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‘ Sustaining Future Ecosystem Services – From Understanding to Action ’ Mini-Conference, National Liberal Club, Whitehal

‘ Sustaining Future Ecosystem Services – From Understanding to Action ’ Mini-Conference, National Liberal Club, Whitehall Place, London, 26 th June 2009 CARBON AND ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINTS ON THE PATHWAY TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY G.R. Cranston a , G.P. Hammond a,b and C.I. Jones a

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‘ Sustaining Future Ecosystem Services – From Understanding to Action ’ Mini-Conference, National Liberal Club, Whitehal

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  1. ‘Sustaining Future Ecosystem Services – From Understanding to Action’ Mini-Conference, National Liberal Club, Whitehall Place, London, 26th June 2009 CARBON AND ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINTS ON THE PATHWAY TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY G.R. Cranstona, G.P. Hammonda,b and C.I. Jonesa a Department of Mechanical Engineering, b Institute of Sustainable Energy & the Environment (I•SEE), University of Bath, Bath. BA2 7AY. UK Speaker: Prof. Geoff Hammond, Director of I•SEE [Email: ensgph@bath.ac.uk] ESRC-NERC

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  3. CONTENTS • ‘ECOLOGICAL’ OR ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINTS • SOME EXAMPLES OF THE USE OF ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINTS - • One Planet Living • Urban and rural communities • ‘CARBON FOOTPRINTS’ - EMBODIED ENERGY AND CARBON IN BUILDINGS, GOODS AND SERVICES • THE ‘INVENTORY OF CARBON & ENERGY’ [ICE] • THE ROLE AND LIMITS OF FOOTPRINTING ESRC-NERC

  4. ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINTING: THE BASICS • Definition:Resources used and wastes produced by a defined population are converted to a common basis - the area of productive land and aquatic ecosystems sequestered (in hectares) from whatever source in global terms. • Land Types • Bioproductive Land • Crops • Pasture • Forest • Bioproductive Sea • Built Land • Energy Land • Biodiversity Land ESRC-NERC

  5. NORTH AND SOUTH: GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINTS • Environmental footprints represent a partial measure of the extent to which the planet, its regions, or nations are moving along a sustainable development pathway • Such footprints vary between countries at different stages of economic development and varying geographic characteristics • The relative significance of population density, economic wealth, and pollutant emission intensity has been determined (using WWF and other international statistics) • This indicates which individual nations are currently frugal or profligate in terms of their resource use and environmental impacts • Source: Hammond (2006); Cranston et al. (2007) ESRC-NERC

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  8. TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE? • ‘Sustainability’ is synonymous with scenarios that lead to steady-state conditions, or ‘stabilisation’, rather than collapse due to resource or other limits. • Whether or not humanity will experience such a collapse, or will be able to secure a sustainable future for people and wildlife, is too soon to tell. • The timescale for achieving sustainability is likely to be • 2050-2100, or longer [Parkin (2000)] ESRC-NERC

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  12. SWINDON AND WILTSHIRE • Wiltshire – mainly rural • County area of Wiltshire • Including the four districts of Salisbury, Kennet, North and West Wiltshire • Swindon – mainly urban • The unitary authority of the Borough of Swindon • Base Year: 2003 Source: Eaton, Hammond & Laurie (2007) ESRC-NERC

  13. FOOTPRINT ANALYSIS OF SWINDON AND WILTSHIRE • Wiltshire – mainly rural • 2,594,000 global hectares. • 5.94 global hectares per Wiltshire resident. • This amounts to an overshoot ration of 2.01:1 • If the world’s population reflected this consumption, then we would need the equivalent biocapacity of 2.3 extra Earths: • Swindon – mainly urban • 1,024,000 global hectares. • 5.65 global hectares per Swindon resident. • This amounts to an overshoot ration of 10.35:1 • If the world’s population reflected this consumption, then we would need the equivalent biocapacity of 2.0 extra Earths: ESRC-NERC

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  19. ‘CARBON FOOTPRINTING’: THE BASICS • Definition: The ‘carbon footprint’ is a measure of the impact that human activities have on the environment, and in particular on climate change. It is the amount of greenhouse gases (GHG) emitted through burning fossil fuels for electricity, heating, and transportation in order to produce a good or service. • Carbon Footprints or Carbon Weights? The units are kgC per functional unit, not ha. • Standards • ISO 14040 & 14044 – Environmental Life Cycle Assessment • PAS 2050 – Life Cycle GHG Emissions of Goods & Services • Databases • Ecoinvent • Bath - Inventory of (Embodied) Carbon and Energy [ICE] ESRC-NERC

