Laurence A Wright

Rio+20 saw commitment from the international community to develop Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to shape the global efforts towards sustainable development. As part of an interdisciplinary curriculum innovation module at the University of Southampton, students take part in a ‘SDGs Summit’. Interdisciplinary student groups represent nation ‘blocs’ attempting to reach consensus on six priority SDGs, from a starting set of sixteen, through personal and social media negotiation. The exercise requires students to inhabit the perspectives of different ‘blocs’, challenging them to extend their understanding and application of sustainable development beyond their own discipline. This paper shares best practice on this innovative vehicle for teaching students the complexities surrounding international political negotiation and agreement where the outcomes will have differing social, economic and environmental consequences for the ‘blocs’, depending on their economic prosperity, natural resources, states of development, and political ideologies. The paper also explores how the summit incorporates the challenges around inequality of access and influence on the global negotiating platform. The adaptation of existing simulation and negotiation pedagogies to address current global political concerns and the use of Twitter in the classroom is considered to be a suitable approach to address the complex interdisciplinary subject area of sustainable development. Although initially focused at ESD practitioners, the interdisciplinary, social media and international focus of the SDGs Summit renders this approach relevant for pedagogical innovators and students across the globe.

Carbon footprinting is one of the foremost methods available for quantifying anthropogenic environmental impacts and for helping tackle the threat of climate change. However, for any person undertaking a carbon footprinting analysis for the first time, they will almost certainly be struck by the broad array of definitions, approaches and terminology surrounding the field. This paper provides an introductory guide to some basic concepts in carbon footprinting for researchers and lay people interested in the area. Each stage of calculating a carbon footprint is considered and an introduction to the main methodologies is provided. The advantages and disadvantages of the various approaches are discussed and a rough framework of procedures is provided for the calculation of carbon footprints over a variety of subjects. Some general data sources and a glossary of key carbon footprinting terminology are included.

A significant proportion of anthropogenic GHG-generating activities are concentrated in cities. As centers of high consumption, wealth and creativity, cities must play a significant role in tackling climate change. Action to reduce emissions at a local level requires that municipal and local governments have a good understanding of emissions sources and reduction potentials. To achieve this, municipal governments require adequate tools and resources to enable effective policy decision making. The carbon footprint is becoming an increasingly recognized tool for the management of climate change. The term carbon footprint originated in the ‘gray literature’, and it is widely recognized in the public arena. It offers the opportunity to municipal governments to develop models to inform climate change strategy decision making, and enables municipal authorities to localize the issue of climate change and promote the benefits of climate change mitigation at the local level. Existing framework guidance often fails to include all relevant emissions or follow widely varying methodologies, limiting comparability. This article examines the concept of climate change localization and management. The carbon footprint is explored in the context of a tool for municipal government management of GHG emissions. We conclude by suggesting that the carbon footprint become a cost-effective, practical and repeatable metric that can be adopted by municipal governments across the globe as a ‘baseline’ indicator.

As the threat of climate change becomes more acute, so does the need for adequate measures of impact(s), management and mitigation. Although carbon footprints are increasingly being used by organizations in the public and private sectors, a number of challenges and questions need to be addressed; among them, what does the term ‘carbon footprint’ actually mean? The term needs a universally accepted definition before a consistent, accurate, comparable and transferable methodology can be developed. This article investigates the range of current definitions proposed for a carbon footprint in the context of inventoried emissions, applications, boundaries and limitations. We argue that to only account for CO2 emissions would result in the omission of almost a third of GHGs and a significant gap in their global management, whilst inclusion of all GHGs is very time-consuming and expensive, and should be considered only in system-specific life cycle-based assessments; this requires a separate definition, name and methodology. We suggest that as data collection for CO2 and CH4 emissions is relatively straightforward, these two carbon-based gases should be used in the determination of a carbon footprint. This should allow the carbon footprint to become a cost-effective, practical and repeatable metric that can be adopted by all types of organizations across the globe as a ‘baseline’ indicator. However, it is likely that a more comprehensive metric will be required in some circumstances and by some organizations, so we also propose further GHG inclusion for full life cycle assessment-based assessments; where complete data is obtainable it can be used to provide a ‘climate footprint’. This name reflects the addition of noncarbon-based gases and encompasses the full range of gases used in the global political community’s response in managing climate change. We conclude by considering lessons learnt with the proposal of sound and pragmatic definitions.

A substantial proportion of anthropogenic greenhouse gas generating activities are concentrated in global cities. Action to reduce emissions at the urban level requires an understanding of life-cycle emissions sources and reduction potentials. Policy response(s) by municipal authorities needs to consider all emissions scopes across the urban lifecycle. Existing framework guidance often does not include all relevant emissions sources, proposes inconsistent methodologies and fails to consider the significance of limited data. A clear statement of the urban system and its boundary is required to develop benchmarks and facilitate the development of global ‘low-carbon’ cities. Carbon footprints are being developed to facilitate the management of anthropogenic GHG emissions and offer the opportunity to develop internationally agreed models to inform decision making and localize the issue of climate change. This paper will explain the theory behind their development and outline how theory can be translated into a practical tool.