IUCN has mitigated 100% of the carbon emissions associated with the IUCN World Conservation Congress 2016 held this past September in Hawaiʻi, USA.
Photo: IISD/ENB - Kiara Worth and Diego Noguera“IUCN takes its commitments to addressing climate change and reaching the Sustainable Development Goals very seriously,” says IUCN Director General Inger Andersen. “Clearly, the IUCN World Conservation Congress 2016 could not have contributed to achieving this without being 100% climate neutral.”
IUCN used credible third-party resources to estimate the amount of carbon emissions and to verify the projects it used to mitigate the emissions. Atmosfair measured total carbon emissions from energy and water use, food, and transportation of goods and people related to the Congress and reported that the Congress emitted a total of 33,455 tons (rounded) of CO2 equivalent.
IUCN purchased its carbon mitigation from Cordillera Azul National Park Project in Peru (10,172 tons), the Bundled Grid Connected Wind power project from Tamilnadu, India (5,000 tons) and the Wind Energy Project in Maharashtra by M/s Shah Promoters & Developers (18,328 tons).
The Cordillera Azul project’s emissions reductions have been verified by Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), Gold Standard, Plan Vivo and others. Climate, Community & Biodiversity Alliance (CCBA) certified the project’s biodiversity and social benefits according to its detailed standards. The wind energy projects are UN certified emissions reductions secured through the Clean Development Mechanism and the Climate Neutral Now initiative of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which meet high environmental integrity standards approved internationally under the UNFCCC.
“With the IUCN Congress in Hawaii, we have set a high standard for sustainable events around the world,” says Andersen. “We have shown that global debate, which is critical for ensuring a sustainable future, can take place without placing additional pressures on the planet.”
Please click here to learn about all of IUCN’s efforts to raise the bar for sustainable events through the 2016 Congress and how they earned the Congress international certification as a sustainably-managed event.
