008 is estimated at 32 million tonnes of CO 2 emissions, the equivalent of the emissions of a small country. Through its extensive network and infrastructure, it touches approximately five per cent of total global trade volume, employing around 500,000 people, and using 120,000 vehicles and 319 aeroplanes.

So what is the company doing about its substantial footprint?

Deutsche Post DHL’s “GoGreen” programme, launched in 2008, has the central goal of improving the company’s CO 2 efficiency

private sector to work together on challenges such as reducing traffic congestion and improving driving methods, motivating the switch to low carbon fuels, and efficiently utilizing transport resources,” says Salama. A carbon neutral motorway may sound like a contradiction. But one participant of CN Net, Autostrada Eksploatacja, is applying the principle to its maintenance and safety operations on a stretch of the A2 toll road between Konin and Września in Poland. With the bulk of its emissions coming from electricity use and its maintenance vehicles (it does not, of course, count the vehicles using the motorway), the company is looking for savings such as using more efficient road lighting, although the global financial crisis caused this investment to be put on hold. Autostrada Eksploatacja’s carbon neutral strategy is based on the responsibility being taken by the company to care for trees and other plants lining themotorway, which it estimates absorb more carbon dioxide than the total emissions of the company. Autostrada Eksploatacja’s Jacek Dymowski says that for a company like this, which is heavily dependent on the use of electricity, the level of emissions is largely beyond its control. “Unfortunately, more than 90 per cent of electricity in Poland comes from coal burning. There is no opportunity to buy any ‘greener’ energy for us; we are not able to change the macroeconomic aspects of our economy. So we have to buy this ‘dirty’ energy.” A similar dilemma faces the European rail industry. Even though railways are widely seen as the greenest form of transport, their actual emissions are largely dependent on the source of the electricity which powers them, and this varies greatly according to the country in which they operate. Even so, the International Union of Railways (UIC)— incorporating leading companies such as Deutsche Bahn, Eurostar and Danish Railways—has become a participant of CN Net. Among its commitments is a 30 per cent reduction in railway emissions by 2020, compared with 1990 levels.

Urgent Couriers of Auckland, NewZealand, is also concentrating on reducing the amount of CO 2 emitted per dollar earned, and in the past two years its “carbon intensity” has fallen from 168 grams per dollar (g/$) of sales to 151 g/$. This has largely been achieved by increasing the proportion of low-emission vehicles in its fleet from 25 to 60 per cent. “Urgent Couriers has gained a number of clients because of its climate neutral position. We have also significantly increased our brand profile by highlighting our climate neutrality,” says Urgent Couriers’ Steve Bonnici. Tomeet the climate neutral criteria, the company agrees to buy offsets approved by a New Zealand certification system known as the carboNZero programme. But Bonnici says this does not mean that the company stops looking for further emission cuts. “Once you make the commitment to pay for your unavoidable emissions you become very focused on reduction,” he says. “Once you make the commitment to payforyourunavoidableemissionsyou become very focused on reduction.” —Steve Bonnici, Urgent Couriers With road transport accounting for the bulk of emissions in the sector, leading car manufacturer Toyota Motor Europe was among the first to come on board CN Net. In addition to being a well known pioneer of hybrid cars, Toyota’s European operations are aiming at climate neutrality through measures such as avoiding energy waste, use of renewable power, and offsetting travel for business meetings. The company is also investigating the possibility of using carbon capture and storage as the final step towards carbon neutrality. Toyota Motor Europe’s Alaa Salama says that the greatest contribution a company like his can make is in developing technologies to make vehicles more fuel-efficient, but a much wider effort is needed if emissions from the sector are going to fall substantially.

