Towards carbon neutral scientific societies: A case study with the International Adsorption Society

TL;DR

This paper presents a case study on making the International Adsorption Society's conferences carbon neutral by analyzing emissions, surveying community opinions, and proposing future-oriented recommendations to reduce environmental impact.

Contribution

It provides a quantitative emissions analysis and community surveys to develop robust, actionable strategies for sustainable scientific conferences.

Findings

Quantified CO2 emissions from 2022 IAS conference activities.

Community surveys reveal attitudes towards conference carbon footprint.

Proposed recommendations for future sustainable conference practices.

Abstract

With increasing concerns over climate change, scientists must imperatively acknowledge their share in CO2 emissions. Considering the large emissions associated with scientific traveling - especially international conferences - initiatives to mitigate such impact are blooming. With the COVID-19 pandemic shattering our notion of private/professional interactions, the moment should be seized to reinvent science conferences and collaborations with a model respectful of the environment. Yet, despite efforts to reduce the footprint of conferences, there is a lack of a robust approach based on reliable numbers (emissions, carbon offsetting/removals, etc.) to accompany this shift of paradigm. Here, considering a representative scientific society, the International Adsorption Society, we report on a case study of the problem: making conferences carbon neutral while respecting the needs of scientists. We first provide a quantitative analysis of the CO2 emissions for the IAS conference in 2022 related to accommodation, catering, flights, etc. Second, we conduct two surveys probing our community view on the carbon footprint of our activities. These surveys mirror each other, and were distributed two years before and in the aftermath of our triennial conference (also corresponding to pre/post COVID times). By combining the different parts, we propose ambitious recommendations to shape the future of conferences.