Can universities be a platform for climate mitigation? Exploring the impacts of carbon pricing in the university setting

Abstract

Climate Change is one of the most important threats in the world today and it is driven by the human-induced build-up of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere. Despite worldwide policy efforts from the Kyoto Protocol to the Paris Agreement, global emissions of GHG have continued to steadily increase over the past decade. Against this backdrop, many higher education institutions (HEIs) around the world began to engage in sustainable practices implementing green initiatives on their campuses. Using the waste disposal and the associated GHG emissions data from the academic community, this study describes how HEIs can assume a leadership role in climate mitigation through the implementation of a carbon pricing initiative. Speci cally, this study estimates the economic costs of carbon emissions from waste and conceptualizes how revenues generated from carbon pricing can be rechanneled to support carbon reduction efforts in HEIs. By this approach, HEIs not only create incentives for campus users such as students and employees to choose cleaner options but also be able to understand their own carbon footprint and adjust strategy accordingly. While carbon pricing has long been regarded as an alternative approach to tackle carbon pollution, it has not been much discussed in the area of waste management. In this regard, this study attempted to ll this research gap by nding emission reduction potentials in waste management using carbon pricing as a mechanism. the use of protective gears such as facial masks, gloves, disinfectant wipes, sanitizer bottles, and food packaging have become a norm creating added types of wastes (11-14). Millions of people around the globe are littering those 'COVID-19 items' every day. Disposable plastic items are reintroduced into lives backdating our recycling efforts due to growing concerns of hygiene (15). It poses a new challenge to develop innovative solutions and policies to the added waste concerns, and yet, the volume of single-use products, panic buying packages grow across the globe. 1.1. The United States being the Most Wasteful Country In the World While over two billion tonnes of municipal solid waste are produced every year, the worst offenders are the U.S. citizens producing three times the global average of waste (16,17). While the U.S. accounts for only about four percent of the world's population, it generates 12 percent of the world's municipal solid waste. In comparison, China and India, making up more than 36 percent of the world's population, yet generate about 27 percent of the global waste. The average amount of waste Americans create per day is about 4.9 pounds whereas, in Europe, the average amount weighs in at 2.9 pounds (4,18) When it comes to recycling, the U.S. again lags behind other countries. Despite EPA's recent release about an increase in the average recycling rates to around 32 percent in 2018, this rate is still signi cantly lower than the one of other leading countries like Germany where people recycle around 68 percent of materials (7,16,17,19). This in...

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