The time has finally come that our class has been preparing for all semester. The first week of COP24 is upon us and the outcome of these negotiations will have serious implications for the future of our environment and the future of climate change. My interest in the COP and climate mitigation really began with my service as a Peace Corps volunteer in Malawi.
While spending three years in Malawi, I witnessed the detrimental effects that climate change can have in a developing country. I felt this overwhelming sense of guilt that I (as a citizen of one of the largest CO2 emitters in the world) have contributed to the climate consequences that Malawi was facing. After that experience, I decided I wanted to play a role as environmental professional in the United States by working towards mitigating climate change.
I will be spending some of my week at COP24 working with the Environmental Defense Fund and providing support as they track carbon markets and double counting of emission reductions. These topics are key in ensuring that mitigation measures are being accurately and transparently accounted for. When a country transfers carbon credits to another country, in some cases the country that transferred the credit will count those in their reductions and the country who received the carbon credits will also count the credits in their reductions. This is clearly problematic as now there is an overestimation of carbon reductions and there need to be clear rules set in place to prevent this from happening. Another major topic that I am interested in following is the CORSIA (or Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation), which is very relevant considering how most participants have to fly to the COP.
As I write this post at the Warsaw airport, I can’t help but think about the emission that I caused by flying to COP24. I remembered that I received an email from the Climate Neutral Now platform, which provides the opportunity to offset your carbon emissions from traveling to the COP by purchasing certified emission reductions for various projects.The first step is to calculate your carbon emissions from your travel, which you can do through the International Civil Aviation Organization carbon emission calculator.
As you can see my round-trip flight alone emitted a little over a tonne of CO2. This doubles if you fly business class. The next step is to search the list of projects on the UN Carbon offset platform and select one to purchase certified emission reductions. The price of a single certified emission reduction can vary from about $0.33 to around $9.
I purchased 2 certified emissions reductions (equivalent to 2 tonnes of CO2) for a renewable energy project in India that promotes wind energy. If everyone who is attending the COP is committed to combating climate change and they choose to fly, they should also make the commitment to making their travel carbon neutral.
All in all this week will be a whirlwind, but I am looking forward to observing and learning as much as possible, and hopefully walk away a bit more optimistic for the future of our planet.
