(Washington, D.C. -- March 25) The 2010 Dairy Sustainability Symposium on April 14-15 in Chicago will offset the carbon footprint of the event by supporting an innovative dairy farm methane project of Carbonfund.org. The annual event organized by the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) provides a forum for dairy processors to learn more about how to make their operations more efficient and environmentally friendly.

"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."

Located in California, 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 ( CO² ), and 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 is focused on raising awareness among dairy processors on the importance of sustainable actions and production. A key focus of the Symposium in 2010 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 nonprofit organization, based in Silver Spring, Md., offers a product certification program and the first carbon neutral product label in the U.S., CarbonFree® Certified.

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

The Carbonfund.org certificate presented to IDFA is available here.

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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 percent of the milk, cultured products, cheese and frozen desserts produced and marketed in the United States.

About Carbonfund.org
Carbonfund.org is the leading nonprofit 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 over 450,000 individual supporters and works with over 1,400 business and nonprofit 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.