As the organisers of the 4^th International Meeting of the World Ocean Network we are aware of the ecological impact that such an event can have.

This is why we acted to minimise the event’s carbon footprint and are carrying out a formal assessment using the official French Bilan Carbone© (carbon assessment) procedure.

Catering

• Catering menus will be selected on the basis of:

- The seasonality of ingredients (regarding fruit and vegetables and seafood produce, the latter will be in line with the recommendations of the MrGoodfish campaign),

- The geographical proximity of the places of production of the ingredients used,

-  The food category (the use of more vegetable produce),

-  Coffee, tea, chocolate, and so on will, if provided, be fair trade.

• Using re-usable or entirely recyclable tableware.

Travel & Transportation

• A carbon emissions offset package will be proposed in respect of air travel related emissions,
• A shuttle service between the railway station and hotels will be provided for delegates and speakers in order to minimise individual urban journeys,
•  Several petrol-electric hybrid cars will be made available

Use of materials – paper and plastic

• Stationary and office equipment will be sourced from ecolabel suppliers,
• Limiting printing and photocopying : documents will be made available via the Meeting’s blog and may be printed out by delegates on demand, but paper copies will not be supplied systematically,
• We are studying alternatives to paper for the Meeting’s signposting and information notices,
• All stationary (document wallets, notepads, etc) supplied to delegates at the beginning of the Meeting will be entirely recyclable  and made from recycled materials,
• Some of these items will bear the « World Ocean Network » logo so they can be re-used, at a later date, in other contexts.

Venue – waste disposal and cleaning

• Waste will be collected and sorted for recycling
• Ecolabel cleaning products will be used

A Bilan Carbone© consultant is currently helping with the assessment of the 4th International Meeting.

à What is the purpose of a Bilan Carbone©?

The scientific community now agrees that our climate is changing due to an increase in the atmospheric concentration of CO2, which has been rising since the start of the industrial era.

Like any company or public body, an event such as the 4th International Meeting of the World Ocean Network is a producer of greenhouse gases. These gases are produced in the following principal ways:

• Speaker and delegate travel,
• Accommodation,
• Catering,
• Energy consumption,
• Other consumables (leaflets, photocopying…).

There is a correlation between the consumption of fossil fuel energies, their production and the quantities of greenhouse gases emitted. The Bilan Carbone® procedure, developed by the consultants Manicore and the ADEME (the French government’s environment and energy agency), enables any organisation to analyse its consumption and therefore calculate its greenhouse gas emissions. The Bilan Carbone® uses computer software and a regularly updated emissions factor database.

The output Bilan Carbone® procedure will provide an estimate of the environmental impact of the Meeting, calculated in equivalent CO2 terms. This will help identify possible offsetting methods and will also help to establish clear impact reduction target figures for future Meetings.

An event such as this is also an effective way of getting the ecological footprint message across, and, more generally, of conveying the idea that protecting the environment is also about protecting the marine habitat.