SUSTAINABILITY REPORT

2011

Sometimes you gotta roll up your pant legs too

LETTER TO STAKEHOLDERS
Welcome. On behalf of our team here at Opportunity Green, Im proud to present our 2010 Sustainability Report.
With this report were inviting you to look inside our 2010 conference environmental sustainability program. We want to show you what the numbers look like and share a bit about whats going well and where weve been challenged and are looking to grow. Well also present some exciting plans for our 2011 conference. Were encouraged to see a growing business interest in sustainability across industries and cultures as additional thought and resources go into programs, processes and reporting. Implementing well thought out sustainable business systems through partnerships and across supply chains are an opportunity for us as executives and professionals to be good citizens. Theyre an opportunity for our businesses, to reduce risk and improve image, to reduce waste and improve profitability. Today with an ever growing body of knowledge and resources at hand, reducing harmful impacts that were once considered business-as-usual are finally becoming possible. We are proud to support the commitment of forward-thinking executives, managers and professionals like yourself toward the lofty goal of leaving the world in a better place than we found it! Like you, were faced with difficult choices. We dont have unlimited resources and it can be difficult to know what to prioritize and what to take on next. As with any organization, how to take on new initiatives in a cost-effective manner is of the utmost importance. Thus weve decided that our own path to sustainable business best practices will include looking at our impacts both beneficial and harmful - and report those to you, our stakeholders, in a clear and concise manner. We believe sharing our experiences will help us get better, and will be beneficial for you too. Finally, one of the accomplishments were most proud of that you wont be able to see in this report (at least not directly) is the passionate commitment of our team, the fun we had brainstorming and testing our ideas, and the bonds weve built by rolling up our sleeves (and pant legs!) to develop and implement processes that allow us to make this report meaningful. Were not perfect no one is but we commit to you, and to everyone in our community, that well keep on doing our very best to listen, analyze and improve every step of the way. Enjoy Our Report, Karen Solomon CEO, Opportunity Green

Karen Solomon CEO

INPUTS & OUTPUTS

MATERIALS MANAGEMENT
ccf kWh
During the 2010 conference, attendees1 tossed 3,200 pounds2

METERING

Los Angeles Center Studios is designed to be a film and television production facility that also provides on-site office space to production companies and other tenants. Metering

of material into our resource recovery bins. Thats two-times what we recovered in 2009. Compared with a 12% increase in attendance it becomes a telling statistic. We attribute this jump to clearer communication with vendors and sponsors regarding how to handle their pre- and post-conference waste. Our Diversion Rate this year was 96.3% percent -- a 12.5%
3

improvement from 2009. This initiative was a focus for us in 2010 so were happiest to see that improvement. Diversion Rate is easy to measure, is material to our Materials Management effort (a little Global Reporting Initiative humor there), and its lets us compare year-to-year performance in a straightforward manner. Compostable materials recovered went down to 400 pounds in 2010 from 520 pounds in 2009. We attribute this decrease to better pre-event management and serving meals with less associated waste and better-trained volunteers. We captured paper in the same bin as bottles and cans, which helped to limit the number of recycling bins needed on-site. Since wet paper cant be recycled we asked attendees to empty beverage containers before binning the bottle or can. We captured 175 gallons of this beverage remainder effluent (or backwash). Could backwash be converted into a biofuel? At this point that backwash is pure waste, but were hoping that one of you enterprising entrepreneurs will turn it into a byproduct in 2011.
4

utilities on their campus is configured to serve those business requirements. Sub-metering electricity and water, in a configuration that suits the interest of this report, serves no practical business purpose for them, so the spaces we use for the conference do not have dedicated sub-metering. This means that we can produce only very rough estimates of how much electricity and water we pull during the conference. With all of this in mind, our apparent electricity consumption in 2010 was not measurable (to estimate from scratch will take time). Our apparent water consumption was 1822 cubic feet. Because the common areas we occupy at Los Angeles Center Studios dont use natural gas weve stopped reporting our consumption of it. Were looking closely at ways to improve our accuracy around monitoring our consumption of these resources in 2011.

1 We define attendees to include staff sponsors, speakers, volunteers and paid attendees. 2 Weights are accurate to the nearest 10 pounds. 3 Diversion Rate formula: ((Total Materials Recovered Material Landfilled) / Total Materials Recovered) 4 Products, byproducts, and waste are the three outputs of any business process.

