Global Climate Change Coalition
(Climate Coalition)
Home     Join     Supporters     Directory     Calendar     News     Footprints     About Us     Contact Us      

The Climate Coalition applies consumer and economic research to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions while maximizing the Triple Bottom Line: financial, social, and environmental performance. We are currently focused on two key efforts.

 

First, we are working on a Transit Accessibility IndexTM (TAI) that measures the relative accessibility of an individual location by public transit versus private vehicle.

 

Second, "Green Your Meeting" is an initiative designed to get people who are organizing events, from informal two-person meetings to global conferences, to hold their events in transit-accessible venues.

One Key to Consumer Behavior: Appeal to Their Bottom Line

Consumers are interested in the environment and conservation, but they are interested in costs as well. A survey by Nielsen in 2009 found that a large majority—80%—a said that their primary motivation for conservation is to cut costs and save money.

Table 1 Consumer Interest in Conservation (Nielsen 2009)

Motivation

%

Cost and Money

80

Fight Global Warming

8

Save the Earth

8

To Feel Better

2

Set Example

1

 

Green Your Meeting Brings People to Transit-Friendly Locations

 

Many meetings are arranged without regard to environment and, as a result, many people are forced to use private transportation. Green Your Meeting brings business to transit-friendly locations by convincing organizations and meeting planners to hold meetings in transit-friendly locations.

The cost to meeting organizers is zero. The benefits to meeting organizers include knowledge that they are making a positive environmental impact and broadening access to their meetings. The benefits to the business are to its Triple Bottom  Line.

 

People Are Increasingly Concerned With Sustainability

 

A recent USA Today / Gallup poll found that 55% of Americans favor environmental protection over the development of US energy supplies, while 39% favored energy development over environmental protection. This is the second largest percentage favorable to environmental protection in the ten year history of this question.

 

Transportation Offers a Tremendous Opportunity for Emission Reduction

Transportation offers a great opportunity to reduce energy demand. Approximately 70% of the oil used in the United States is used for transportation, and over 50% of "individual" emissions—that over which individuals have direct control—are from transportation.

Table 2 Largest Source of Individual Emissions is Vehicles (US EPA)

Emission Source

CO2 Metric Tons (mt)

% of Total

Vehicles

5.7

61

Home (electicity)

2.6

28

Waste

0.5

5

Other

0.6

6

Total Individual Emissions

9.4

100

Transit-Accessible Venues Have a Big Advantage

Public transit can actually be less expensive and more convenient than private transportation. When opportunity costs are taken into consideration, one of the most important variables is the amount of time required on public transit versus private transportation. Favorable transit design and heavy traffic congestion can make transit the better economic choice and can make venues located near transit systems more attractive.

Figure 1 Public vs. Private Transportation Cost Depends on Relative Travel Time (Global Climate Change Coalition)

Location Offers Undeveloped Economic, Social, and Environmental Benefits

"Location, location, location" has long been a real estate mantra, and transportation—from rivers to sea ports to roads to railroads to airports—have been key to development. As we become increasingly concerned about our continued reliance on fossil fuels, location will become even more important than ever before to our overall well being. We need to reduce our fossil fuel use for a number of reasons:

-          because fossil fuels are a finite resource;

-          because payment for imported oil subsidizes many hostile regimes and makes us vulnerable to external events;

-          because continued spending on fossil fuels detracts from our ability to migrate to a new sustainable economy;

-          because of the detrimental environmental impact of our continued use of fossil fuels.

Transit Accessibility Index™ (TAI)

The Transit Accessibility Index is a measure of the accessibility of a particular location to public transit. While nothing beats being situated on top of a public transit station, other factors come into play that make some locations more accessible than others. The Transit Accessibility Index helps evaluate and compare different locations.

Get on Our Mailing List

 

Add your organization to our list of sustainability organizations.

 

Sign up for our tweets at www.twitter.com/gccc.

 

http://www.tinyurl.com/gccchome

 

 

Why do we support Zipcar?