During a session run by Tara Garnett from the Food Climate Research Network, she shared a wide range of interesting research that was likely difficult for most participants to absorb quickly enough (and extremely difficult to keep up with for blogging purposes!). Luckily, FCRN has a fantastic research archive published online at their website and also provide links to an assortment of research from other groups collected into a single archive. One of the more interesting points Garnett raised was what steps regular consumers could take in order to change their own eating habits to make an impact on CO2 emissions. This is often a little talked about topic, and as Garnett noted, it is notoriously difficult to ask consumers to do - mostly because of the huge cultural significance of food and the difficulty of sacrifice. For many consumers, however, it may simply be a lack of information. For all of them, here are 7 tips Garnett shared about ways you can change your eating habits to have an impact:

1. Change the balance of what you eat (less meat and dairy, “lower down” on the food chain)
2. Choose seasonal field grown foods (require less storage, heating & transport)
3. Do not eat or purchase certain foods (including foods that are hothoused or those that are air freighted)
4. Reduce your dependence on the “cold chain” (get rid of the second freezer, choose less processed robust foods and do more frequent non car-based shopping)
5. Waste less food (improve your “food turnover” to eat what you buy sooner and reduce wastage)
6. Cook more efficiently (cook for more people and for several days at a time, use the oven less frequently)
7. Redefine your ideal for quality (be willing to accept variability in quality and supply

Anyone have any other tips to offer? Add your comment to this post and let us know.

Carbon farming is becoming more common as an activity that is funded by the carbon credits that companies and individuals purchase. In many cases, however, the term “carbon farming” can refer to a range of activities from paying farmers not to till or develop land and use harmful fertilizers on one extreme, through to funding the planting of new trees to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Most consumers assume that when there is talk of carbon farming, it simply means that farmers are planting trees or other carbon dioxide sucking plants. An interesting point that emerged yesterday and was repeated today, however, is that there are “supertrees” that have the ability to suck a higher percentage of carbon than usual. Some trees take in so much carbon, in fact, that their trunks are so dense with all the carbon that they are heavier and can damage a saw used to try and cut it down. The clear message seems to be that carbon farming is not always equal. Perhaps what we really need to fund is carbon farming where the trees planted are the super carbon processing variety. Assuming those trees can be native in a wide area of locations, it may even be worth using these types of “supertrees” for community based Plant-A-Tree programs as well.

For the past two days, all participants of the Corporate Climate Response event have enjoyed fine Sauvignon Blanc and several other varieties from the Grove Mill vineyard in Marlborough, New Zealand. The philosophy of the vineyard is “to produce premium quality wine with minimal environmental impact,” which has led them to be the world’s first CarboNZero certified winery. To achieve the certification, Grove Mill has partnered with Landcare Research New Zealand to measure their CO2 emissions, introduced energy efficiency initiatives, and offset the unavoidable emissions by investing in the regeneration of native forests through carbon credits.

Dave Pearce, Chief Winemaker presented via virtual uplink to New Zealand about Grove Mill’s efforts and talked about the unique challenges of creating a program such as this and the successes of their efforts. The experience of Grove Mill and their involvement in this conference offer two lessons for participants. Firstly, that offering something of value (ie - wine) to a highly captive audience is wonderful for brand exposure - and secondly that being the first in your industry to get a green certification such as the CarboNZero designation can be great for marketing and positioning. The wine is quite good - but that alone is often not enough. Having a great story to go along with it makes it more likely that people will tell others about their experience and the wine itself. Grove Mill certainly seems to understand word of mouth marketing as well as winemaking.

