Carbon footprint of the RSNA annual meeting

Purpose: To determine the airplane travel-related carbon footprint of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) annual meeting, the associated health burden, and the costs to offset these greenhouse gas emissions (i.e. compensation of emissions by funding an equivalent CO₂ saving elsewhere).

Methods: The RSNA's website was used to determine the reported country of origin of attendees to the 2017 meeting that took place in Chicago from November 26 to December 1. It was assumed that attendees had traveled from the airport nearest to the largest city in their country or state to Chicago's O'Hare international airport. The total amount of air travel-related CO₂-equivalent emission (based on round-trip economy class travel), the imposed health burden in terms of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) in the global population, the total CO₂ offsets costs, and the CO₂ offsets costs per DALY were calculated.

Results: The calculated airplane travel-related CO₂-equivalent emissions of 11,223 attendees from the United States and 10,684 attendees from other countries were 7,067,618 kg and 32,438,420 kg, totaling 39,506,038 kg. This caused an estimated 51.4-79.0 DALYs. The calculated amount of Total CO₂ offset costs were calculated to be $474,072, which corresponds to $6,001-9,223 per DALY averted.

Conclusions: The airplane travel-related carbon footprint of the RSNA annual meeting and the associated disease burden are relevant, and potential attendees and organizers should take measures to overcome this undesired side effect. Offsetting this carbon footprint is cost-effective and this initiative should be taken by the radiological community.