Have you ever thought about the environmental impact of an event you’ve attended? According to Bloomberg, 84% of large firms in the U.S., Europe, and Asia plan to spend less on business travel now compared to pre-pandemic. While the increasingly virtual business landscape has cut down emissions relating to event travel, the energy you use to surf the web and videoconference still has a carbon footprint. Here’s how Green Impact calculated and offset the carbon footprint of our latest webinar.
Missed our Webinar? Here’s a Recap:
Green Impact hosted a webinar to acknowledge Earth Overshoot Day by giving a webinar to demonstrate Salesforce’s greenhouse gas accounting software, Net Zero Cloud.
Earth Overshoot Day is the day each year where human activity has used all the biological resources that Earth can regenerate within that same year. Unfortunately, this day arrives earlier and earlier each year as the economy expands, greenhouse gas emissions increase, and natural resources and biodiversity decrease. As climate change continues to impact the Earth in various ways, it is more important than ever for businesses to take on an active role in sustainability.
Managing your GHG Emissions
Net Zero Cloud helps firms track and manage their greenhouse gas emissions created by business operations. Utilizing datasets from governments around the world, Net Zero Cloud translates a business’s energy consumption into greenhouse gas emissions.
Greenhouse gas accounting can seem complicated when considering Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 emissions, but Net Zero Cloud streamlines the process and allows companies to spend less time crunching the numbers and more time taking action to reduce their carbon footprint.
Green Impact tailors our services to each client’s specific needs, allowing them to align their sustainability efforts with their business goals effortlessly.
What was the Environmental Impact of the Webinar?
When considering the environmental impact of a virtual event, it is important to consider the energy each participant is using to connect to the internet and power their devices. Here’s the breakdown of each participants CO2 emissions from our 1-hour event:
Laptop Electricity: 12g of CO2
Electricity Consumption of Data Flow: 3g of CO2 per GB (0.5 GB per hour of Zoom streaming)= 1.5g of CO2
Lamp Usage (assume 100W bulb): 23g of CO2
Total: 36.5g of CO2 per person
15 people attended this event. Therefore, the total amount of carbon dioxide emitted due to the Earth Overshoot Day webinar is 547.5g.
How do we Offset this Carbon Footprint?
Offsetting 547.5g of carbon dioxide only requires planting one tree, but Green Impact goes beyond simply offsetting the carbon dioxide produced by this webinar by planting one tree per attendee. Young trees absorb 5900 grams of carbon dioxide per year, while mature trees absorb 21kg of CO2 per year on average. Assuming a 100 year lifespan, these fifteen trees could absorb about 15 tonnes of carbon dioxide. This means that our webinars are carbon negative.
While Green impact focuses on greenhouse gas accounting for our clients, we also provide recommendations for related services. For example, we provide recommendations for trustworthy companies who run carbon offset projects, like the one we use to offset our own company’s emissions, Native Energy.
Earth Overshoot Day is an important reminder that our economy relies on natural resources and must better track resource consumption to slow climate change. Many businesses have taken up greenhouse gas accounting and realized operational efficiency benefits in addition to doing their part for the environment. While beginning a sustainability journey may seem daunting, Net Zero Cloud makes it easier than ever for companies to track and offset their Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions.
Looking for more information on how to get started with your sustainability journey? Schedule a free Net Zero Cloud demo today!