INPUTS & OUTPUTS

CO2E

TRAVEL

total from their travel to and from the conference. Things we could do to improve for next year would be to incorporate estimates of how much carbon was probably emitted for the energy and materials need for various other activities, services and products our attendees and staff engaged in throughout the conference. Like how much greenhouse gas is emitted through our electricity consumption, or to produce the various ingredients in our organic cocktails at the after-party.

Formula for Calculating Total [estimated] CO2 Emissions from Travel for the 2010 Conference
A = (total miles traveled by survey respondent using each given mode) * (average CO2 emitted per mile from each given mode), or CO2 Emissions for Survey Respondents for Each Travel Mode B = (A / Number of Survey Respondents), or Average CO2 Emissions per Survey Respondent C = (B * Number of Attendees) = Total [estimated] CO2 Emissions from Travel for the While we understand that CO2 emission is produced by many conference activities other than travel, we choose to focus on attendee travel because it is a large contributor, and we can make a reasonably educated estimate of what it might be. Our process for calculating CO2 from travel begins with a survey sent via email to all attendees. We ask attendees where they came from (using their ZIP Code) and ask how they got here through any mode of travel e.g. combination of rideshare, solo car, bike, airplane, walking, etc. This gives us a rough idea of how many miles each respondent traveled for each type of transportation. 124 people filled out this transportation survey. We used the information provided and multiplied the emissions caused by each mile car travel, for instance, times the miles driven, and did that for each type of transportation used by each person. This gave us the total emissions per person. Our estimated average CO2 emissions per person was 474kg. Multiplying by 798 attendees, that gives us 414 tons of CO2 Through sponsorship we offset 65 tons of CO2, or 16% of the estimated CO2 that attendees emitted from traveling to the conference. This offset was produced by generating 59,000 kWh of renewable energy. After this offset, we estimate CO2 emitted per attendee to be .43 tons. 2010 Conference

INPUTS & OUTPUTS

STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
Stakeholders are the most important part of any business. Theyre the customers, the vendors, the staff everyone who touches or adds value to a business. That makes you one of our stakeholders. The question we continuously ask ourselves in this regard is, , How do we engage our large attendee, sponsor and partner community in a dialogue that is both practical and mutually beneficial? In the last two years weve run online surveys, onsite whiteboards, Linkedin & Facebook threads, callin hotlines, and had face-to-face dialogue before, during and after the conference. Youve pointed out areas where we can improve specific aspects our corporate sustainability program. Youve shared lots of interesting ideas. And some of you have even volunteered to help us implement those ideas. Measuring success regarding our stakeholder engagement process has been one of our most interesting challenges. Resource-based initiatives have more easily quantifiable targets, like boosting return-on- investment by 10%, or reducing consumption by 10,000 units, Were still exploring which metrics make the most sense - for us and for you. So keep your ideas coming! The best way for you to keep an eye on how well were engaging with you is to watch how our sustainability program changes based on your input. Send your thoughts and ideas to sustdir@opportunitygreen.com, with the subject line stakeholder feedback.

So, what do you think?

Why dont you...

2009
16.5%

SUSTAINABILITY REPORT NUMBERS

51.25%
RECYCLED
(GLASS, PLASTIC, ALUMINIUM, PAPER)

2010
83.8%

3.7%

12.5%

32.5%

COMPOSTED
(ORGANIC MATTER)

83.8% DIVERSION RATE

(RECYCLED + COMPOSTED)

LANDFILLED

(NOT RECYCLED OR COMPOSTED)

96.3% DIVERSION RATE

3.36 .50
1822 95.84

(RECYCLED + COMPOSTED)

1.03

.65

.15

DIVERSION PER ATTENDEE (POUNDS)

WATER
2 PER ATTENDEE 4 PER ATTENDEE
(kWh) (CUBIC FEET)

.33
(2010) (2009) ?* (2010)

CO2 FROM TRAVEL (TONS OF CO )

2

123 (2010) 234 (2009)

POWER
*see Metering on page 3 for apparent discrepancies

2096 (2009)

IN 2010 OUR DIVERSION RATE WAS

96.3%

In just one year, LACSs recycling initiatives saved an estimated: 2,640 trees 159 tons of paper and plastic 1,000,000 gallons of water $450,000 For more http://portal.lacenterstudios.com/SUSTAINABILITY/MonthlyEnergyGraphs/ tabid/100/Default.aspx Now, on to the 2010 conference