In the second session of the day, Paul Watkiss presented studies and research about how food transport has evolved over the past few decades and trends in the industry. A few key research points he shared:

• Urban food vehicle kilometers have gone up by about 20% over the last 20 years
• HGV food vehicle kilometers have remained broadly unchanged over the past decade
• Air food vehicle kilometers has seen about 170% increase over the last decade
• Overall CO2 emissions have increased about 15% from 1992 to 2002

When coming to measurement and key measures, Watkiss noted that the industry has been shifting it’s measurement standard from what was previously only “food miles” to a broader measurement of CO2 emissions. Ultimately, the conclusion he makes is that food miles is too simplistic and the industry must consider food transport as part of the overall food chain. He calls the move of the industry towards CO2 as the single issue for measurement “interesting” but falls short of declaring this correct or incorrect. The viewpoint most of the audience is left with from his talk is that food miles may not be the best measure of impact, however finding the right measure and avoiding the temptation to boil it down to a single issue will likely require more research. In responding to a question from the group in New Zealand, Watkiss shared the interesting perspective that the environmental impact of maritime shipping (which accounts for a large portion of New Zealand’s food) seems “fairly benign” according to his research. The key research point that stands out, though Watkiss did not focus specifically on it, seems to be the rapid rise of air food transport costs and emissions related to this mode of transport. Perhaps there will be more discussion of the impact of this mode of transport later in the day …

Day three of the Corporate Climate Response event is focused on the food industry and the day started off quite interactively as Adrienne Baker called today the “sexy” day of the event and shared that the conference will be attended virtually by a room full of folks based in Auckland, New Zealand at the Lincoln Landcare Research group. Throughout the morning, the conference will be inviting comments and questions from this group who is participating in the event and, as they noted in their welcome remarks, keeping their carbon footprint low at the same time. The first speaker of the day was Chris Brown of ASDA Stores (a grocery chain in the UK that is part of the Walmart family). Chris introduced the landscape of climate change and for the first time during the event, introduced a conversation about the consumer and what they want. Over the first two days of the event, speakers largely took a more academic approach - while the start of today seems to indicate that consumers (ie - real people) will play a big role in conversations throughout the day.

Perhaps the most important point that Brown also raised in his conversation was the issue of strawberries at Christmas, or more specifically, the challenge facing all food retailers of whether to stock certain food products which may require a higher carbon footprint to stock due to seasonality or region-specific products. This is not an easy problem, Brown cautioned, as it is a social issue as much as a financial or business issue. The key point is that the industry needs more visibility of these costs and the environmental impact so consumers can help businesses to make these choices. Ultimately, consumers need to work together with businesses to manage this issue.

It’s my second day at the Corporate Climate Response conference in London and my head is now full of facts and figures regarding megawatts, emissions, carbon footprints, wind turbines and last but not least, light bulbs. Although not naturally inclined towards reporting on environmental issues, my enthusiasm on the subject has grown immensely over the last couple of days due in no small part to being surrounded by opinion leaders with cutting-edge comment on corporate climate issues. Let’s face it, I think I’m turning green…

Eye-opening statistics have been used at the conference by experts keen to support ideas that encourage corporates to reduce their carbon footprints. The various discussions have also included advice and tactics to help implement best practice on renewables and the latest thinking surrounding off-setting. The list of subjects in this area seems never ending, underlying the vast array of opportunities the corporate world has in driving forward efficient energy consumption.

Erik Bichard, National Centre for Business and Sustainability director, has been amongst the most interesting contributors to date. Raising a point shared by many at the conference, Erik emphasised the bottom line benefits offered to those organisations who are willing to proactively address corporate environmental issues. The conference has thus far provided riveting discussions and thought leadership that has re-emphasised the tangible cost benefits and support available to organisations both big and small. The key, it seems, is for corporates to take the plunge and confront an issue which is both topical, relevant to their businesses and offers potentially new revenue streams or cost-cutting opportunities.

Today’s highlight was the Q+A session with Philip Douglas from Defra (government body) during a panel discussion regarding emissions trading. Faced with a room of SME executives, the subject sooned turned to taxation and ways in which it could be used to encourage renewable energy within the business community. Interestingly, Philip indicated that recent studies have shown that a change in taxation would not necessarrily impact on corporates willingness to reduce their carbon footprint, suggesting that energy consumption is an inelastic commodity where price is not the deciding factor. Some may disagree, but those 4×4 owners in the room (I’m sure there were one or two) sighed with relief as the’T'word was safely put to bed for at least another day or two!

