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Minutes of 1st Belle II Sustainability Meeting on May 13, 2024, 16:00 JST
The meeting was held online and about 20 persons participated. Slides of the presentations can be found at https://indico.belle2.org/event/11906/
Thomas reminded the participants of the rapid rise of CO2 concentration in the atmosphere and argued that a plan for becoming climate-neutral is needed for future HEP. The Sustainable HEP 2024 workshop will be in the week after the B2GM. An abstract was submitted and whoever wants to be added as co-author can contact Thomas.
Unfortunately Haba-san was not connected and the KEK contribution was skipped. Matt pointed to English versions of KEK action plans at https://www.kek.jp/en/about/sdgs.
Samuel Calvet presented Labos1point5, an initiative for accessing and reducing the climate footprint of research at French labs. It evolved from a grassroots initiative to a funded project. A free online tool is provided to determine the GHG emissions for various categories. Samuel also discussed the application to CERN and the challenges. Many input data can be collected from databases at the French labs so that not much manual effort is required. They are looking also into an extension to universities. The methodology is described in detail on web pages and could maybe be used for an assessment of the Belle II footprint. (Particle) physics labs tend to have larger emissions, but what is relevant is the planned reduction. Karen asked what CERN will do to reduce its emissions. There is not one single measure, but a collection of multiple things.
Fabian Becherer had estimated the CO2 footprint due to air travel of B2GM 45 at KEK, B2GM 43 in Rome, and a scenario assuming the participants of B2GM 45 would have traveled to Rome instead of KEK. Some approximations have to be made because the exact travel routes are not known, but the uncertainty due to this is probably below 20%. The footprint of B2GM 43 is much lower than for B2GM 45, but very few people from Asia traveled to Rome. Matt pointed out that at that time there were still strict travel and administrative restrictions in Japan because of the pandemic. The footprint of the last scenario is similar to that of B2GM 45. It was discussed if one should have one B2GM per year in Europe. The conclusion was that this should be seriously considered. It was asked if three B2GMs per year are needed. Longer stays could be encouraged by connecting B2GMs with other meetings (as happening for the physics week already).
In the discussion there was a consensus that the impact of measures must be assessed. Andreas Warburton suggested to collect travel information at the B2GM registration. Before implementing ways to collect information also for travel to conferences and for shifts it should be estimated how their footprint compares to that of B2GMs. Thomas suggested to give preferences to those who stay for a longer period of time at KEK for shifts. Isabelle pointed out that individuals who cannot stay abroad longer should not be punished. In general it would be good to be more conscious about the reasons for travel to use the time at in-person meetings most efficiently. An easy way to reduce waste at B2GMs is to bring an own cup/mug. A further reduction of plastic waste may mean more organizational effort which should not put on the secretaries, but taken by Belle II members. The serving of fruits at the last B2GM is a very good step.
The footprint reports received for NAF jobs are appreciated and it would be nice to have them also for KEKCC and grid jobs. It was suggested to include the CO2 footprint in the yearly computing accounting. Another idea is to provide a way to prefer sites with low emission at the cost of longer waiting time for job submissions. Matt pointed out that the technical infrastructure for the proposed measures cannot be developed by Belle II alone. It has to be done within WLCG. There may also be attractive tasks for new computing group members. A persistent problem is that sometimes a large number of jobs is submitted without a careful checking before. Further measures to increase awareness and to teach job checking may be possible, e.g. by including material in the beginners' tutorials. A systematic optimization of the software is encouraged. Here one has to watch out for the rebound effect, that not more jobs are submitted because they run faster.
Regarding the detector the suggested measures are to monitor the impact of emitted gases and to consider the footprint of upgrades.
It should be discussed with KEK and the accelerator group if it is possible to switch to electricity from renewable sources (as DESY did in 2023) and if synchrotron radiation could be reused for heating.
Increasing awareness, inside and outside the collaboration, is considered important. In general a field-wide approach should be targeted at. It was discussed where Belle II stands with respect to other experiments. Samuel reported that ATLAS has a sustainability forum.
There's a mailing list for discussing sustainability: coll-sustainability@belle2.org. The idea of a regular meeting was appreciated. A sustainability prize was suggested. Another idea is to have Belle II sustainability officers, similar to diversity officers. Their tasks could be: organizational support of sustainability activities within the collaboration, raise awareness and help adopting good practices, liaise with other players in the field, develop a plan for carbon neutrality. Andreas suggested to raise the sustainability issue at the KEK users meeting and see if one could connect with other KEK user communities.
The discussed measures will be presented to the IB to get its feedback.