Assessing Strategies to Reduce the Carbon Footprint of the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology

Abstract

ImportanceGreenhouse gas emissions associated with medical conferences have been associated with climate change, and the effects of climate change have been associated with an increased incidence of ophthalmic diseases. Identifying practical strategies associated with reducing these emissions may be warranted.ObjectiveTo assess greenhouse gas emissions associated with in-person and virtual meetings of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) and to conduct mitigation analyses to suggest strategies to reduce future emissions.Design, Setting, and ParticipantsQuality improvement study in which attendee and conference data were used to estimate emissions from in-person (October 12 to October 15, 2019, San Francisco, California) and virtual (November 13 to November 15, 2020) AAO annual meetings for 35 104 attendees. The data were also used to perform mitigation analyses to assess whether meeting format alterations could be used to reduce future emissions. Data were analyzed from December 21, 2021, to April 18, 2022.ExposuresAttendance at a selected meeting. Total attendance was 23 190 participants in 2019 and 11 914 participants in 2020.Main Outcomes and MeasuresGreenhouse gas emissions produced by the in-person meeting were estimated by calculating the equivalent metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) associated with attendee transportation, attendee accommodations, and the conference venue. Emissions produced by the virtual meeting were estimated by calculating the equivalent metric tons of CO2 associated with attendees’ computer use, network data transfer, and video-conferencing server use. Mitigation analyses simulated the association of changing the meeting location and format with reductions in emissions.ResultsIn this analysis, the 2019 in-person meeting produced 39 910 metric tons of CO2 (1.73 metric tons of CO2 per capita), and the 2020 virtual meeting produced 38.6 metric tons of CO2 (0.003 metric tons of CO2 per capita). Mitigation analyses showed that holding a single in-person meeting in Chicago, Illinois, rather than San Francisco, California, could be associated with transportation-related emissions reductions of 19% (emissions for the San Francisco meeting, 38 993 metric tons of CO2; for the Chicago meeting, 31 616 metric tons of CO2). Holding multiple in-person meetings in separate regions could be associated with transportation-related emissions reductions of as much as 38% (emissions for the San Francisco meeting, 38 993 metric tons of CO2; for multiple meeting scenario 2, 24 165 metric tons of CO2).Conclusions and RelevanceThis study found that the AAO’s 2019 in-person meeting was associated with substantially higher greenhouse gas emissions compared with the 2020 virtual meeting, primarily due to transportation-related emissions. Increasing the proportion of virtual participants, holding the meeting in locations chosen to minimize transportation-related emissions, or offering multiple regional meeting locations may reduce the carbon footprint of future meetings.

Meet and greet but avoid the heat: a reflection on the carbon footprint of congresses prompted by ERA2023

“…Others have previously attempted to estimate the carbon footprint of medical congresses: for example, the 3-day 2019 American Academy of Ophthalmology Congress was attended by >23 000 people with an estimated carbon footprint of just under 39 910 tons of CO 2 , of which 38 993 tons originated from transportation [ 24 ]. Based on calculations using myclimate.org, we estimate that the carbon footprint of air travel to Milan for ERA2023 was 5808 tons of CO 2 ( Supplementary Table S1 ).…”

The Lyceum for Pain Education: Providing Accessible Education on Chronic Pain and Headaches to a Global Audience

“…The rise in online CE yields an additional benefit of reducing the carbon footprint associated with in-person medical conferences, with estimates of United States-based conferences suggesting 19,819–39,910 metric tons of CO2 per conference (1.19–1.73 metric tons of CO2 per capita). 17 , 18 In comparison, the average carbon footprint of each person in the US is 14.44 metric tons.…”

Astronomy’s climate emissions: Global travel to scientific meetings in 2019

“…However, in light of the climate crisis, researchers, particularly working in the field of medicine, ecology, biology, and astronomy, have started to critically assess their own travel behavior by calculating GHG emissions related to individual, large, annual meetings ( 9–15 ). In general, air travel to conferences makes up the largest contribution of GHG emissions to a meeting by far ( 14 , 15 ). Some studies also compare how the carbon footprint of a recurring meeting evolved over time ( 16–18 ), or how an in-person conference compares to a virtual one ( 19 ).…”

“…Researchers benefit from networking with their colleagues during meetings (Oester et al, 2017), and a correlation of the visibility of a scientist with their amount of air travel seems to exist (Berné et al, 2022). However, in light of the climate crisis, researchers, particularly working in the field of medicine, ecology, biology, and astronomy, have started to critically assess their own travel behaviour by calculating GHG emissions related to individual, large, annual meetings (Callister & Griffiths, 2007;Yakar & Kwee, 2020;Bousema et al, 2020;Passalacqua, 2021;Wortzel et al, 2021;Periyasamy et al, 2022;McClintic & Stashevsky, 2023). In general, airtravel to conferences makes up the largest contribution of GHG emissions to a meeting by far (Periyasamy et al, 2022;McClintic & Stashevsky, 2023).…”

“…However, in light of the climate crisis, researchers, particularly working in the field of medicine, ecology, biology, and astronomy, have started to critically assess their own travel behaviour by calculating GHG emissions related to individual, large, annual meetings (Callister & Griffiths, 2007;Yakar & Kwee, 2020;Bousema et al, 2020;Passalacqua, 2021;Wortzel et al, 2021;Periyasamy et al, 2022;McClintic & Stashevsky, 2023). In general, airtravel to conferences makes up the largest contribution of GHG emissions to a meeting by far (Periyasamy et al, 2022;McClintic & Stashevsky, 2023). Some studies also compare how the carbon footprint of a recurring meeting evolved over time (Ponette-González & Byrnes, 2011;Jäckle, 2019;Milford et al, 2021), or how an in-person conference compares to a virtual one (West & Hunter, 2022).…”