AWE USA 2023 goes completely carbon neutral by offsetting the carbon footprint of over 5,000 attendees heading to Santa Clara, California for the three-day event. This move is aligned with its primary mission of helping fight the greatest challenges humanity faces—including the effects of climate change.

Aside from taking a huge step in reducing its carbon footprint, AWE is also rallying the entire XR community to help save the earth. Read on to find out all the awesome offerings the upcoming event has in store for everyone.

Smaller Footprints for a Sustainable Future

Being the largest XR community, AWE draws thousands of people from around the world to all its events. Expecting over 5,000 attendees and more than 300 exhibitors at this year’s conference, AWE is taking giant steps to reduce its carbon footprint.

The venue itself, Santa Clara Convention Center, harnesses renewable power through wind and solar energy. To minimize the use of transport during the conference, parties outside the convention center will be hosted at venues within walking distance.

To limit printed materials, digital signage and apps will be used when possible. Necessary printed materials, such as sign boards and name tags, will be made from recyclable or biodegradable materials. Reusable or compostable food service items were also requested for the catering services. Aside from these sustainability efforts, AWE is also working with Terrapass.

Carbon Offset Verified by Terrapass

Terrapass is a social enterprise dedicated to fighting climate change by helping individuals and organizations eliminate greenhouse gases, harness renewable energy, and offset carbon footprint. To maintain carbon neutrality, AWE leverages the advanced platform of Terrapass and follows its “calculate, reduce, and offset” model.

For the AWE USA 2023 conference in California, more than 5.5 million miles of attendee air travel and over 100,000 kWh of electricity are estimated to contribute to AWE’s carbon footprint. These are compounded by wastes from venue use, shipping, ground transportation, hotels, paper, water bottles, meals, and many more.

To neutralize the carbon emissions from all these, AWE is funding a total of 1,238 metric tons of carbon offsets from verified green tech, reforestation, and carbon reduction projects by Terrapass.

According to Ori Inbar, co-founder of AWE, “No one can argue the horrific effects carbon dioxide waste has inflicted on our planet’s ecosystem – we firmly believe there is no greater challenge today, and as such we have committed to do all that we can to leverage our platform and community in service of fighting climate change.”

XR Community Pools Environmental Prize of Around $100K

Rallying the XR community worldwide to fight climate change, AWE organized a global competition that seeks to motivate tech teams to develop XR-powered solutions that would combat climate change. The $100K environmental prize for this competition comes from the XR community itself, leading tech companies, and professional organizations.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) supports the XR Prize Challenge: Fight Climate Change by donating an additional cash incentive. According to its President Yu Yuan, “By contributing $10,000 as a cash award to best-in-category solutions, we celebrate the great work of all the XR Prize teams and encourage further XR innovation in this necessary fight.”

NVIDIA is also contributing NVIDIA RT A6000 graphics cards to the prize pool. Greg Jones, Director of Product and Business Development for XR at NVIDIA, says that these graphics cards will provide the necessary computing power for contest winners to continue their work on groundbreaking XR solutions that can help address the effects of climate change.

There are currently 150 corporate teams, educational institutions, and individuals vying for the prizes. The $100,000 cash prize will be awarded to the best submission displaying a functional yet creative and impactful XR-based solution that would help humanity fight climate change.

Register for AWE USA 2023

AWE USA 2023 will take place at the Santa Clara Convention Center in California from May 31 to June 2. There will be more than 400 speakers sharing the most exciting news and developments in the XR industry. This conference gives tech enthusiasts a great opportunity to grow their network, learn from tech leaders, and gain access to the latest tech innovations.

As a media partner, ARPost offers its readers a 20% discount with the code 23ARPOSTD. We are also organizing a ticket giveaway to reward our newsletter subscribers with two free AWE USA 2023 tickets. On May 3, we’ll send an email to all our subscribers and the first 2 who reply will get a free ticket. If you’re not already subscribed, you can do that here.