  20. THE CREATION OF THE ICE DATABASE • Created in support of a Carbon Trust and EPSRC-funded research project – the ‘Carbon Vision Buildings’ Programme. • Aim: To produce an open-access, reliable database of embodied energy and carbon for typical building materials … from ‘cradle to gate’. • It required values for the wide diversity of materials associated with buildings and construction. • … this was considered this to be unavailable at the start of the project (in 2004). • Therefore we developed our own database… ESRC-NERC

  21. INVENTORY OF CARBON & ENERGY (ICE) • An embodied energy and carbon database for building materials • ICE Excel and pdf files created to summarise data • Draws from over 250 references • Embodied energy & carbon coefficients ~ 400 selected values • Aim: Typical & usable market products • Identifies primary & secondary materials • Available freely online ESRC-NERC

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  23. THE FIVE SELECTION CRITERIA FOR ICE DATA • Source: Extracted from studies that are compliance with approved methodologies/standards (e.g., ISO 14040 series compliant). • System boundaries: Chosen to comply with cradle-to-gate embodiment. Non-fuel carbon emissions were included. • Origin (country) of data: The best available embodied energy data from around the world has been adopted, although a preference was given to good quality UK sources. • Age of data: Modern sources were employed wherever possible, because the fuel mix and carbon coefficients associated with power generators has changed over time. • Embodied carbon: Preference given to data from LCA studies, but otherwise estimates were made on fuel split. ESRC-NERC

  24. VERIFICATION OF THE ICE INVENTORY • Validation of the dataset was initially undertaken through application and comparison with embodied energy & carbon estimates for whole buildings • Case Studies… • Domestic buildings (see the following figures) • Non-domestic buildings • …Comparison with BedZed estimates (BRE Data) • Embodied energy = ICE was within 1% • Embodied carbon = ICE was within 10% ESRC-NERC

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  27. THE PRESENT STATUS OF THE ICE DATABASE • The ICE database has been publicly downloadable via an online website [see http://www.bath.ac.uk/mech-eng/sert/embodied/] since April 2007. Over 4,500 copies have now been distributed worldwide. • Feedback from professional users has played an important part in the choice of 'best values' for 'cradle-to-gate' embodied energy & carbon from the range found in the literature. • The variation in published embodied energy & carbon data stems from differences in boundary definitions, age of the data sources, and rigour of the original life-cycle assessments. • Data from the ICE inventory has been incorporated into a number of carbon footprinting tools for products, structures and activities by various industrial companies and government agencies. ESRC-NERC

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  29. CONCLUSING REMARKS 1: • THE ROLE OF FOOTPRINT ANALYSIS • Planning • Model alternative scenarios – but a simple measure are rarely adequate tools for predicting the future, particularly the consequences of technological innovation. • Prioritise actions to address adverse impacts. • Monitoring • Determine trends in resource use and ecological impacts over time. • Evaluate local strategies to combat climate change. • Education and Awareness Raising • Simple to understand. They show how much natural capital we use in relation to how much we have. • Promote behavioural changes. ESRC-NERC

  30. CONCLUSING REMARKS 2: • THE LIMITS TO FOOTPRINTING The role of carbon and environmental footprinting has not gone without challenge:- • The uncertainties and deficiencies of using footprints (and related parameters) as, albeit partial, sustainability indicators include problems associated with boundary definitions, data gathering, and the basis for weighing the various consumption and associated impacts. • Its adoption as a tool for decision-making in a policy or planning context depends on an understanding of these assumptions and uncertainties. • Criticisms have also been made concerning the dominant influence of fossil fuels in footprint calculations. It may underestimate the potential of a switch to renewable energy technologies as a means of lowering humanity’s footprint. ESRC-NERC

  31. “DON’T TAKE ANYTHING BUT PHOTOGRAPHS, DON’T LEAVE ANYTHING BUT FOOTPRINTS” Signpost seen by the speaker, Sinharaja Rainforest Reserve, Sri Lanka (June 2001) ESRC-NERC

  32. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS AND LISTENERS ANY QUESTIONS? ESRC-NERC

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