“In addition to efforts made by vehicle manufacturers to improve fuel efficiency, it is important for governments and the

Photo: courtesy of H2 Logic / Climate Consortium Denmark

Probably even less likely than a carbon neutral motorway is a carbon neutral airline—but CN Net counts among its participants a number of airlines that are committed to carbon neutrality. One of these, Nature Air—a regional airline based in Costa Rica specializing in ecotourism—offsets all of its emissions through the protection of tropical forests in the country. Since 2004, it has been using Costa Rica’s Environmental Services Payment Programme to protect more than 150 hectares of primary forest in an ecological corridor in the south of the country. The airline’s commercial director, Alexi Huntley Khajavi, says, “We are not simply planting trees in a park, we are protecting some of the last tropical forests in a biologically imperative area of the world. So our efforts of climate neutrality are more than just mitigating our footprint.” The aviation industry as a whole is increasingly looking at slashing its carbon footprint. The International Air Transport Association (IATA), which represents all major passenger and cargo airlines in theworld, has recently pledged carbon neutral growth from2020, and to halve emissions by 2050 from 2005 levels. The industry is also pushing for aviation to be included in the future climate regime so that its emissions are better accounted for, priced and managed. NatureAir is also looking formaximumemissions savingswithin its own operations. Khajavi says the key is to balance good business practices with an enlightened environmental approach. “The goal is to be a good company offering quality products at competitive prices. A bad climate neutral airline does not do the world any good.” “That being said, a good airline that is doing positive things environmentally and socially has a lot of leverage to do more good and be more profitable.” “To other transport companies, we say get on the bus or get run over; sustainability and climate change and emissions reductions are not going away.”

One of the key initiatives of the UIC’s climate programme is the development of the website www.ecopassenger.org, which allows travellers to compare the emissions associated with a journey to any European destination using road, rail or air transport. Surprisingly, the analysis does not always come down in favour of the train. “It was so honest that it was not very popular with some of our marketing managers,” admits UIC’s Margrethe Sagevik. For example, the website calculates that a trip from Berlin to Warsaw emits 56 kg of CO 2 per passenger by train, and 96 kg by car with single occupancy. But two people travelling in the car emit less CO 2 than rail, at 48 kg per passenger. Of course the comparison will vary greatly according to where the journey takes place, and what type of car engine is being used. Sagevik argues that it was important to make the comparison as fair as possible, including an assessment of the full life-cycle of the fuel used, from “well to wheel”, even if this analysis does not always make her industry look very green. “With this tool, we would like, in addition to contributing to informed transport choices, to create awareness around the challenges connectedwithmeasuring the energy andemissions performance of transport modes,” says Sagevik. “In principle, the dependency of the emissions performance of electric trains on the energy that is being fed into them also means that when renewable energy is available, electric trains provide a mass public transport system that release zero net emissions.” In fact, one of UIC’s member companies, Deutsche Bahn (DB), is already offering emissions-free travel on its network. For a small surcharge, corporate clients can guarantee that the power for their journey comes from 100 per cent renewable sources. DB undertakes to replace all of the non-renewable energy used on business trips with power from an “eco pool” it has set up, using clean forms of generation in Germany.

A LOW CARBON DIET Every food or drink item we put into our supermarket trolley, or order in a café, has a hidden story of GHG emissions behind it. From the carbon released through tilling soil and converting forests to crops and pasture, to emissions from fertilizers used to grow the ingredients, the fuel used by farm machinery, the transport emissions to get the product to the shelf, and the energy required to make the packaging—all of these form part of the climate footprint of consumers as we make everyday choices about what we eat and drink. The world’s total agricultural production is estimated to account for around 13 per cent of global GHG emissions covered by the Kyoto Protocol. Accounting for the true climate impacts of food and drink is especially challenging, as these products often involve very long and complex chains of production and distribution. But some companies in this sector have embraced the climate neutral concept, and find that it can help cut costs as well as motivate staff and customers alike. In the case of Dole Fresh Fruit International, the decision to move towards climate neutral production of pineapples and bananas in Costa Rica formed part of the country’s stated ambition of becoming climate neutral by 2021. As one of the world’s leading exporters of these fruits to the United States and Europe, Dole sees great potential for minimizing the significant emissions involved in getting its products to market. The first stage, as with all companies seeking carbon neutrality, is to work out the scope or boundaries of the emissions to be measured, and to calculate the current footprint. Dole’s inventory, completed in 2009, included the emissions associated with agricultural production, and with transport of the fruit, both by land and by sea. The company’s strategy to reduce emissions includes looking at some innovative solutions. For example, research is under way on the use of live leguminous trees instead of concrete posts to prop up banana plants. As well as eliminating the

emissions associated with making the concrete, the trees themselves capture carbon and add nitrogen to the soil.

