Concept: Low carbon footprint restaurant

Introduction: Carbon footprint measures how much our activities impact the environment, particularly in climate change. It is a measurement of the greenhouse gases (for example carbon dioxide, methane, etc) each individuals produce with units of tones of carbon dioxide equivalent. Carbon footprint can be grouped into primary footprint and secondary footprint. Primary footprint measures our direct carbon dioxide emissions, sources are from transportation and domestic energy consumption; secondary footprint on the other hand, measures indirect carbon dioxide emissions from the lifecycle of the products we use, from production to disposure.1

Carbon Dioxide Emissions in Malaysia

Data source: Millennium Development Goals Indicators
X1000 thousand metri tons of CO2 250 200 150 100 50 0 1990

1995

2000 Year

2005

2010

Figure 1. Trends of carbon dioxide emissions in Malaysia from 1990 to 2008 From figure 1, we can see that the carbon dioxide emissions in Malaysia have been increasing significantly, from 56,593 thousand metric tons in 1990 to 208,267 thousand metric tons in 2008.2 The carbon dioxide emissions and other factors affecting climate change, such as the effect of other green house gases, has resulted in increased global mean temperature. According to data from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the warming average for 2011 to 2030 when compared to 1980 to 1999 is between +0.64C and +0.69C.3 The concept of reducing carbon footprint has been adopted nationwide. In Malaysia, Star Publication (M) Bhd, one of the leading media companies in the country had launch a one-year campaign, the Go Green Campaign, in year 2010. The target of the campaign is to reduce the usage of water and electricity as a power saving measure.4

In line with the Rainforest Strategy, a program by Cosmoscape Sdn Bhd, seek to empower companies with methods in boosting the productivity while preserving the environment,5 we like to open up a restaurant with the concept of low carbon footprint food production. In order to reduce carbon footprint in food production, each elements in the food service system can be targeted.

Reusing or Disposing

Growing/ Agriculture

Cooking & Eating

Transportation

Buying

Production/ Processing

Packaging

Figure 2. Food Service System (our points will be based from these I think)

Mission Statement: Our mission is to preserve the environment while providing our customers with nutritious and delicious food. (major components: environmental friendly, customers)

Objective: 1. To lower the carbon footprint of each meals by 10% in 1 year

2. To improve customer satisfaction on low carbon footprint food served by 25% in 1 year 3. To improve total sales by 50% as compared to first 6 months of business in 3 years (trying to meet SMART criteria)

References: 1. Carbon Footprint. What is a carbon footprint? [Internet]. Available from: http://www.carbonfootprint.com/carbonfootprint.html 2. Millennium Development Goals Indicators [Internet]. Available from: http://mdgs.un.org 3. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Climate Change 2007: Working Group I: The Physical Science Basis, Chapter 10: Global Climate Projections. Available from: http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ 4. The CSR digest. Malaysian Media Co To Reduce Carbon Footprint [Internet]. Available from: http://www.csrdigest.com/2010/06/malaysian-media-co-toreduce-carbon-footprint/ 5. Mysinchew.com. Malaysia to reduce carbon footprint by 40% by 2020 [Internet]. Available from: http://www.mysinchew.com/node/37489 6.