Emissions, sequestration & stored carbon on upland farms

Carbon Visuals have created this short animation film to show the emissions, sequestration & stored carbon on ten upland farms in the Peak District National Park. The farms extend over 1,500 hectares and comprise part moorland, part pasture.

The data was taken from ADAS Report Environmental Quality Mark (EQM) Farm Carbon Footprint and Water Audit Pilot Project.

The core message from the film is that these farms are not only producing food and preserving the landscape. They are performing an important role as guardians of a huge carbon store that is best kept in soils and vegetation.

We believe that this is a 'world first' for this type of medium. Created for the consultancy ADAS, the film demonstrates the potential for moving animation to communicate complex carbon stories.

The film is being used to engage a variety of stakeholders including ADAS staff, farm managers and agricultural policymakers.

To see all our work for ADAS, click here.

If you like this approach, and feel that it would suit your particular carbon communication challenge, then please contact us.

Total annual emissions of CO2, methane and nitrous oxide on the audited farms was 4,200 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent gas.

The carbon audit found that around 1,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent has been sequestered in soils and vegetation by the ten farms of this upland landscape over the year.

This 1,000 tonnes would cover the 1,500 hectare area to a depth of 4 cm.

Adas have estimated that 736 thousand tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent are stored in the soils and vegetation just for the ten farms in the study.

Making sense of a BBC programme's carbon footprint

BBC One Planet's annual emissions as a tower of 10-tonne cubes (actual volume of gas).

BBC One Planet's annual emissions as a tower of 10-tonne cubes (actual volume of gas).

BBC One Planet's annual emissions as a pile of 1 tonne cubes of gas.

BBC One Planet's annual carbon footprint as a sphere of carbon dioxide gas.

BBC One Planet's average daily carbon footprint (actual volume).

BBC One Planet's average emissions per second. Visualising rates of emission on very small timescales, as here, allows viewers to see the emissions as dynamic.

The One Planet radio programme on the BBC's World Service came to Carbon Visuals with simple question: "what does our carbon footprint look like?"

One Planet was carefully accounting for emissions arising from the making of the programme and had arrived at a figure of about 34.9 tonnes per year. But what does that mean?

Measuring carbon dioxide in terms of mass (tonnes) makes sense from an accounting point of view but doesn't give us a sense of scale we can relate to. We examined a variety of alternative ways of representing One Planet's footprint.

We have shown the programme's annual emissions by volume in a recognisable location and in relation to an iconic feature - Trafalgar Square and Nelson's Column. These provide a sense of scale that enable the viewer to relate to the volume.

You can hear a discussion about this project, first broadcast on Thursday 8 April 2010, by visiting the One Planet website.

Helping local government involve all staff in emissions reduction

Daily domestic CO2(e) emissions per-capita in Central Bedfordshire in 2007 (actual volume of gas)

CO2(e) emissions per-capita in Central Bedfordshire in 2007 (actual volume of gas)

CO2(e) emissions in Central Bedfordshire in 2007 (actual volume of gas)

Central Bedfordshire Council CO2(e) emissions target for 2050 compared with 2007 emissions

Central Bedfordshire Council needed a way to involve key stakeholders and staff in meeting targets for emissions reduction. We produced volumetric visualisations that make reference to landmarks and areas that these audiences can relate to.

We also produced animations that bring the figures to life by showing the emissions from different council activities in real-time. The Council used the visualisations in a stakeholder conference but they also found them useful for new employees, strategy documents, and the Council’s website.

These visualisations are a huge breakthrough and will enable people to clearly see the impact our carbon emissions are having on the environment and the level of responsibility that falls on each one of us to assess and change our activities.

Councillor Richard Stay, Deputy Leader, Central Bedfordshire Council