First, a little backstory on our new home, Los Angeles Center Studios. In 2005 the executives of Los Angeles Center Studios purchased the headquarters of a defunct petroleum exporter and marketer, and began retrofitting the campus into a film and television production facility. Their makeover included installing VFD-Tower Fans (variable-frequency drive), a boiler retrofit, lighting controls in offices, replacing carpet with recycled carpet tiles, installing low-flow water faucets and toilets and waterless urinals, launching a recycling program that includes paper, plastic bottles, cans, glass and e-waste. Low-water landscaping was planted and composting initiatives were added. Flix Caf, the studios on-site commissary, features organic produce, uses compostable and recycled materials in food production, and recycles fryer oil into fuel. Their efforts resulted in a: 68% reduction in fuel consumption 32% reduction in electricity consumption 26% reduction in water consumption

WHAT WENT WELL

The experience weve gained since launching our corporate sustainability program in 2008 has greatly increased our teams efficiency, so in 2010 we needed 20% fewer volunteers we did than 2009. This meant that our volunteer training went smoother and that the front line G-Team was generally better informed. After three years of managing our conference footprint, there were no big surprises - weve already experienced a lot of the gotchas. Were pleased to have comparison data from 2009 and 2008, and even though the comparison is a bit apples-to-oranges, having that data makes it easier to get new partners up-tospeed and focusing on how to help us do better. And were especially pleased that our diversion rate went from 84% in 2009 to 96% in 2010. Thats the equivalent of more than 3000 pounds of materials kept out of a landfill in 2010 alone.

WHAT NEEDS WORK

The accuracy of our meter readings is a big question that wed like to resolve for 2011. Because our spaces dont have dedicated

sub-metering, lots of other people outside of the conference wind up impacting our apparent usage. That means were stuck trying to unravel who used what and when, which is extra tricky on a lot that has top-secret productions running on it. Well do our best to do better but for this year we were stuck using a less-than-perfect methodology. Another place we can make improvements is a deeper coordination and understanding of heating/ventilation/air conditioning in a major motion picture sounds stage! Being in the sound stage in 2010, we learned there are two settings for A/C, on and off . Since typical lighting for a movie shoot produces a lot of heat, our situation was a bit different. In the future we would work to make sure we could have a way to throttle the A/C more effectively, for comfort and energy savings. We received responses that our public transportation information could be better. So if you know of a transit expert that would like to help us improve our means of communicating mass transit options in LA, drop us a line at sustdir@opportunitygreen.com. And a favorite story of ours came from our volunteer Jared, who was part of the GTeam front line. Jared shared with us that when we were pouring-off the beverage remainder effluent we realized that the drains werent handling our capacity very well, and suddenly I found myself shin deep in a blend of cold coffee, tea, and soda. After he dried off, Jared kept right on with his duties. He learned first-hand that proper disposal of our waste liquids will require a larger drain. Thanks for being such a good sport Jared! And thank you to all our volunteers as well.

WHATS NEXT?

First wed like to announce a leadership transition on our team. As of June 1, 2011 Jeff Hayes stepped down from our top sustainability post, with Natacha ArnaudBattandier taking on the role of Sustainability Director. Welcome Natacha! And thanks Jeff, for all the hard work you put getting our program off the ground. Jeff will stay on the team, in the newly created role of Reporting Manager. For a couple years weve been exploring how to apply the Global Reporting Initiative framework (GRI) to our conference. Were in the discovery phase of this large and complicated undertaking, and were hoping to produce 2011s report using the GRI format. Well share more on our Coffee? progress with GRI once weve moved out of discovery and into implementation. As of this reports publication our corporate sustainability goals for 2011 are still being finalized. They will be available soon, stay tuned!

THANKS
Opportunity Greens Corporate Sustainability program is a collaboration that includes many individuals and several key organizations. Without the thousands of man-hours they contribute, and the materials and resources they provide, this effort would stall very quickly. Let us begin by offering a huge Thank You to all our G-Team volunteers. We rely on you and appreciate your energy, commitment, and your great ideas. Our staff is top-notch. Some are mentioned in the box to the right. Many others also made significant contributions. We gratefully acknowledge the passion that you bring to the G-Team, and we appreciate you more than we can express in words. Our sponsors provide us with many key resources. Thank you, each of you, for all that you bring to the table. Well look forward to seeing you in November for the 2011 conference! Yours very truly, The G-Team
Sponsors

CREDITS
Sustainability Director: Jeff Hayes Sustainable Event Director: Edward Pakdaman Sustainable Event Coordinator: Neha Sharma Materials Recovery Manager: Ruth Grant Photos: Adrian Sidney, Geoffrey Nicholson Report Layout & Inforgraphics Design: Barbara Astrini

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