Other measures include controlled-release fertilizers to cut down on emissions of nitrous oxide (the third most significant greenhouse gas after CO 2 and methane), training of machine operators to minimize fuel use, and various initiatives to save on transport emissions. To offset the emissions involved in transporting its fruit to Costa Rica’s ports, Dole contributes to the country’s Environmental Services Payment Programme, providing incentives to small farmers in the country to reforest and look after the trees. Dole’s director of environment and food safety, Rudy Amador, says the process of looking at the company’s climate footprint has already brought tangible benefits, such as fuel savings amounting to a cut of 1000 tonnes of CO 2 emissions each year, and savings to employees on their own fuel bills through training on efficient vehicle use. “You don’t need to measure every last emission to take action,” says Amador. “While analysing your business from the climate change perspective, opportunities for improvements are identified that can be implemented right away or in the near term.” Cost savings through carbon neutrality are also being discovered by a food company working in a very different environment—Norway’s leading coffee roasting company, Kaffehuset Friele. The biggest step being taken by the company is to switch its roaster from fuel oil to gas, which is estimated to save about 500 tonnes of CO 2 per year. To account for the company’s remaining emissions, Kaffehuset Friele is investing in two carbon reduction projects in coffee growing countries: a small hydro scheme in Brazil certified by the UN Clean Development Mechanism, and a project in Kenya to make biodiesel from jatropha plants—a scheme attracting Gold Standard certification.

carboNZero programme. Antipodes Water has carved out two wetlands and reforested an area with 2000 native kahikatea trees on the site of its bottling plant—the company argues that this makes its products carbon positive. “We look at every new market we enter from a carbon emissions point of view before we commit to a distribution agreement,” says Railton. “We discuss our goals with the distributor candidly, which helps us form long-term relationships built on a strong environmental belief system. It is also a great instrument for change internally: with every new idea, someone always asks: ‘And what is the carbon footprint impact of this?’” Railton’s advice to other companies considering a pledge of carbon neutrality: “It shouldn’t be undertaken lightly. Understand it, believe in it—if you are looking for a quick fix marketing gimmick this isn’t it. Becoming a carbon neutral company should force you to turn your company inside out and make you look at all the pieces differently.” If water can be carbon neutral, then why not wine? The New ZealandWine Company—which grows grapes, and makes and bottles wine, in the Marlborough region—has been carbon neutral for four successive growing periods. After calculating and minimizing emissions from all stages of the production process, the company also offsets the remainder through the carboNZero programme—in this case through a wind farm in New Zealand. Craig Fowles, of the New Zealand Wine Company, says one of the biggest challenges of calculating emissions in this industry is the variation of the seasons—the weather conditions will dictate needs such as irrigation, frost protection and weed control, which in turn have a significant impact on the company’s energy use. Nevertheless, Fowles argues that the process of mapping out the company’s footprint helps to identify areas where efficiency can be improved. “This not only improves the company’s footprint but can highlight areas in which to save financially also.” “In a world requiring further and further transparency into the full life-cycle of products, this information is going to be required by regulation and not voluntarily—so why not get involved now whilst you are one of only a few?”

Kaffehuset Friele’s Olav Munch says it has been important for the company to select offset projects with which it has a direct connection, rather than simply buying credits “off the shelf”. “We realize that as a corporationwe impact local communities in developing countries, and much of the CO 2 emissions that are created in the production process of our coffee affects them as well. We therefore consider it our responsibility to invest in clean energy projects in the regions where our trade is set,” says Munch. emissions is rather intangible. Who can really picture how much 500 tonnes of CO 2 is? Having something to invest in that we can relate to, with the same quantity, makes it all seem a little bit more tangible.” Even so, says Munch, it hasn’t been easy to communicate the company’s efforts to its employees and customers. “There has been a lot of bad press about companies falsely advertising climate neutrality, so we’ve often felt like we’re met with more resistance than approval by the public when we announced our carbon neutrality. It would be nice if there was a consensus about the requirements to make the claim that you are carbon neutral.” Andrew Railton, of New Zealand’s Antipodes Water—another CN Net participant—agrees: “The biggest challenge is getting people to see carbon footprinting as more than a marketing ploy. Everyone is sceptical the minute you mention carbon emissions, and a lot of time is spent explaining the process to new team members and distributors. However, once they are on board and see the processes in action, they are converted.” Antipodes Water offers carbon neutral bottled water, drawn from a deep aquifer. The company has explored every opportunity to reduce its footprint, for example using recycled glass instead of plastic for its bottles, locating staff in its main distribution regions to minimize the need for business travel, sending its bottles via rail freight, and installing solar panelling for heating. “Also, the measurement of CO 2

