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From the poles to the COP21 – Pole To Paris visits Bali

Pole To Paris draws attention to the importance of the 21st climate conference. For this purpose two scientists are travelling from the poles to Paris; one on foot, one by bicycle. myclimate is the climate partner of the initiative, which also aims to demonstrate successful climate protection measures during the journey and therefore visited a myclimate project in Bali.

Left: Erlend Moster Knudsen; centre: Oria Jamar de Bolsée (EU coordinator of Pole To Paris) and Bintang Intan (Accounting Manager at Yavasan Lengis Hisau) during the project visit in Bali; right: Daniel Price

The two climate scientist, Daniel Price and Erlend Moster Knudsen, embarked on a courageous journey. While Daniel holds a PhD in Antarctic climate, Erlend has a PhD in Arctic climate. The polar regions are also the regions where climate changes are occurring at the fastest rates around the world, thus deliberately being the starting points of their journeys. Traveling by bicycle and foot, they plan to arrive in Paris on December 5th in time for the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) climate summit. The aim of the "Pole To Paris" initiative is to raise public awareness for climate change and the enormous importance of this international conference. Starting with the melting polar ice caps as the clearest sign of climate change, the two scientists are allowing us to participate in their month-long trip on social media.

On their respective routes, the Pole To Paris team inevitably encountered obstacles that could not be overcome either on foot or by bicycle. However, use of conventional means of transport pollutes the climate. Pole To Paris found a solution for this problem: “To overcome this logistical reality we have partnered with myclimate, who offset all of the carbon emitted from the few flights that we take throughout the Pole to Paris project. When carbon-intense modes of travel are not to avoid, myclimate offers a great opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions somewhere else.” This partnership ensures that Pole To Paris is a climate-neutral mission.

Turning cooking oil into biodiesel

myclimate supervises climate protection projects of the highest quality all over the world. While the Pole To Paris team was travelling through Bali, they visited a special myclimate project. There are no laws in Bali governing how to deal with used cooking oil. It is often resold to smaller kitchens as fresh cooking oil, which is extremely harmful to health. The team took a look at how such waste oil can be sustainably reused as biodiesel, replacing fossil fuels.

Daniel and Erlend are currently in Austria and Norway. They will reach Paris with numerous followers biking and running on December 5th, making it for the second week of COP21. Cheer on the two of them during their last few kilometres and support them in their mission to draw attention to climate change and the central importance of COP21!

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