FOMs for the environment: Digital speaker management reduces the CO2 footprint

Online meetings are more environmentally friendly than face-to-face meetings, but they are not completely CO2-neutral. By supporting your meetings with the right FOM tool, you can further improve your carbon footprint.

In-person events not only cause costs for the organizers and participants, but also for the environment. For example, when a large corporation invites shareholders to its Annual General Meeting, thousands of shareholders from all over the world often make the pilgrimage to the venue. But even smaller meetings such as committee meetings or ordinary business trips contribute significantly to global CO2 emissions.

Climate sinner presence meeting

The Verkehrsclub Deutschland (V CD) estimates that Germany could save up to three million tons of greenhouse gas per year if companies across the country were to replace business trips with video conferencing. According to the VCD's calculations, business trips result in 12 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions every year. According to the Federal Ministry for the Environment, this corresponds to just under 1.5 percent of the greenhouse gases emitted in Germany each year.

The main reason for the miserable carbon footprint of face-to-face events is the journey to and from the event. Even a train journey from Stuttgart to Berlin generates 65 kilograms of CO2 - traveling by car or even by plane generates even more. Jens Clausen, one of the authors of the VCD study, says that 700,000 cars could be made superfluous by the establishment of digital meetings.

Click here for the full article.