The company offsets all unavoidable emissions using projects approved by New Zealand’s Landcare Research through its

Photo: courtesy of Kaffehuset Friele

Photo: Courtesy of Deutsche Bank

BANKING ON CLIMATE NEUTRALITY Banking may not be the most carbon-intensive sector in terms of its direct operations. However, through their lending decisions, policies and investment choices, financial institutions can have enormous influence on the scale of emissions in other sectors.

As for the lessons learned so far from the climate neutrality process, Deutsche Bank says that it is important for the policy to have strong support, both from the senior management and the workforce of the organization. Deutsche Bank’s climate neutral strategy goes beyond reducing its own footprint and offsetting its emissions with Gold Standard CDM projects. It has set itself up as a “climate ambassador”, taking the message of climate neutrality to its customers, shareholders and the general public. Opportunities to influence behaviour more widely include financing innovative climate-friendly projects, and developing investment products specifically aimed at sustainable activities. Finally, the bank takes part in the Carbon Disclosure Project, an initiative bringing together more than 2000 organizations from 66 countries to measure and publish their emissions and strategies to reduce them—information increasingly important in the world of ethical investment funds. In the words of Lord Adair Turner, chairman of Britain’s Financial Services Authority, speaking about the importance of the Carbon Disclosure Project: “The first step towards managing carbon emissions is to measure them, because in business what gets measured gets managed.” In September 2009, the Nedbank Group became the first large corporate institution in South Africa to make the commitment to go carbon neutral. The bank already measures emissions across its 13 head office and regional office buildings. Between 2007 and 2008 it achieved emissions reductions of seven per cent per full-time employee, and by eight per cent per square metre of floor space. With current emissions measured at 131,000 tonnes of CO 2 , the bank’s carbon neutral programme will look first at how the footprint of its buildings can be reduced further.

The banks that have joined the Climate Neutral Network combine commitments to reduce and offset their own emissions, with various forms of engagement with customers aimed at reducing their climate impacts. CN Net participant, Deutsche Bank, calculated its emissions at 460,000 tonnes of CO 2 for the baseline year of 2007. It committed to reduce its footprint by 20 per cent for each successive year, so that from 2013 the bank plans to be climate neutral. Among the measures it has taken towards that goal is the conversion of its headquarters in Frankfurt to the most eco-friendly high-rise building in Europe, described as the “Greentowers” project. Thanks to innovative and state-of- the-art technology, the building has cut its CO 2 emissions by 89 per cent, its heating energy requirements by 67 per cent, water consumption by 74 per cent, and electricity consumption by 55 per cent. Putting a climate strategy into action across a large international corporation like Deutsche Bank is a complex process that demands a lot of energy and communication. Reducing its carbon footprint involves finding technical solutions, buying renewable energies, and engaging staff and stakeholders. As in other sectors, looking for ways of reducing emissions has produced cost savings for the bank, for example the greater use of video conferencing instead of undertaking expensive business trips. Achieving higher sustainability ratings in the various indices ranking ethical investments can also bring new business opportunities.

Nedbank’s chief executive, Tom Boardman, says that achieving carbon neutrality will only be possible with the full buy-in of all stakeholders, and most importantly the 29,000- strong workforce. “Central to Nedbank’s sustainability goals is a focus on educating and informing staff, clients and suppliers in respect of social and environmental initiatives, and empowering them to reduce their carbon footprints at home and in the workplace,” he says. As part of its offsetting programme, the bank will be supporting a project to protect African tropical rainforests. Boardman chairs the Africa Task Force of the Prince’s Rainforest Project, which brings together government leaders, NGOs and investors to discuss African solutions to the deforestation issue. “Although the rainforests might feel very far away from South Africa, their destruction through slash-and-burn agriculture and commercial logging will have adverse effects on the life of every person who calls Africa home,” says Boardman. Some banks have gone even further in taking the principles of climate responsibility into their investment and financial services activities. The Co-operative Financial Services group (CFS) in the United Kingdom has a long tradition of basing its business activities on ethical principles—since 1998 it has had a policy of not investing in any company whose core business contributes to global climate change through extraction or production of fossil fuels.

