Here’s a subject that could be a little touchy: the funeral industry. Funeral rites in the United States are responsbile for over 500,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.
In North America, bodies are normally either cremated, or embalmed, placed in a casket and buried. In the United States, about 1/3 of the population currently chooses cremation. In Canada, 2/3 of the deceased are cremated. Cremation, normally using natural gas, is an obvious source of CO2. An average cremation requires 170 cubic metres of gas and emits 325 kg of CO2. In the United States this adds up to 265,000 tonnes of CO2 per year. Burial may have a smaller carbon footprint, but probably not as small as you would think.
For standard burial, most cemetaries require a concrete grave liner to keep the grave from collapsing from the passage of heavy machinery. The average grave liner requires 1150 kg of concrete. The manufacture of 10 kg of concrete emits 1 kg of CO2, so the manufacture of a grave liner emits 115 kg of CO2. Some people opt for more elaborate structures. Every year in the U.S., burials consume 1.5 million tonnes of concrete, resulting in 150,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
Most caskets are made from wood. In theory, this need not have a large carbon footprint. While the caskets slowly rot and return their carbon to the atmosphere, trees planted to replace those felled to manufacture the caskets soak that carbon up as they grow. However, many caskets are made from luxurious hardwood trees (such as mahogany) whose source is primarily tropical rainforests. This harvest rarely occurs in a sustainable fashion. The carbon footprint here is probably large but is virtually impossible to quantify.
Wooden caskets usually have metal fittings, and metal caskets are also used, though not as often. Every year in the United States, 95,000 tonnes of steel are buried. The production of each tonne of steel also results in the emission of one tonne of CO2. Smaller in quantity, but also significant, are the 2,500 tonnes of copper and bronze that go into the ground each year.
How can funerals be made more climate-friendly? Green burials are becoming popular in Europe, and are slowly gaining a foothold in North America. The body is not embalmed, and is buried without a casket. A tree is often planted over the burial as a living memorial, with the added bonus of making the burial a carbon sink instead of a carbon source. A small grave marker or plaque can be added as well.
Obviously, this type of burial requires some modifications to what we think of as standard funeral rituals. Without embalming to preserve the body, the funeral must be planned and held in a much shorter time frame. Graveside ceremonies need to be changed, as grieving relatives probably don’t want to watch the remains of their loved one dumped, sans casket, in a hole in the ground. A rental casket can be used for viewing and the funeral service.
I hope that I still have 5 or 6 decades before I get there, but I certainly would prefer my last legacy to be a tree instead of several hundred kilograms of CO2.
Personal Climate Change 