France: COP21 carbon footprint much lower than expected

The major climate conference itself, hosted by France in late 2015, served as a role model to help cut down CO2 emission during the event, the organizers has said.

The 21st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), not only defined a blueprint for tackling global climate change after the year of 2020, the organization of the conference itself has also fully reflected the principles of low-carbon and sustainable development.

The COP21's organizer announced recently that excluding the long distance travels of foreign participants, a total of 9,200 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e) have been generated during the 13-day event, less than half of the expected amount.

Greenhouse gases emission is generally considered as the fundamental cause of the global warming.

With an increasing worldwide environmental awareness, organizers of some major public events, such as Olympic Games, World's Fair or FIFA World Cup, usually take various measures to help to cut down the CO2 emission and thus to reduce environmental burden.

The Paris climate talks was expected to generate around 21,000 tCO2e, but 9,200 tonnes has been emitted at last, said Pierre-Henri Guignard, Secretary General in charge of the COP21's preparation and organization, on Thursday.

Even though this figure is still equal to the carbon footprint of about 800 French people over a one-year period, the Paris COP 21 achieved significant progress in addressing greenhouse gases emissions, with a CO2 emissions per capita much lower than many previous COPs.

Implementing efficient gas boiler, distributing free public transport cards to accredited participants, 100 percent use of recycled papers, issuing reusable cups and bottles ... are all among the measures taken that contributed to the success of this green and low carbon event.

In terms of waste recycling, the organizer said that 94 percent of the 16,000 tonnes of materials used in building the venues have been reused.

France is also committed to offsetting these emissions by providing 100,000 euros to finance environmental projects in countries from Asia, Africa or South America, said Guignard.

From Nov. 30 to Dec. 12 2015, Paris climate talks has brought together some 35,000 accredited participants, including delegates, negotiators, experts and media reporters from more than 190 countries, with another 32,000 persons non-accredited in the Climate Generations area. Endit