Climate Action - Assisting business towards carbon neutrality

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Pieter van Midwoud is the Executive Secretary of CarbonFix and will be a participant in The first International Scientific and Business Congress on Climate change.  

The congress will be held in City Hall, Frankfurt am Main, Germany on the 22.-23. April 2008. Lord Browne of Madingley is the Patron of the Congress, under the auspice of Dr R K Pachauri, Nobel Peace Prize winner.

1. What are some of the most basic things we can do to protect the climate?

Scientists agree that for protecting the climate, global temperature should not rise with more then 2^o C this century. Therefore we have to take measures so that the concentrations of greenhouse gasses does not exceed the 450 ppm (parts per million). In the international arena there is debate on how this should be done. One of the problems is that CO₂ is a product of the burning of fossil fuels, an energy source on which our economies highly depend. In 2050 the population on earth will be close to 9 billion, but to stay under the 450 ppm global emissions have to be cut by 50% in comparison to 1990 levels. To change to alternative sources is hence the challenge of our century. If we really want achieve our target, strong leadership, courage and strong international politics is needed, today rather than tomorrow. But we, the people of the western world, should not wait for ‘them’ to solve the problem, we need to take our own action. We need to try to become conscious of what energy is needed for your daily behaviour and change it. It’s a very satisfactory game. 

2.  Is there any evidence that we can actually slow the process down just by reducing our emissions?

Any evidence? I would rather reverse the question, is there any evidence that we can’t reduce the process? The last ‘evidence’ that human activities do not cause global warming is gone. We started it, we can stop it.

3.   What does your organisation aim to do specifically to assist in this goal?

CarbonFix works in the field of carbon binding by new forest areas. To be more precise, we certify projects that meet the criteria of our CarbonFix Standard, we don’t execute projects ourselves. A growing tree binds CO₂ (you could almost say that a tree is made of CO₂). So when new forest areas are created, additional CO₂ will be extracted from the air. CarbonFix wants to make sure that when we pay for creating new forest areas, we pay for good projects. Therefore we have created the CarbonFix Standard. Our Standard requires accurate calculations on how much CO₂ the area binds, clear measures to guarantee the permanence of the project, and sustainable management of the forest area that is created. Furthermore, we believe that the credibility of projects depends highly on their transparency. Therefore we offer end-consumers a code with which they can track the area where their trees are planted and access to all relevant project documents as well as pictures.

CarbonFix’s objective is to make sure the forests projects have a practical but high quality standard for their work. Calculations have shown that forestation projects can bind 10% of the CO₂ emissions that need to be reduced. We are happy to contribute to this.

4.  If all the larger companies can agree to curb emissions is this enough? Is it vital that everyone contributes starting with each household?

Concerning the emissions of the large companies, I have no figures on this. For that we would have to define the larger companies and then calculate their emissions. But I am afraid this would not be sufficient. There are two simple reasons why only efforts of large companies would not be enough. The first is that parallel to the discussion on climate change, there is another structural problem; the ending of fossil fuels. I have the feeling that sometimes this is forgotten in the climate change debate. Natural gas and oil will be depleted within approximately 50 years (and that is a conservative estimation). In the policies for the future, climate change and ending fossil fuels do not stand on their own. The reason I am saying this, is that when some of the big polluters reduce their emission, the rest of the world still would have to search for alternatives.

The second reason is that we have to ask ourselves why there are such high emissions from large companies. The answer is: because we consume their products. For all things that we have (including the increasing pile on our loft) CO₂ is released into the air, from mining raw materials, to the production, transportation and to distribution to your local shop. Climate change is demand driven. So yes, each household should contribute to reducing emissions.

5.  What will you be presenting at the First International Scientific and Business Congress on Protecting the Climate?
CarbonFix was asked to give a presentation on mechanisms to commercialize new carbon sinks. Therefore we will focus in our presentation on two things. The first is on the beginning of the pipe, how a project can use the CarbonFix Standard to commercialise its CO₂. The CarbonFix Standard only focuses on forest projects in the voluntary carbon market. It is a standard that is designed to assist  project developers in the field. We will explain on the methods that we require both on CO₂ calculations as on sustainable management of the forest area.

