Recommendations Emerging from Carbon Emissions Estimations of the Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting

Abstract

The annual Neuroscience meeting yields significant, measurable impacts that conflict with the environmental commitment of the society and IPCC’s recommendations to address the climate emergency (IPCC, 2018). We used 12,761 presenters’ origins, two online carbon calculators, and benchmark values to estimate 2018 meeting-related travel, event venue operations, and hotel accommodation emissions. Presenters’ conference travel resulted in between 17,298 and 8,690 t CO2, with or without radiative forcing index factors. Over 92% of authors traveled by air and were responsible for over 99% of total travel-related emissions. Extrapolations based upon 28,691 registrants yielded between 69,592.60 t CO2e and 38,010.85 t CO2from travel. Comparatively, authors’ and registrants’ hotel accommodation emissions equaled 429 and 965 t CO2e, whereas operation of the San Diego Convention Center equaled about 107 t CO2e. We relate SfN meeting-related emissions to potential September Arctic sea ice loss, labor productivity loss in lower-income equatorial countries, and future temperature-related deaths. We estimate emissions reductions of between 23 to 78 percent by incentivizing between 10 and 50 percent of the most distant registrants to attend virtually or connecting between two and seven in-person hubs virtually. Completely virtual meetings may yield a reduction of over 99% relative to centralized in-person meetings and increase participation of women, queer and transgender scientists, and scientists from low- and middle-income countries. We strongly recommend adopting alternative meeting modes such as 4 or more in-person global hubs connected virtually by 2030 and fully virtual by 2050.Significance Statement“Rapid,” “far-reaching,” and “unprecedented” systems transitions that result in “deep [greenhouse gas] emissions reductions in all sectors” are needed to limit global warming to 1.5° C (IPCC, 2018, p. 17). Our emissions estimations from the 2018 SfN conference venue, hotel accommodations, and travel indicate that most presenting authors traveled by air and emitted tens of thousands of tons of atmospheric carbon dioxide, as Aron and colleagues (2020) suggested. Among known impacts, SfN conference-related emissions likely yield measurable September Arctic sea ice and labor productivity losses, and future temperature-related deaths. Our mathematical exploration of scenarios that reduce conference-related emissions that adhere to the IPCC’s reduction recommendations clearly and immediately impact the means of meeting and disseminating future work in neuroscience.