Due Oct 2025- Carbon offsets

[eteq]

This is a spin-off from #16. In that thread we were discussing the broad goal of achieving carbon-neutrality. A lot of the discussion there was on travel, but CI was also raised as a major carbon source of the project.

That said, last comment there was in January, and since then... our travel-related carbon footprint has fallen dramatically as a project! Not for the best of reasons perhaps but there it is anyway. So I'm creating this issue to focus specifically on the specific topic of offsetting our CI.

In https://github.com/astropy/astropy-project/issues/16#issuecomment-565225890 I did a back-of-the-envelope estimate of our current usage. My best guess there was 5 g of CO2 per CI build, and a total to-date of the core package only (which is probably the largest but not the only significant CI load) at 1.5 metric tons.

What I have not yet done is estimated things like astroquery server impact, etc. Not all of that is entirely Astropy's "fault", but we could certainly make some ballpark estimates.

So my proposal is that we work out a permanent (or at least permanent-for-as-long-as-we-have-money) mechanism we can use to do carbon offsetting for this work. As discussed in #16, it also makes sense to limit our footprint in the first place, but that comes with lots of tradeoffs that require discussion, whereas it seemed to me there was a clear consensus that offsets are the least we can do.

@astrofrog gave a list of resources to consider here: https://github.com/astropy/astropy-project/issues/16#issuecomment-566977382 for carbon offsets. I haven't yet had a chance to absorb them, but I'm thinking if we pick from something those suggestions lead to that might be the easiest approach?

[hamogu]

We discussed this in the interim finance committee. Given the broad community support for off-setting CO2 emission in #16, we approved using some of Astropy's general funds to offset carbon emissions. Because the funding required is relatively low (@eteq estimates ~3 $/year), we will just pay a fixed sum (100 $) that offsets astropy's emissions for a few years to reduce the administrative overhead that would come with estimating emissions every year to make exact payments, and deal with billing and invoices for just a few $.

Please someone identify a provider to be paid. Once there is consensus on this issue, the interim finance committee will make a payment.

[jdswinbank]

reduce the administrative overhead that would come with estimating emissions every year

While I agree with this policy, I think it would behove us to commit to a periodic repeat of @eteq's back-of-the-envelope calculation of our carbon emissions and to keep track of how much of that fixed sum they have consumed. While I agree with the desire to minimize administrative overhead, I think we want to make clear that this is an ongoing commitment by the project.

Please someone identify a provider to be paid.

I've used COTAP in the past and have nothing but good things to say about them. I wanted to say “I see they were also mentioned by @astrofrog on #16”, but I think that recommendation originates with me so perhaps that would be double counting...!

[astrofrog]

Instead of paying a one off sum, we could also pay e.g. $50/year - yes this is much more than the back of the envelope calculation, but it also would cover any uncertainty there, and if we overpay then it is for a good cause. It's a tiny amount of money for a grant and we don't really have to periodically check how much we have used since there is a lot of margin to grow.

[eteq]

I like @astrofrog's idea here!

And prompted by this and the #16 discussion, the interim finance committee has approved ~$50/yr for this purpose.

[kelle]

I used the PEX card to donate $50 to COTAP. There was no option to sign up for a recurring donation so we should revisit next year. Closing this issue for now.

On behalf of the farmers participating in our projects, COTAP THANKS YOU for hiring them to remove your CO2 emissions out of the atmosphere!

[kelle]

Your donation offsets 3.33 tonnes of CO2, which will be allocated to our partners’ projects as follows: • .556 tonnes to Taking Root’s Limay Community Carbon Project in Nicaragua. • .556 tonnes to Ecotrust’s Trees for Global Benefits (TFGB) Community Carbon Project in Uganda. • .556 tonnes to KSKHAW-UMWS’s Khasi Hills Community REDD+ Carbon Project in India. • .556 tonnes to The Nakau Programme’s Drawa Rainforest Conservation Project in Fiji. • .556 tonnes to KKI Warsi’s Bujang Raba Community PES Project in Indonesia. • .556 tonnes to Cooperativa AMBIO’s Scolel té Reforestation Project in Mexico. At COTAP.org/Transparency, you can download each project’s most recent annual report, as well as track and verify COTAP’s aggregate disbursals and carbon credit retirements pertaining to each project.

[jdswinbank]

Discussed this at the Finance Ctte meeting of 2021-10-15; agreed to make the same payment as last year. @kelle will take care of it.

[kelle]

$50 contributed to COTAP on Oct 22, 2021 using PEX card.

[jdswinbank]

Hello Astropy,

Thank you for your donation to COTAP.org!

Date: 03/06/2023 Amount: 50.00 Tonnes: 3.33 Payment Method: Credit Card Frequency: One-time Purpose: Carbon offsetting: Evenly allocated to all active COTAP partner projects.

You can track the disbursal of your contribution to your selected partner project(s) at COTAP.org/Transparency. If your company matches employees’ donations, please be sure to submit your donation for a match. All employer matches are used for COTAP’s operations and to help us grow. You can check to see if your employer matches donations at https://cotap.org/employer-donation-matching-lookup/.

[pllim]

Title says "due Oct 2023" but it is "July 2024" now. Is this issue still relevant?

[kelle]

Please leave open. But thanks for the reminder that we should investigate paying this. Not sure if it's an allowed expense on NASA funds.

[kelle]

Discussed Sep 9, 2024 Finance Committee meeting and agreed to pay $100 for last year and this year. To be charged to Astropy General Fund. Kelle will use the pcard.

[kelle]

Thank you for your donation to COTAP.org!

Date: 09/16/2024 Amount: 100.00 Tonnes: 6.67 Payment Method: Credit Card Frequency: One-time Purpose: Carbon offsetting: Evenly allocated to all active COTAP partner projects.