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May 2015 |
The distribution centre in northwest Trinidad for an ice cream manufacturing company seems a strange place to meet a greenhouse gas management professional. “We are measuring our carbon footprint,” Ryan Deosaran, ice cream distributor, assures me. “And we will be seeking ways to offset it.” His company is developing and will soon launch an environmental awareness programme for children. “Young people in Trinidad and Tobago are not aware of the effects of climate change and the importance of sustainability.” When he graduated from St Mary’s College in 2003, Deosaran’s expectations were simple. He went off that same year to the University of Leeds and earned a first degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering (2006). He planned to go further in environmental studies, but a life-threatening event intervened. When he couldn’t continue environmental studies at Harvard, he was advised by Angela Cropper to enrol in on-line courses at the GHG Management Institute. Deosaran is grateful that icons of environmental studies like Angela Cropper and Professor John Agard took an interest in his journey. “Angela Cropper mentored me. We discussed the importance of being able to measure what the world was trying to reduce (GHG emissions). Professor Agard, Michael Gillenwater (Founder of GHGMI) and Kishan Kumarsingh (of the Ministry of the Environment in Trinidad and Tobago) have all helped with numerous meetings and countless pieces of advice. Professor Agard especially gave a lot of his time to discuss the potential of my independent research, as well as his views on Trinidad and Tobago in the context of climate change.” In 2007, Cropper had been UN Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), appointed by Sec-Gen Ban Ki-Moon. In that year, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded jointly to the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Al Gore for their work in bringing attention to climate change and the environment. Head of UWI’s Department of Life Sciences, Professor John Agard, was a member of the IPCC. In November 2007, the GHG Management Institute was established by persons who had been involved in developing compliance mechanisms for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. It was launched as the first global training institution focused on GHG management. It was built as an on-line university with academic policies and a comprehensive curriculum. Learning can take place any time, any place. “I took one course, then another, then another and another.” Deosaran is Triple Certified in GHG Offset Projects, Advanced GHG Accounting and GHG Verification. He also has the Diploma – GHG Measurement, Reporting and Verification, which attests to proficiency in Introduction to Carbon Markets; Basics of Organizational and Project-level GHG Accounting; Accounting for Forest Inventories, for Landfill Methane Projects and for Renewable Energy Projects; Navigating Kyoto Project Mechanisms and Verification for Inventories and Projects. He is now a member of the Society of Greenhouse Gas Professionals, and an Ambassador for the Institute. Later this year, Deosaran will have his Master’s in Environmental Management (specialization in Climate Change) from the University of Derby, England. In Trinidad, Deosaran recently developed and administered a survey to assess the feasibility of carbon market studies in Trinidad and Tobago. The majority of respondents are concerned about the effects of climate change, and many are willing to support or participate in some way towards offsetting or reducing greenhouse gas emissions. For the most part, Trinbagonians are ignorant of the relationship between greenhouse gas emissions and climate change; in doubt about an individual’s or company’s capability to affect changes, and even less knowledgeable about the growing trend in emissions trading. The questions that garnered the highest levels of agreement among respondents were:
In response to these questions, nearly 90% are concerned about climate change. People feel that they don’t know enough and are not empowered. Most believe that the Government needs to do more. Fewer respondents perceive greenhouse gas accounting as a possible career choice. One-third responded positively to the question, If the necessary education and training were provided, would you consider a job in the fields of carbon management and/or greenhouse gas accounting that are necessary for the projects mentioned? His purpose is to use the results of the survey as a baseline for attitude change, while building awareness among main sectors of the population: government, corporate and the general public. He was pleased that the Energy Chamber was recently reported (Radhica Sookraj, Trinidad Guardian March 25, 2015) to be piloting a proposal to reduce carbon emissions and generate carbon credits with potential earnings over US$3 billion. Where climate change is concerned, the survey indicates that the Government should be leading from the front. Not enough is known about the Government’s policy and commitments to the UN protocol. Kishan Kumarsingh, head of the Multilateral Environment Agreements Unit of the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, was the co-chair (representing Small Island Developing States) with the European Union’s Artur Runge-Metzger, of a working group at the United Nations Climate Change Conference that took place in Warsaw, Poland in November 2013. He is expected to lead the TT delegation to the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, to be held in Paris in December. This conference objective is to achieve a “legally binding” and universal agreement on climate, from all the nations of the world. The ultimate goal of the Convention is to reduce “greenhouse gas” emissions in order to limit global temperature increase to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Climate change is the single issue which demands that all humans, all populations, all nations, act together. What might one person do? He can influence the attitudes of friends, business associates and the younger generation. Ryan Deosaran believes that the change is starting; he intends to give it momentum.
The results revealed a sense of personal responsibility and an urgent desire for solution-oriented thinking: 87.7% of respondents saw themselves as global citizens with a duty to help the overall situation. Selected results include:
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Ryan Deosaran is not a graduate of the UWI; but he was mentored by two eminent graduates, and guided in the emerging field that proposes to deal with climate change by measuring and monetizing emissions. He is one of a growing number of graduates from the Greenhouse Gas Management Institute – a virtual organization – and a conscientious citizen of the world acting to reduce the earth’s warming temperature.
Ryan Deosaran is conducting independent research on the feasibility of voluntary carbon markets and frameworks in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) that he hopes will lead to more accurate GHG emission inventories. This extract is from his preliminary report published on the GHG Management Institute’s website.