The Cooler Earth Sustainability Summit 2019

For an event where climate change and green finance is on the agenda, we made sure that the potential footprint from the summit itself does not fall to the wayside amid all the high-level engagement. We are pleased to share that this summit aims to be a carbon-neutral event in line with its principles – from sourcing for F&B and summit materials, to digitising all conference communications and offsetting delegates’ carbon emissions from event energy use, travel, etc. 

Participation in The Cooler Earth summit is complimentary. In the spirit of awareness and personal responsibility, we encouraged delegates to voluntarily offset their average carbon footprint from participating in this event.

The 5th Assessment Report on climate change by the IPCC shows that the increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations over the past 100 years has predominantly been caused by human activities.

GHG like carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide trap heat on the Earth’s surface, leading to rising global temperatures and the climate crisis, which give rise to adverse effects such as frequent natural disasters, sinking coastlines, habitat loss, and other threats to life.

Carbon footprint is the measure of GHG released into the atmosphere from human activity. Driving, using electricity and eating meat are examples of our personal carbon footprint. Our collective carbon footprints add up to the climate emergency that we are facing.

Carbon footprint is usually measured in tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent. You can find out more and calculate your personal carbon footprint here.

The total carbon emissions of The Cooler Earth Summit has been calculated to be around 200 tonnes Carbon Dioxide equivalent (200 tCO2e). This is equivalent to 20 flights around the circumference of the world or 843,162 km travelled by an average car. To put this into perspective, it would take 250 trees a period of 40 years to absorb all the carbon emitted, assuming we plant them tomorrow - just for this 2-day conference!

The single biggest contributor is participant and speaker travel (78%), followed by venue (10%), accommodation (6%) and meals (5%). The estimated carbon emission per delegate is around 0.2 tCO2e. Our world is facing an unprecedented threat and everyone should take urgent action to mitigate this threat. We need to do beyond what is required to ensure that we are going to make a difference. Therefore, in addition to just offsetting the emissions from this Summit, we have committed to offset an additional 5 times of what the conference is generating, so that the conference has an overall positive impact on the environment.

In 2019, each and every participant was able to offset at least 1 tCO2e, as their own contribution to the Summit. Offsetting 1 tCO2e incurred a cost of EUR10 (RM47), and this was through purchasing certified carbon credits from a verified carbon reduction project.

All registered participants were sent a link to purchase carbon offsets. Carbon offsets purchased were invested into the Bukit Tagar Sanitary Landfill (BTSL) gas recovery project. The landfill has been serving the Central region of Selangor and Kuala Lumpur for the last 60 years, and is the only sanitary landfill in Malaysia. The landfill gas recovery project enables the collection of landfill gas to generate power. Without this project, the landfill gas (consisting mainly of methane, a potent greenhouse gas) would be released into the atmosphere, accelerating global heating. The emissions reduced from this project are certified under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol. Get more details here: https://youtu.be/koplTfbu0Mg

Participants received an offsetting certificate that shows the amount of carbon offset and the project that the contribution went to. Participants who offset their carbon are listed in our Carbon Offset Contributions page, as well as on our event app and the 2019 Cooler Earth Consensus Report.