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Environmental impact of Gifts In Kind

Environmental impact of Gifts In Kind. Tom Keffer, Phd Senior Advisor, Mercy Corps. This presentation available at http://www.threefools.org/projects/gik. Approach. Bounding the problem Assumptions Six different case studies Two in detail Conclusions Lessons Learned.

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Environmental impact of Gifts In Kind

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  1. Environmental impact ofGifts In Kind Tom Keffer, PhdSenior Advisor, Mercy Corps This presentation available at http://www.threefools.org/projects/gik

  2. Approach • Bounding the problem • Assumptions • Six different case studies • Two in detail • Conclusions • Lessons Learned Environmental Impact of Gifts In Kind

  3. Bounding the problem • Impacts we could consider • Energy impact • CO2 emissions • End-of-life issues • Packaging Environmental Impact of Gifts In Kind

  4. Operation Boundaries • Direct emissions • Emissions from sources that are owned or controlled by the agency / company • Electricity indirect • Emissions from the generation of electricity consumed by the agency / company • Other indirect • Emissions done on behalf of the agency / company Guidelines from The Greenhouse Gas Protocolby the World Resources Institute Environmental Impact of Gifts In Kind

  5. Assumptions (1) DEFRA Guidelines for reporting GHG emissions (2) Faiz, et al.: Mercedes 1217 (7 tonne) (3) Faiz, et al.: Tata 1201 (5 tonne) (*) See appendix Environmental Impact of Gifts In Kind

  6. Case study #1 • One 40’ container, 16,898 kg (~37,000 lbs) • Hygiene & School kits • Baltimore, MD to Cobán, Guatemala, where it was then distributed by Mercy Corps Environmental Impact of Gifts In Kind

  7. Case #1: Route Leg 1 Leg 2 Leg 4 Leg 3 Environmental Impact of Gifts In Kind

  8. Case #1, cont’d • Leg 1: Baltimore to Port Everglades (~1,600 km) • Truck • Freight class 60 • Cost: ~$1,700 • CO2: 1.8 tonnes (6 mpg, 16 T load) • Rail • <5600 ft³ capacity (very small for rail) • Cost ~$3,300 • CO2: 0.7 tonnes Environmental Impact of Gifts In Kind

  9. Case #1, cont’d • Leg 2: Port Everglades to Puerto Barrios, Guatemala (1,600 km) • Ship • CO2 0.4 tonnes • Leg 3: Puerto Barrios to Cobán (320 km) • Truck • CO2: 0.8 tonnes • Leg 4: Cobán to local schools • Pickup Truck • Alta Verapaz Department is 8686 km2 • Assume average trucking distance 50 km one way • CO2: 1.1 tonnes Environmental Impact of Gifts In Kind

  10. Case #1: summary Environmental Impact of Gifts In Kind

  11. But,… • The materials were purchased from retail stores throughout the USA, then shipped to the warehouse in MD! • Assumptions • Each kit weighs about 1kg • One trip to the store per 25 kits • 680 trips Environmental Impact of Gifts In Kind

  12. But, … cont’d • Collection • 680 trips @ 25 mpg each • 20 km RT each • 326 gallons of gas • 2.8 tonnes of CO2 • Shipment • 680 packages 1,000 km each • ~1.4 tonnes of CO2 Environmental Impact of Gifts In Kind

  13. Now look at our graph… Environmental Impact of Gifts In Kind

  14. Case #1: summary • Dominated by aggregation and delivery to Maryland Environmental Impact of Gifts In Kind

  15. Case study #2 • 95 boxes of condoms • 1,002 kg • Donation of surplus product • Would have been destroyed Environmental Impact of Gifts In Kind

  16. Case #2: route Leg 2 Leg 1 Leg 3 Leg 4 Environmental Impact of Gifts In Kind

  17. Case #2: route • Leg 1 • Trucked from Eufaula, Alabama to Toronto, Canada • 1,800 km • 0.11 T CO2 • Leg 2 • Air shipped Toronto to London • 5,800 km • 3.3 T CO2 • Leg 3 • London to Nairobi • 6,800 km • 3.9 T CO2 • Leg 4 • Trucked from Nairobi to IDP camp in Nakuru • 160 km • 0.02 T CO2 Environmental Impact of Gifts In Kind

