Our footprint at the UN climate conference

By: Natalia Viana Rodrigues on December 16th, 2008

After the departure of the last delegations from Poland, where they attended the UN Conference on Climate Change, it is time to give a thought to what the event has left behind in the city of Poznan.

After all, an event of such magnitude has huge impact on the environment.

Coal-fuelled energy was necessary to keep several buildings at the conference lit at all times with their large corridors fully heated. The water supply was equally large to provide for dozens of toilets, sinks and kitchens at the conference centre.

Apart from that, tonnes of garbage were produced – from package for ready-to-go meals to piles and piles of paper being handed out with printed manifestos, speeches, documents and resolutions.

“We know that a big even like this has impacts,” says the head of the Polish delegation, Mr Janusz Zaleski.

Taking only carbon emissions, the main impact came from aviation. After all, participants had to fly from different corners of the world to attend the COP. That counted for about 17,000 tons of CO2 emitted, says Mr Zaleski, according to data provided by the aviation industry.

That is more than three times the yearly carbon emissions from Tuvalu, the South Pacific island nation that asked for the right to exist at the opening of the conference – its 11,000 population are threatened by rising sea levels due to climate change.

Another impact calculated by the Polish organizers was the carbon footprint of 15 days use of the conference centre. Mr Zaleski calculates that 1,400 thousand tonnes of CO2 were emitted during the 15 days of the COP. On top of that, the Polish delegation calculated the environmental cost for all the participant to stay in hotels in the city of Poznan or in places nearby: 2,716 tons of CO2.

Finally, they calculated the cost of transportation within the city of Poznan, about 127 tonnes of CO2. “We had green buses lent by Germany for the event, so we could keep the emissions lower,” says Kakub Siewko, from the logistics team of the country’s Environment Ministry. This figure does not take into account all the taxis taken by participants who would not ride the low-carbon emission buses.

Adding all those numbers, the official carbon footprint of the 2008 Climate Change Conference was 21,711 tons of CO2. “These figures are calculated according to the UNFCCC methodology,” explains Mr Zaleski. “They are necessary for us to organize offsetting programmes.”

Kakub Siewko says the Polish delegation believes the final figure can even be less than that since some delegations decided to offset their emissions themselves, or even reduce their emissions by taking a train. “I know some people at the German delegation did that, the Belgium delegation as well and some French,” he says.

However, there are reasons to believe that the real impacts are actually much bigger. Apart from the fact that only carbon emissions are taken into account (other types of pollution are not), these figures consider only the 8,000 people registered at the beginning of December.

The real figure will probably be higher by at least one thousand people. But the final number of participants won’t be known for some weeks, when the UNFCCC releases it. That’s when the total amount of garbage will also be estimated.

On top of that, some costs are hard to calculate. It would be impossible for instance to include the carbon footprint of all the meat that was consumed or the many booklets, tokens and gifts given away by each of the organizations present in the event.

Mr Zaleski says when the figures are released the Polish government will set to work on the offsetting programmes. The CO2 emitted from aviation will be discounted from carbon allowances currently available to Poland under the Kyoto Protocol. Mr Zaleski guarantees that some money correspondent to these allowances will also be donated to the Adaptation Fund.

As for the emissions made in Poznan, they will be included in offsetting programmes within the country. The Environment Ministry is to buy and donate 10,000 energy saving bulbs to the population of Poznan. It will also invest in afforestation programmes, planting trees that will after some years be able to absorb carbon. Mr Zaleski says the offsetting will start at the first quarter of 2009, except for the afforestation, which will have to wait until spring.

That is all very well. But for anyone who has been to the Conference Center during those 15 days, it is clear that saving energy, water, paper, food – in one word, resources – was not a high priority on the organizer’s agenda.

So, even with the offsetting programs one thing is hard to deny: the CO2 emitted will stay in Poznan for a long time, maybe much longer then the memory of the conference.

It is another sad legacy of this COP.