Association of Academic Psychiatry: Modeling the Reduction of the Climate Impact of Medical Conferences

Medical conferences’ carbon footprint contributes to the overall climate impact of the health care industry. A major component of the climate impact of a medical conference is the emissions from travel to the conference. For example, travel to the 2019 American Psychiatric Association meeting in San Francisco produced an estimated 21,456 metric tons of CO₂e emissions,¹ estimated to be equivalent to the annual CO₂ emitted to power 2881 homes.²

Though travel is the major contributor to the carbon footprint of a conference, there are also other elements, such as the additional food consumed and single use items, plastic bottles, and merchandise that contribute to the carbon footprint of a conference. While many of us may see sustainability efforts as important for us as individuals, the priority is not always reflected in professional conferences.

For the September 2025 Association for Academic Psychiatry (AAP) annual meeting, the program committee identified reducing the climate impact of the conference as one of its priorities. Given the large impact of transportation on the carbon emissions, destinations located in the central time zone tend to involve less travel for the attendees. With the meeting being in Milwaukee, WI, the location was closer for most attendees, especially for those in the more populous neighboring city of Chicago, from where travel by private vehicle or public transportation were options. To further mitigate the impact of the travel, attendees were provided with a link for a website that allows for individuals to purchase carbon offsets. The link was made available at registration and during gatherings using a QR code. Additionally, for transportation to the offsite event, the AAP provided ride-shares with hybrid vehicles, rather than using diesel buses, which lead to fewer carbon emissions and less expenses.

Other ways in which the AAP worked to reduce the environmental impact of the conference was by using water stations rather than single use plastic bottles (the hotel management was more than happy to oblige). Registrants were recommended to bring their own reusable vessels to the meeting—and did so. Only the coffee service had a few single use cups available, otherwise, all cups were reusable. When the cutlery was not reusable, compostable bamboo cutlery was used.

Finally, for items dispensed by the AAP, we replaced our plastic encased badges with an alternative made of recycled heavy paper. Plastic lanyards were replaced by ones made with bamboo fibers. For the t-shirts that each attendee receives, ones fabricated with recycled plastic bottles were used.

AAP is committed to hosting sustainable conferences, and will continue these efforts at the next AAP annual meeting in Salt Lake City in September 2026.

Of note, AAP has chosen to maintain in-person annual meetings for a variety of organizational priorities. However, other organizations, such as the American Geriatrics Society, have chosen to have an in-person annual meeting alternate with a virtual annual meeting.³ For many, this may be a different approach to address the climate impact of medical conferences.

As the AAP undertook its commitment to sustainability, it became evident that by investing even just a little of our efforts on sustainability, we were able to make meaningful changes that helped reduce the climate impact of the conference. We encourage other organizations to join us.

Dr Combs is a board-certified psychiatrist and medical director of inpatient psychiatry at Harborview, as well as an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and director of the psychiatry clerkship for the University of Washington School of Medicine.

Dr Asghar-Ali is a board-certified geriatric psychiatrist, a professor of psychiatry, and the geriatric psychiatric fellowship director at Baylor College of Medicine. He is also the associate director for education at the VA South Central Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center.

References

1. Wortzel JR, Stashevsky A, Wortzel JD, et al. Estimation of the carbon footprint associated with attendees of the American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting. JAMA Netw Open. 2021;4(1):e2035641.

2. Greenhouse gas equivalencies calculator. United States Environmental Protection Agency. Updated November 2024. Accessed March 24, 2026. https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator#results

3. Harper M. From our President. AGS News. 2022. Accessed March 24, 2026. https://meeting.americangeriatrics.org/sites/default/files/inline-files/Virtual%20Pilot%20Program_0.pdf