  18. Case 2: summary Environmental Impact of Gifts In Kind

  19. Case #2: summary • Nearly as much CO2 (7.3 Tonnes) as Case #1 (8.2 Tonnes) despite weighing 5% as much • (although the shipment did go 4 times farther) Environmental Impact of Gifts In Kind

  20. All cases Environmental Impact of Gifts In Kind

  21. Cost vs CO2 emissions Assumes $3/gal gas + $10/UPS shipment Environmental Impact of Gifts In Kind

  22. Computers: recycle or destroy? • Energy • One desktop computer requires 240 kg of fossil fuels (about 0.74 T CO2, if it all went in the atmosphere) • Four times what it will use in its lifetime • Lead - Older monitors can contain 4-8 lbs. • Mercury - Flat panel displays, wiring boards • PVCs – about 14 lbs in an average computer • Dioxin formed if it is burned • Barium • Used on the front panel of a CRT • Conclusion: • Way better to recycle and ship to Mongolia than buy a new one! Environmental Impact of Gifts In Kind

  23. Condoms: recycle or destroy? • Made from natural latex • Nearly a sink of CO2 • Natural: 1.78 kg CO2-E / kg • Perspective: • 2.5 T of fuel was used to move 1 T of condoms to Kenya that took 1.8 T of CO2 to produce Environmental Impact of Gifts In Kind

  24. Lessons learned

  25. Lessons learned - 1 • Air shipment trumps everything • “Last mile” problem • Energy and CO2 budget for shipping can be dominated by pickup and delivery logistics • Long haul hardly matters if done by ship or rail • Done by inefficient transport modes • Pickups and “India” trucks • “Spoke” problem • Shipments broken up into smaller, less efficient, packaging • Net energy savings only for energy-intensive products Environmental Impact of Gifts In Kind

  26. Lessons learned - 2 • Price is a reasonable metric of the environmental cost of shipping • About 0.6 tonnes of CO2 / $1k • But, gets distorted • Well intentioned donations • Pricing set at the margin • Media needs • Early ownership of GIK helps • But, limits opportunity to mix and match Environmental Impact of Gifts In Kind

  27. Organization boundaries redux • Are we responsible for emissions done on our behalf by transportation sectors? • What about situations with “zero marginal CO2 cost? • Case study: IKEA • 66% of emissions are from customer travel! • Influenced store location decisions, home delivery options • Double counting possible Environmental Impact of Gifts In Kind

  28. Appendices

  29. Resources • Greenhouse Gas Protocol Initiative http://www.ghgprotocol.org. In particular, their Corporate Accounting And Reporting Standard: http://www.ghgprotocol.org/files/ghg-protocol-revised.pdf. • Red, White and “Green”: the Cost of Carbon in the Global Wine Trade http://www.wine-economics.org/workingpapers/AAWE_WP09.pdf • DEFRA Guidelines for Company Reporting on Greenhouse Gas Emissions Annexes updated July 2005 http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/business/reporting/pdf/envrpgas-annexes.pdf Environmental Impact of Gifts In Kind

  30. Truck efficiency • Long-haul semi in the US gets 6-8 mpg • Carry 20-40 tonnes • Works out to 20-53 gCO2/(km-tonne) • I used 63 (light loads, dead heading) Environmental Impact of Gifts In Kind

  31. CO2vs. Carbon • Most emissions in the literature are quoted in metric tonnes of CO2-equiv (t CO2-eq) • Other GHGs converted to equivalents of CO2 • Metric tonnes • This has been the trend • A few quotes are in metric tonnes of carbon equivalents • Useful in calculations involving carbon cycles • Multiply by 3.67 to convert to t CO2-eq Environmental Impact of Gifts In Kind

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