The San Francisco Department of the Environment (SF Environment) has begun actively reaching out to the organizers of large conferences and conventions, offering them a unique opportunity to help mitigate event-related greenhouse gas emissions by investing in local green endeavors. Contributions to the San Francisco Carbon Fund will help pay for the implementation and upkeep of nine community projects recently named beneficiaries of the fund.
Dogpatch Biofuel, a public biofuel filling station, was supported by money that the International Biophysical Society invested in the San Francisco Carbon Fund to help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions resulting from its 2010 conference in San Francisco. SF Department of the Environment
By Bill Picture
Published: March, 2014
The San Francisco Department of the Environment (SF Environment) has begun actively reaching out to the organizers of large conferences and conventions, offering them a unique opportunity to help mitigate event-related greenhouse gas emissions by investing in local green endeavors. Contributions to the San Francisco Carbon Fund will help pay for the implementation and upkeep of nine community projects recently named beneficiaries of the fund.
The idea for the Carbon Fund was hatched in 2007, when then-Mayor Gavin Newsom issued an executive directive proposing the creation of a carbon offset program to help mitigate local greenhouse gas emissions resulting from air travel by municipal employees. Roughly two years later, the City began investing 13 percent of its annual budget for employee air travel in the Carbon Fund. The legislation that created the fund was drafted so that individuals and businesses alike can contribute to the fund—but SF Environment decided to hold off on marketing the Carbon Fund to the private sector until the projected results of funded carbon mitigation efforts could be replaced with hard numbers.
Four years ago, when the socially responsible International Biophysical Society approached the City to ask for advice on how to mitigate emissions generated by its upcoming conference as a result of guest travel and the transport of equipment and supplies, a new pool of potential fund contributors emerged.
"Then last year, the 11th Hour Foundation came to us and said, ‘We really want to use the Carbon Fund,’" said SF Environment’s Shawn Rosenmoss. "So we took a look at where participants were coming from, some from as far away as Haiti, did the calculations, and came up with a carbon load for them, which came to $23,000."
Still, SF Environment had to figure out the best way to reach the companies behind these large events and encourage them to invest in the San Francisco Carbon Fund, an investment that is, after all, totally voluntary. "We don’t want to discourage events from coming to San Francisco," said Rosenmoss. "It’s a fine line. We don’t want to be pushy."
Making a convincing argument
Recognizing the growing sense of social responsibility in the corporate world, it was decided that assembling a strong portfolio of Carbon Fund-backed local projects would present the most convincing argument for a large company to contribute.
"That’s what’s really unique about the Carbon Fund," Rosenmoss said. "When you contribute to the fund, you can see where your money is going. It stays right here in San Francisco."
Carbon offset programs existed long before San Francisco’s Carbon Fund was created. While the fund uses many of the same protocols for estimating carbon savings as other programs, it does not sell carbon offsets. The fund also focuses on local projects, while other carbon offset programs are more globally-geared. "Your money goes to save trees in the rainforest, or something like that," Rosenmoss said. "It’s great, but what are the chances of you getting to Brazil to see that? In the case of the Carbon Fund, you can go to these sites and see with your own eyes what these groups are doing to help the environment."
The first project to receive money from the Carbon Fund was Dogpatch Biodiesel, a biodiesel filling station partially funded by the International Biophysicial Society’s investment. The fund’s newer beneficiaries, however, reflect an increased focus on greening public spaces.
"We did the math to figure out how to get the most bang for the buck, you might say," Rosenmoss said. "And our calculations showed that greening and trees offer the most in terms of carbon mitigation."
As a result, DOE issued a request last year for proposals from community greening projects. Twelve proposals were submitted, and nine projects made the cut, proving their carbon-mitigating worth. Those nine projects will receive funding for an 18-month period.
Some of the names might be familiar, such as Friends of the Urban Forest, which installs sidewalk gardens and plantings throughout the City. Replacing concrete with climate-appropriate plants and trees sequesters carbon and reduces the amount of pollutants that rainwater picks up from paved surfaces and carries into storm drains that lead to the Bay.
Other projects are probably less familiar, though, such as the Asian Community Green Space Project, which is a collaboration between San Francisco-based AsianWeek Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the Asian-American voice, and Quesada Gardens Initiative, which takes derelict spaces in one of San Francisco’s most maligned neighborhoods and turns them into community gardens. The Asian Community Green Space Project will see a hard-packed dirt lot in Bayview Hunters Point transformed into the City’s first Asian-themed community garden and gathering space. The project is intended to engage the area’s largely underserved immigrant Asian population in the green discussion.
Plan-of-attack
In an effort to get more conferences and large events to participate in the Carbon Fund, Rosenmoss is planning to meet with event planners. She hopes they will carry the fund’s mission back to clients, many of whom are looking for ways to out-green competitors. "Reaching out to the conference planners, and bringing them up to speed on what we’re doing at the fund and how they and their clients can help is the first step, I think," Rosenmoss said.
More and more large companies are recognizing that a strong commitment to the environment is as good for the bottom line as it is for the conscience. And being the greenest is fast becoming as important as being the biggest or the best, as increasingly eco-conscious consumers opt to do business with companies that shadow their own green beliefs.
"The social responsibility that’s changing the way we live our daily lives is also extending to the choices we make when we travel," she said. "If given the opportunity to be greener, most people will take it. So let’s give it to them and help them feel good about the choices they’re making."