Secondly we will explain how CO₂ from CarbonFix certified projects can be purchased, and what the advantage of purchasing CO₂ from CarbonFix certified forest projects is. The end of the pipe. Therefore we will show how one can buy CO₂ over the CarbonFix website (www.carbonfix.info) directly from the different projects and how one can easily find the projects experiences and working methods from the field.

6.  Do you view such a conference as a further step towards making a difference?

Yes. It can be. Of course there is a lot of conferences already, if CarbonFix would go to every climate conference we are invited to, we would need five staff members running around the world 24 hours a day. What makes this conference different is that it is bringing the best of science and industry together. This is very relevant. If we do not want to have more then a 2^O C increase in temperature by 2100, we have to work as efficiently as possible. Therefore, I find bringing knowledge and big players in the field together very important. The result should be that everybody goes home with new ideas and contacts that he/she is going to directly use to further execute its business in reducing emissions.

7.  Can we justify a 'global' act when half of the world's population does not know what 'carbon emissions' means and is living in poverty? Do we include this population when we say we need to act globally?

A very interesting question. My first reaction would be: yes. Climate change is a global problem, that needs a global solution. So, everybody has to be conscious of this problem. Some of the people that life in poverty now, might be much wealthier in 20 years (e.g. think of China). We should, however, not deny the fact that the 10% richest people in the world (this includes us) are responsible for the main part of the emissions. From that perspective, I think this phrase should not be interpreted to much as one that counts for all people in the world. Just to give you a comparison: an average person in the Netherlands is responsible 50 times more emissions then an average person in Uganda. Nevertheless, it will be in particular those poor people living in the rural areas of developing countries that will suffer climate change the most, largely due to the lack of resources to protect themselves against it. Africa, undoubtedly the poorest continent on earth, is already feeling the consequences of the changing climate. Their crops don’t grow because of lack of water or simply dry out, resulting in ruined yields. This is a big problem as it leads to both hunger and to faded income (to name some consequences). In addition, the higher air temperature leads to more turbulent weather, where countries such as Bangladesh are suffering enormous floods causing thousands of death and homeless people yearly. So, yes, climate change is a global problem, that needs a global act. Please don’t misunderstand it, climate change is real and it is already happening. Probably we, the 10% richest people, will be the last to feel it. But we have to be the first to undertake action.

Allow me to add something to this. What I in particular like about creating new forest areas to bind Carbon, is that they are typically developed in the rural areas of developing countries. As said, these people (potentially) suffer climate change the most. With a new forest that is managed with the principles of sustainability, they have an additional source of living and income.

8.  Will we see a continuation of such great moves as global summits - focusing their energies to receive global response to such pertinent issues as "Protecting The Climate?'' or will the focus soon turn on another field?

Climate is a hype at the moment. But that doesn’t mean that the relevance of the problem is temporary. Therefore I don’t think that the focus will soon turn to another field. There is two reasons for that. The first is, as I already indicated in the previous point, that climate change affects a lot of people. So the efforts to work on it will also continue every day. There is just no moment for sitting back during the coming 100 years. The sense of urgency will remain.

And there is another reason why climate change will remain an important issue. A lot of companies worldwide are currently working and investing in the field of climate change. This is a direct result of the Kyoto protocol. The Kyoto protocol wanted to mobilise private money for combating climate change. The emission reductions that countries have to achieve are implemented by the private sector. By making CO₂ a commodity, huge investments in carbon lowering projects are made, like wind parks, forests, energy efficiency etc. As CO₂ rights are traded between companies it is not only a field of interest for governments anymore. Industries worldwide have become involved. Therefore, although with different motivations, there is a lot of interest created worldwide to keep on working on the issue.

9.  Do you see long reaching and well affecting means towards a future that does protect our climate?

We have the duty to remain optimistic on this, and I am. But we have to realise that in a little more than 200 years we have depleted a resource that took hundreds of thousands of years to acquire, and subsequently releasing enormous levels of CO2 into the atmosphere.. Besides that, our fossil fuels are simply ending. There are some very good books available that describe how the world could look like if we would achieve a society that can deal with those problems (e.g. Monbiot, 2006). We have to realize, and also urge our politicians, that the Kyoto protocol (or whatever it will be called after 2012) can not be the only measure taken for combating climate change, but should be one of many ambitious policies introduced to guarantee a living future. For long term solutions we have to restructure basic elements of our global society, and quite rapidly too. But it can be done.