March 2, 2021 Terry Chiplin

Carbon footprint

US Trail Running Conference is going carbon negative in 2022

This page has been created to share information on the environmental factors, carbon emissions, or carbon footprint, and waste, generated by the US Trail Running Conference each year. We aim to show how as an event we are committed to minimizing the footprint that this event generates, in terms of both emissions and waste. We would love to encourage other event organizers to adopt a similar policy and be transparent about their own footprint.

The 2018 IPCC special report recommends that we have to roughly halve emissions by 2030 to keep warming under 1.5 C. It is relatively simple to analyze our existing carbon footprint to find areas where we can reduce carbon emissions. We can also decide to purchase carbon offsets that effectively counteracts carbon emissions and also contributes toward a more sustainable future. As this is an evolving area of event management, I propose to include data on two specific footprint areas that we can measure year on year.

The first is carbon footprint – this is the emissions that the Conference itself generates from the event location emissions from power and heating, added to travel emissions for the administrative team that contribute towards putting on the event, and the carbon footprint of any apparel included as part of the event. We are grateful for the support of Native for the use of their online calculators and additional resources that were extremely helpful in enabling us to analyze carbon emissions.

2021 Carbon Emissions Data – Summary

Component Carbon Emissions (metric tonnes)
Staff and administration travel - air 4.24
Staff and administration travel - car 0.57
Event shirts - estimated footprint for production and shipping2.25
Event hats - estimated footprint for production and shipping0.021
Event waste sent to landfill - 15 lbs / 19%0.004
Event power used at host facility .055
Total estimated carbon emissions 7.14
Cost per metric tonne for carbon offset $15.50
Carbon offset purchase required to be carbon neutral $110.67
Total Carbon offset purchased $155.50
Additional Carbon Onset purchased $44.83
Carbon onset paid forward $44.83 or 40.5%

To see a full analysis of our carbon emissions for 2021, please visit this document.

2021 Waste Diversion Data – Summary

Mixed RecylingCardboardFood Waste Glass Landfill Total LBS
19530101579
24%6%38%13%19%100%
Diversion81%

The second is waste diversion – this is the amount of waste that the Conference itself generates from food, drinks, snacks, packaging, etc.

 

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