In 2007 alone, four financing opportunities were turned down on these grounds, with an estimated sacrifice of £188,000 (approximately $300,000) in projected income. CFS has joined CN Net with a commitment to go “beyond climate neutral” by adding an extra 10 per cent to its offsetting requirements to account for past emissions. Amongst the products CFS has offered its customers is the Think Card—a credit card which offers a lower rate of interest for ethical purchases. The first time the customer uses the card, the bank arranges for half an acre of Brazilian rainforest to be protected in the customer’s name, and a donation of 25 pence towards rainforest protection is made for each £100 spent on the card. “The first step towards managing carbon emissions is to measure them, because in business what gets measured gets managed.” —Lord Adair Turner, Chairman, Britain’s Financial Services Authority

The benefit to the environment goes beyond the financial uses of the card—it is made of a plastic called PETG, which does not include the toxic vinyl chloride used to make conventional PVC cards, so that these cards can eventually be disposed of safely.

Photo: Courtesy of Google.com

COOLER PLANET, COOLER CULTURE Music festivals, rock concerts and other events have the power to inspire huge audiences towards taking positive action in the fight against climate change. At the same time, those events themselves can leave a considerable carbon footprint, as they often involve flying artists to the venue, powering high-voltage lighting and visual effects, and dealing with the food, drink and waste needs of thousands of fans.

transportation, energy use, waste creation, and water usage,” says Geanuracos. “Full carbon neutrality is a difficult concept to achieve, as the purchasing impacts of events are profound, and until every product used comes with its own impact assessment, it will still be difficult to understand and account for the full carbon impact of purchased goods,” she adds. But Geanuracos says the real impact of events like Live Earth must also be measured in the positive effect they can have on the subsequent behaviour of their audiences: “We’ve seen repeatedly that participating in Live Earth events has inspired people to change their lives at home, work and school, to be more sustainable. In particular, we’ve heard from our audience that they’ve made changes in their transportation habits, buying habits, and recycling behaviour after participating in our events.” “We’ve heard from our audience that they’ve made changes in their trans- portation habits, buying habits, and recycling behaviour after participat- ing in our events.” —Catherine Geanuracos, General Manager, Live Earth The ability to inspire audiences to make long-term changes is at the heart of the rapidly growing Greenfest event in Brisbane, Australia. Originally inspired by the Live Earth concerts of 2007, it is a three-day festival of music and a showcase for practical measures for greater sustainability—the June 2009 event attracted 60,000 people. According to Greenfest’s founder Colman Ridge, “The purpose of Greenfest is to promote a ‘Cooler Planet Culture’. Carbon neutrality is expected of us. Our ability to network our 200 plus exhibitors and a broader network to help each other and others reduce their footprint has become a year-round opportunity for us to assist acceleration of the lower carbon economy.”

So a growing number of cultural events are embracing the climate neutral concept. It may be an easy slogan to describe your event as climate neutral, but it presents tough choices about where to “draw the line” around your own impacts, and how far to go with really greening the event itself, rather than relying on offsets to compensate for an energy-intensive spectacle. Live Earth, one of the original “green” music events, is a participant of the Climate Neutral Network. The organization has continued to stage events and advise others, following on from the worldwide series of synchronized concerts in July 2007. That event, inspired by former US Vice-President Al Gore and music producer Kevin Wall, involved concerts in 11 locations on all seven continents, and was broadcast in 132 countries, making it the most watched online entertainment event ever. Since action against climate change was the rationale for the event itself, clearly the exercise of climate neutrality has been an important priority for Live Earth. It has produced a set of Green Event Guidelines that provide a practical guide to minimizing and offsetting climate impacts for other event organizers, and these have been updated to include athletic events as well as concerts. Live Earth’s general manager, Catherine Geanuracos, says a key challenge is to work out where the boundaries are drawn around the impact of the event itself, to avoid making claims that cannot be substantiated. “Carbon neutrality can only be implemented in those areas where the event has direct impact, such as audience and artist

