Best Foot Forward

Globally, we now require the equivalent of 1.4 planets to support our lifestyles. But of course, we only have one Earth. The result is that our supply of natural resources - like trees and fish - continues to shrink, while our waste, primarily carbon dioxide, accumulates.

Whereas the fall of Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac made headlines worldwide in September, Overshoot Day passed by with little comment. We wonder which will have the longest lasting consequences?

BFF reviews will be appearing bi-monthly. Our first assignment focuses on the Cement Sustainability Initiative, Tube Lines, NHS England and Upstream. The article is available online in two parts.

Recent research by BFF highlights the hidden carbon footprint of leisure boating. The sad reality is that most boats sit unused for much of the year in marinas which consume significant amounts of energy. Then there is travel to and from the boat – usually by car – which makes weekend sailing a significant carbon generator. Boat-building is also resource intensive and although limited data is available, boat manufacture is certainly responsible for more carbon emissions per unit than a car. It may last longer but, unless you are planning to set off into the bright blue yonder, your lifetime mileage will typically be much, much less than the family car.

So what lessons can be learned? BFF proposes: avoid power boats at all costs; take the train to the boat; maximise boat mileage by sharing ownership or chartering; and lobby your marina to reduce its carbon footprint. Oh, and a get a copy of World Cruising Routes - you never know where the wind might take you…

One powerful approach to ensuring financial considerations are not independent of environmental impacts is through carbon pricing as a means of supporting internal decision making.   The recently published Defra methodology to do this is not without its faults, but BFF has worked closely with a Government economist to iron out these teething problems.

Following this work BFF has produced a simple-to-use online tool to help our clients get to grip with the application of the ‘shadow price of carbon’ - try our CO₂ST calculator here.

The article says that: "By almost any measure, the southeast has the UK’s strongest regional economy outside London. Pockets of science-based and high-tech businesses are thriving, while there are green enterprises in Oxfordshire". BFF is cited alongside carbon off-setting firm ClimateCare as "evidence of good knowledge transfer between Oxford University and the local economy."

However, Packaging News this week reports one producer that is moving from glass to plastic - and claiming an associated 40% reduction in the carbon footprint of a bottle. BFF would be keen to review these calculations but we have been unable to find detailed reports to substantiate the figures presented. Perhaps even more interesting is the article’s reference to using aluminium – a very carbon intensive material – to make bottles instead. No comment is made in the article on the footprint of the aluminium bottles.

We hope all of these decisions have been underpinned by robust carbon footprint measurements which, crucially, have: drawn boundaries to include the full product life-cycle; used appropriate accounting rules and applied consistent assumptions when comparing packaging systems. 

In the past the not insignificant personal footprint of Al Gore, seasoned US politician and now the world's most famous (and travelled) climate campaigner, has been justified by means of 'intellectual offsetting' - a new term coined to write-off personal impacts for the greater good.

However bloggers have been less charitable to Senator John McCain, whose 7+ homes have been recently estimated to emit 150 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year - 10 times the footprint of an average American. Perhaps it's not surprising then that his Climate Change Plan makes no mention of reducing consumption - but instead relies solely on market-based cap-and-trade mechanisms and "advanced technology". Of course being apolitical there is no comment from BFF on which party we would like to see gaining power for the next four years...!