Make Conferences Virtual
The carbon footprint of virtual conferences can be greatly reduced. For example, the 2019 Conference of European Astronomical Society with 1200 participants produced 1855 tonnes CO2e. By moving online this year, their 2020 conference with 1700 participants only contributed 582 kg CO2e.
Virtual conferences not only significantly decrease a conference’s carbon emissions and help organizations reach their sustainability goals, it provides a wealth of other benefits. An online congress can increase accessibility. The American Chemical Society was able to make their 2020 Green Chemistry Conference completely free of charge. Free conference admission and no travel costs allowed attendees with any level of funding to attend. This stretches research dollars and equalizes the playing field. Not to mention, no more bureaucracy and discrimination from the visa application process.
I’ve been chatting to researchers who have been able to speak at up to five virtual conferences this month. Researchers are able to spread their reach further than it was ever possible before without the huge time commitment and sacrifice of their family lives. A virtual conference also allows additional flexibility. Attendees can drop in on topics of interest and have the opportunity to replay talks afterwards.
Another aspect is the risk of spreading diseases and harming local ecosystems when hundreds or thousands of scientists from different places around the world meet in a conference hall.
Comparison of carbon footprints between in-person and video conferences was done by Dennis Ong et al. (2014).
Calculation of the carbon footprint of the European Geoscience Union’s 2019 General Assembly was done by Klöwer (2019).
Petition for more sustainable and diverse scientific conferences
Due to the incisive travel restrictions in 2020 and 2021 many scientific conferences where held virtual
for the first time in their history. This was a big step towards sustainability and diversity in science as discussed in the previous section. Unfortunately, many conference organizers are falling back into old habits which was the reason why groups of scientists started petitions and pledges, e.g.
You can support those initiatives by signing and/or sharing their petitions.
Moreover, if you know of conferences where virtual participation options are not offered, you can contact GreenerAcademia via Twitter or email, greeneracademia@posteo.net, and ask them to address the corresponding conference organizers with their petition.
Decentralized Conferences
You can split conferences up into multiple satellite sites. It’s blend between normal in-person conferences and virtual conferences.
People travel to their closest hub and some sessions will be held in person, and others through teleconferencing
Poster sessions and networking can still be done in person.
A great example of this is the 15th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition and 10th triennial conference of the European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music. You can read more about it here.
In short, it was a multi-location, semi-virtual academic conference held in 4 locations: Argentina, Canada, Australia and Austria. At each hub, there was a parallel live and virtual presentation to choose from. All presentations were recorded and made available to all the participants together.
This allowed 1. lowering of carbon emissions, 2. decrease of costs, and 3. for a digital documentation of conferences.
They wrote two papers on their ethical considerations and logistics.
Other examples: P&G Process Conference 2020
Take Back conferences
This is where you send a few people from your institute to the conference, and using resources from the conference organizers, the attendees arrange a mini-conference for their peers when they return.
Optimize the Conference Locations
Although exotic locations can be very enticing for attendees, choosing the right location to minimize travel will decrease carbon emissions. Read a paper on this by Stroud et al. (2014).
Take the Lowest Carbon Route
When deciding between conference locations, make sure you choose one that is easily reachable by public transit. If it’s not possible, arrange a shared shuttle from the nearest bus/train/metro station. Also, make sure your conference start and end times are conducive for public transit. Try to end before the last bus out. Sometimes, there can even be group rates or discounts for buying public transit tickets in bulk. Arranging to make public transit tickets an option of the event purchase package is a great way to encourage use.
Encourage all researchers to take the lowest carbon route to destinations. Taking the train instead of taking a flight and taking public transit instead of a taxi is more environmentally friendly. Give them guides on how to reach the location via walking, bike, bus, train, etc.
Also, facilitate car sharing. Start a simple excel sheet to help divers fill their cars.
Atmosfair has a comparison of airlines and their carbon footprints.
Use this calculator to estimate your travel carbon footprint. The developer Didier Barret (2020) wrote a paper using it.
Another calculator for travel carbon footprint on business trips.
Catering
Look for locavore catering. Buy meals from the regional and in season.
Often vegetarian is more environmentally friendly. However, foods like cheese can have a greater environmental footprint that chicken. Make sure your food is delicious and nutritious. The most important thing is that your attendees are well-fed and energized for the conference. Always provide vegetarian and vegan options, but don’t let minimizing meat be the reason your attendees aren’t satiated.
If the tap water is safe, recommend drinking it and offer reusuable carafes, bottles and glasses. Filtering devices are discouraged. Add a slice of lemon or lime to freshen the taste.
For more elevated drinks, tap water can be carbonated and syrups can be added. This has the bonus of attendees being able to control their sweetness level and sugar intake.
Arrange of left-over food to go to food banks or allowed participants to take it home. If held at an institute have a system, like a food cam or email notification, to allow others to come eat it.
Organic and Fairtrade often comes with sustainability requirements.
Resources
Heading 1
Heading 2
Heading 3
This article is a stub. You can help by expanding it. Get Involved!