London Speaker Bureau has committed itself to becoming a carbon neutral company by 2020.
London Speaker Bureau’s ethos is to connect ideas and people; in today’s world this should not be carbon heavy. Clients and colleagues alike say that they want to be ready for the future. That they want to be part of creating a prosperous, sustainable, resilient economy. There’s no better way to demonstrate how this is possible than supporting others through our creating shared strategy and going carbon neutral ourselves.
Throughout 2018, in total we have offset 216.17 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions through supporting projects around the world, which reduce carbon emissions through improved energy efficiency helping to combat climate change and sustaining our environment for future generations.
Through our carbon off-sets, we are able to contribute to the following projects. For more information, please visit www.carbonfootprint.com.
IMPROVED COOKSTOVES FOR SOCIAL IMPACT IN UGANDAN COMMUNITIES
One of the main causes of forest degradation in Uganda is the use of wood fuels for domestic and institutional cooking. More than 95% of Ugandans rely on solid fuels for cooking, typically charcoal or wood for urban dwellers, and wood for rural households. A series of focus groups held in 2005 in three Kampala divisions concluded that the most common domestic cooking device in urban areas was the traditional metal charcoal stove, followed by the three-stone wood fire which is in use by an urban minority. Institutional cooking was found to be mostly firewood based.
The project reduces green-house emissions by disseminating fuel-efficient stoves. The improved charcoal stove reduces fuel consumption by introduction of an insulated combustion chamber which increases combustion efficiency and retains heat. While these stoves will significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, they simultaneously provide co- benefits to users and families in the form of relief from high fuel costs and reduced exposure to health- damaging airborne pollutants.
SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY
The project is contributing to sustainable development:
- Mothers and children will be exposed to fewer hazardous air pollutants through reduced emissions of carbon monoxide and fine particulate matter. Air pollution from cooking with solid fuel is a key risk factor for childhood pneumonia as well as many other respiratory, cardiovascular, and ocular diseases.
- Biodiversity will be improved through the stove program reducing pressure on remaining forest reserves. Uganda is home to more than 5,000 plant species, 345 species of mammals, and 1,015 types of birds.
- The improved stoves give rise to employment opportunities in manufacturing, distributing, retailing, and maintaining the stoves, as well as in relation to business development and management, and in relation to technological skill.
- The circumstances of poor families will be improved by a reduction in expenditures on fuel due to the more efficient stoves.
INDIA COOKSTOVE
The Breathing Space Improved Cooking Stoves (ICS) Programme is a voluntary Programme of Activities that disseminates energy efficient cook-stoves to households in India.
India’s domestic sector is one of its largest primary energy consumers with 75% of energy requirements met by fuel-wood and agricultural waste. Cooking alone is responsible for 90% of household energy consumption, and demand is increasing annually at a rate of 8.1%. As per the World Health Organization Comparative Risk Study, approximately 400,000 women and children die every year in India due to exposure to smoke from household use of solid fuels. The Breathing Space Programme, by replacing traditional stoves, contributes towards solving the indoor air pollution problem by deploying cleaner and greener cooking stoves in addition to reducing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions.
ICS are designed to achieve reduction in fuel consumption (non-renewable biomass) and improvement in levels of indoor air pollution. The ICS result in better heat transfer and complete fuel combustion (avoiding smoke, black soot and Particulate matter as compared to that achieved in traditional cook stoves. This results in a significant reduction in non-renewable biomass consumption and levels of indoor air pollution in project households.
SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY
The programme gives rise to new employment opportunities for stove technicians, distributors/ dealers, people engaged in awareness campaigns, and other support staff.
- Livelihood of the poor
The programme leads to improvements in living conditions especially for women in project households. The ICS are fuel efficient compared to traditional chulhas. Therefore, the programme reduces the drudgery of fuel wood collection for women and young children by reducing the time required for this activity. Furthermore, reduction in biomass consumption directly reduces cooking costs for the project population permitting higher savings for end users. - Access to affordable and clean energy services
The ICS are sold at nominal prices to end users thereby providing them affordable energy service. In addition, the project has spent considerable effort in creating robust marketing and distribution channels for ICS sales which can be easily accessed by end users. The project has trained distributors and retailers to ensure that ICS benefits are explained to end users at the time of purchase. Thus, the project contributes towards improving access to affordable and clean energy services. - Human and institutional capacity
The programme aims to develop human and institutional capacity of project households in India. The programme conducted awareness campaigns to sensitize people against the ill-effects of IAP. Further, by reducing the amount of cooking time (better heat transfer in ICS saves cooking time) the programme provides women in project households with more time to invest in productive and capacity development activities.
UGANDA BOREHOLE
The Borehole project is a micro project in Uganda, providing a source of clean drinking water to a local community
The most basic requirement to sustain life is clean water. For many rural communities across Sub-Saharan Africa the struggle to find clean safe drinking water can take a major part of a family's resource. More often than not the burden falls to women and children to collect water often walking a great distance from home. Even then water drawn from pools or rivers is often contaminated with pollutants and potentially lethal bacteria that cause illness and infections, and so to make the water palatable and safe to drink it needs to be boiled. The project works with local communities to identify and repair the many broken boreholes in Uganda. As well as the natural health benefits it means that families no longer have to boil the water, saving firewood and thereby preventing carbon emissions from being released.
The project is located primarily in the North Region of Uganda, within the Districts of Alebtong, Kole and Dokolo. Between 1987 and 2007 these region was heavily affected by the Lord’s Resistance Movement led by Joseph Kony. During that period, over two million people became displaced and it is estimated that over 20,000 children were abducted and forced into the army. This prolonged period of conflict has had serious consequences on all areas of life including education, health and economic development with poverty levels among the highest in the country. One of the major impacts of the war has also been a complete lack of investment in infrastructure particularly in the water sector. Approximately 60% of the people in the Districts do not have access to clean water and rely exclusively on open wells, lakes and other unprotected sources.
Many existing boreholes in the District are owned by community groups or community based organisations and have fallen into disrepair because maintenance programmes have been poorly managed, or proven too expensive. this project has worked with community groups in the Districts to identify broken down boreholes, renovate them and supply a maintenance programme to ensure that clean, safe water is delivered as a result.
