The 2010 Dairy Sustainability Symposium, set for April 14-15 in Chicago, will offset the carbon footprint of the event by supporting an innovative dairy farm methane project of Carbonfund.org.

“Carbonfund.org enabled us to support the Chino Basin Dairy Farm Biodigester, an excellent project that directly benefits farmers in California,” said Clay Detlefsen, IDFA vice president of regulatory affairs and counsel. “The dairy industry is committed to sustainable innovation that helps save processors and farmers money while making products more sustainable for the environment.”

This biodigester collects waste from 10 local dairy farms in the Chino Basin, captures the associated methane emissions and transforms it to clean, renewable energy. Methane is a greenhouse gas about 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide and is a byproduct of cows in dairy production. The biodigester reduces more than 8,000 tons of CO2 equivalent emissions from the atmosphere each year.

The Dairy Sustainability Symposium, which is organized by the International Dairy Foods Association, is focused on raising awareness among dairy processors on the importance of sustainable actions and production. A key concentration of the Symposium is to educate processors on carbon footprinting, life cycle analyses and new technologies that make production less expensive and more environmentally friendly.

Carbonfund.org will be presenting on reducing products’ carbon footprints. The non-profit organization, based in Silver Spring, Md., offers a product certification program and the first carbon neutral product label in the United States: CarbonFree Certified.

By offsetting the emissions of the Symposium, including attendees’ travel and participation, the dairy industry is taking another step toward industry-wide comprehensive emissions reductions. Last year, the dairy industry made a commitment via the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy to reduce dairy emissions 25% by 2020.

“Carbonfund.org applauds the actions taken by the International Dairy Foods Association to reduce emissions and promote sustainability,” said Eric Carlson, president, Carbonfund.org. “The Association’s support for the Chino Basin project underscores their commitment to sustainable innovation and helping fight climate change.”

About the International Dairy Foods Association
The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), Washington, D.C., represents the nation's dairy manufacturing and marketing industries and their suppliers, with a membership of 550 companies representing a $110 billion a year industry. IDFA is composed of three constituent organizations: the Milk Industry Foundation (MIF), the National Cheese Institute (NCI) and the International Ice Cream Association (IICA). IDFA's 220 dairy processing members run more than 600 plant operations, and range from large multi-national organizations to single-plant companies. Together they represent more than 85% of the milk, cultured products, cheese and frozen desserts produced and marketed in the United States. To learn more about the organization or to get involved with upcoming projects, visit www.idfa.org.

About Carbonfund.org
Carbonfund.org is the leading non-profit carbon reduction and climate solutions organization, making it easy and affordable for individuals, businesses and organizations to reduce their climate impact by supporting third-party validated renewable energy, energy efficiency and reforestation projects. Carbonfund.org has more than 450,000 individual supporters and works with more than 1,400 business and non-profit partners including Discovery, Motorola, Amtrak, Volkswagen, Dell, JetBlue, and Staples. For more information about Carbonfund.org and projects such as the Chino Basin Dairy Farm Biodigester, please visit: www.carbonfund.org.

CONTACT:
Peggy Armstrong, IDFA
202/220-3508
parmstrong@idfa.org

Ivan Chan, Carbonfund.org
240/247-0630
ichan@carbonfund.org