Although I’m by no means an expert on the subject, I now feel I can at least rattle off some impressive stats about energy consumption and carbon emissions. However, having attended the majority of sessions, I’ve heard differing opinions as to whether heat or electricity is the biggest ‘consumer’ of energy. Does electricity consume 50% or 70% of our resources? Where does transportation sit within this? Should I turn my central heating off in winter and do my bit for the environment…? I guess it depends who you ask and who they represent. Nevertheless, I guess the important issue is to discuss ways in which our reliance on energy sources relates to our individual and corporate carbon footprint and then rely on businesses to fulfill their environmental responsibility in financially viable way.

As a cynical observer of CSR initiatives, I fully appreciate the revenue and marketing opportunities that beats at the heart of many a corporate goodwill gesture. However, there seems to be a real passion, drive and genuine enthusiasm that continues to permeate at this event and is drawing me into an area which I never thought would topple soccer as my number one google search topic. Roll on day three…

In the afternoon session, Simon Thompson and Dan Yates from Lastminute.com described how on average 10% of Lastminute’s customers choose to offset their travel - more on short haul, fewer on long haul. Lastminute has now moved to an opt-out principle, so the default option is to offset unless you specifically choose not to. This has led to a 50% increase.

Along the way, they quoted research in which 28% of respondents claim they will reduce their travel for environmental reasons. There were one or two good natured snorts as the figure came up. Should we believe figures like this? We do frequently see overstatement of people’s commitment to green behaviour in research - but how do we aim off for that?

A subsequent speaker, Jude Thorne of The Ice Organisation, also discussed consumer research. She was describing Rabobank’s credit card which measures and offsets the carbon emissions of consumers’ purchasing behaviour.

Ice had clearly listened carefully to consumers and had appreciated the need for long term education and extreme convenience (”they won’t do the work for themselves”) - as well as rewards to “sweeten the pill”. Ice and Rabobank had to answer the question “are consumers ready?” and success hinged on getting the answer right - which is tough if you can’t rely on what they tell you in research.

Perhaps data-rich organisations like Lastminute or other financial or retail players could find a way to perform the necessary extrapolation between claimed and real behaviour. This could represent a way forward for those of us who simply find it hard to believe what consumers are telling us.

Half a million people commute into the city of London every day. In addition, the City of London manages about one third of all London’s open spaces, third largest funder of the arts in London. The city was also selected as the host for the 2012 Summer Olympics, and there were two speakers focused on outlining the efforts underway to make London greener. The first was Simon Mills, the Head of Sustainable Development for the City of London. He provided a dire assessment of the impact of climate change on the world and on London, however also outlined many measures that the city has already started to “adapt” to climate change. The key mission defined for the City of London was to “ensure that the infrastructure and services continue to function well in the face of climate change so the city continues to thrive.” Towards this goal, the city has been purchasing green energy since the mid 90s, offsetting the Lord Mayor’s travel, recently launched the “City Climate Pledge” to encourage city businesses to manage their own carbon footprint.

Mills fundamental point was that the climate is changing and there is no point in discussing the root causes and what they may be. Fundamentally, decisions based on historic climate data are no longer valid and therefore new thinking is required. The full strategy document for the City of London is available online and is already being considered by several cities, including New York and Moscow (as Mills shared) for implementation in their own regions.

Samantha Heath, CEO of the London Sustainability Exchange, shared several other examples of preparations for the Olympics and also talked about how the goals of the Olympics are very focused on sustainable building and as part of the early process, planning organizations have identified green building standards and requiring all building for the Olympics to meet these standards. In short, London seems to be poised as a city to watch when it comes to thinking ahead about climate response initiatives on a city based level. Most sobering was Mills point that even if we turn off all the light bulbs tomorrow - carbon still has a half life of 40 years and will be around for a long time to come.