Walking the Talk: Hosting our first “Carbon Neutral” Workshop in India

Sabareesh Suresh

The Climate Resilience Practice of?World Resources Institute?in partnership with the Environmental Planning & Coordination Organisation (EPCO), Government of Madhya Pradesh and support from the?German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection?organized a district-level workshop in Narmadapuram, Madhya Pradesh, aimed at enhancing the capacity of the state in climate-proofing district development and help them mitigate climate impacts through low carbon intensive strategies and embedding long term resilience-building practices. The one-day workshop was envisioned as a forum for the district officials, domestic experts, partners and state officials to exchange experiences, ideas and best practices. It was also an opportunity for all the stakeholders to interact with each other and understand the need for and importance of climate-sensitive development.

In this spirit of collaboration, stakeholders engaged in a form of “democratized climate action” and worked with WRI to help the event achieve its carbon neutral goal. In this piece, we share our learnings from the process of hosting this event and hope that it can be your own guide to hosting a carbon neutral event that serves people as well as the planet.

Hosting a Carbon Neutral Event in 3 Steps

Step 01- Identifying Emissions

The first step for creating a carbon neutral event is to identify all greenhouse gas emissions associated with the event. These can include transportation, energy consumption, resource and paper use, and waste production. Once these sources have been identified, they can be measured, and steps can be taken to reduce or eliminate their impact. To carry out this exercise we worked with Climes — ?a climate tech startup that helps businesses attain carbon neutrality targets — to calculate the event’s total carbon footprint.

Step 02 – Reduce non-essential emissions

We decided to reduce non-essential emissions and offset the remaining unavoidable greenhouse gases (GHGs) to balance out emissions resulting from the workshop. Emissions can be reduced through a variety of measures, such as:

• Requesting organic, locally produced food and beverages to cut transportation emissions.
• Considering vegetarian options for the meals being offered.
• Reducing waste production by eliminating disposable items such as plastic cups, plates, etc.
• Avoiding prints by opting for electronic promotion for the event.
• Encouraging carpooling of participants to the event to reduce transportation emissions.
• Reducing energy use by minimizing the use of electric lights, water, and air conditioning.
• Considering the use of sustainable items as mementos - potted plants, reusable bags, etc.
• Opting for pitchers of water and juice rather than bottles or cans, and request for condiments to be provided in bulk dispensers rather than individual packets (ketchup, salt, pepper, sugar, butter, milk, cream).

Step 03 – Offsetting unavoidable GHGs

During the event, we presented the district officials and other stakeholders with Climes coupons featuring scannable QR codes and debriefed them on the process behind neutralization. For every coupon/credit that is bought, Climes neutralizes 1 kg of CO2e. The coupon allows the participants to choose from a list of six impactful carbon neutralization projects to support. These projects not only neutralize carbon emissions on their behalf but also support the livelihoods of local communities. ?More about the projects can be found here.

Upon allocating credits via the coupons to their chosen projects Attendees received a ‘shareable digital card’. The card enabled attendees to share their experience of supporting climate action with WRI India on social media platforms. They were also given certificates for their participation in this first-of-its-kind, carbon neutral event.

Live updates of the project choices of attendees were displayed on a screen at regular intervals during the event. Delegates were able to see which projects their peers were choosing and were motivated to participate in the group activity.

By gamifying the experience and displaying a live tracker of the attendees' choices, we were able to finally neutralize 4,320 Kg of CO2 emissions emerging primarily from non-negotiable sources like participant travel, food, electricity, and goods and services procurement.

Views shared by the author are personal.

All photos are by Sabareesh Suresh/WRI India