Ridge’s advice to other events considering climate neutrality is to avoid building up the production levels to beyond that which audiences really want, and making up for it afterwards by buying more offsets. “Walk the talk by having the best staging and sound, but keephighenergy consumption lightingandeffects down toaminimum, and work with innovations to curb the rest, such as LED lighting. Your music festival is an opportunity to demonstrate the change in audience expectations and preferences— bring simple quality and content to life and you will have an outstanding success.” On the offsets themselves, Greenfest chose an initiative run by the Queensland state government called Ecofund, which aims to regenerate habitats bordering national parks, expanding wilderness areas and creating biodiversity corridors. For Ridge, this link with broader environmental objectives is what Greenfest’s audiences want to see from the offsets they are helping to support. “Winning the race against climate change will be a hollow victory if we arrive without rich biodiversity and real wilderness on Earth. Let’s not lose sight of conservation priorities for biodiversity in pursuit of carbon neutrality—let’s leverage the race against climate change to fund conservation. This approach will be respected and preferred by your customers, and you can point to specific and meaningful outcomes from your care for a carbon neutral Earth,” says Ridge. Several other festival events have joinedCNNet, among themtheHove Festival, which, since 2007, has been staging an annual five-day music event in natural surroundings on an island off Arendal, Norway. With environmental responsibility a key theme of the festival, a number of initiatives to reduce the carbon footprint of the event have been introduced, including a make-up table using 21 LED light bulbs, which together use the equivalent energy of one conventional 60-watt bulb. The power for the lighting comes from a battery charged by a solar cell and wind turbine. Festival-goers can even charge their mobile phones by cycling! The Hove Festival’s Karen Landmark also warns against being too ambitious in trying to measure all emissions connected with the event. “The biggest challenge is where you draw the line,” says Landmark. “In a way it is close to impossible for a festival to measure all emissions, in particular when it comes to the audiences. In 2008 we tried to measure how the audience travelled to and from the festival, but it was difficult to measure that accurately. In 2009, we claimed only to be climate neutral in terms of the event itself, the organization and the artists.” Hove Festival sees communication as an important part of the impact of such events. “It is a unique opportunity to reach out to people with important messages. We also believe in the artists as role models, and we work hard on getting the artists to engage in our environmental work, and to engage with the audience on these issues.”

Photo: Courtesy Google.com

VIRTUAL CLIMATE NEUTRALITY The information and communications technology (ICT) sector contributes approximately two per cent of the world’s GHG emissions. However, the use of computers to control and organize every aspect of our lives and economies gives this sector a significant influence over the remaining 98 per cent.

estimated to be produced from “upstream” and “downstream” sources—upstream being emissions frommaking and shipping components, and downstream being the electricity used in the running of Dell’s computers and servers worldwide. Emissions from each of these sources are estimated at five million tonnes annually (10 million tonnes in total). Dell is committed to reducing its direct and business travel emissions as much as possible, while offsetting the rest. Since around 80 per cent of these emissions are from electricity, this is where the company will focus its efforts in striving towards carbon neutrality. After exhausting the maximum efficiency improvements, Dell undertakes to account for all of its electricity use through purchase of renewable energy. As far as possible this is done through negotiation with the utilities that supply the power itself—in the United States Dell is able to source 36 per cent of its power from renewable generation technologies, and 26 per cent worldwide—well above the average availability for renewable power.

Dell, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of computers and computer-related products, has made the decision to go climate neutral. But as its own analysis shows [see graphic], even offsetting every tonne of CO 2 required by the agreed protocol for carbon neutrality accounts for a relatively small portion of the emissions associated with its business. Dell counts within its GHG inventory the direct emissions from its own factories and facilities worldwide, plus those from business travel. Together, they amounted to about 470,000 tonnes of CO 2 between 2008 and 2009. These emissions were, however, just a small fraction of the emissions which Dell judges to be linked with its own business and products. About 20 times the company’s own emissions are

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