Carbon footprinting of universities worldwide: Part I—objective comparison by standardized metrics

Abstract

Background Universities, as innovation drivers in science and technology worldwide, should be leading the Great Transformation towards a carbon–neutral society and many have indeed picked up the challenge. However, only a small number of universities worldwide are collecting and publishing their carbon footprints, and some of them have defined zero emission targets. Unfortunately, there is limited consistency between the reported carbon footprints (CFs) because of different analysis methods, different impact measures, and different target definitions by the respective universities. Results Comprehensive CF data of 20 universities from around the globe were collected and analysed. Essential factors contributing to the university CF were identified. For the first time, CF data from universities were not only compared. The CF data were also evaluated, partly corrected, and augmented by missing contributions, to improve the consistency and comparability. The CF performance of each university in the respective year is thus homogenized, and measured by means of two metrics: CO2e emissions per capita and per m2 of constructed area. Both metrics vary by one order of magnitude across the different universities in this study. However, we identified ten universities reaching a per capita carbon footprint of lower than or close to 1.0 Mt (metric tons) CO2e/person and year (normalized by the number of people associated with the university), independent from the university’s size. In addition to the aforementioned two metrics, we suggested a new metric expressing the economic efficiency in terms of the CF per $ expenditures and year. We next aggregated the results for all three impact measures, arriving at an overall carbon performance for the respective universities, which we found to be independent of geographical latitude. Instead the per capita measure correlates with the national per capita CFs, and it reaches on average 23% of the national impacts per capita. The three top performing universities are located in Switzerland, Chile, and Germany. Conclusion The usual reporting of CO2 emissions is categorized into Scopes 1–3 following the GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting Standard which makes comparison across universities challenging. In this study, we attempted to standardize the CF metrics, allowing us to objectively compare the CF at several universities. From this study, we observed that, almost 30 years after the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro (1992), the results are still limited. Only one zero emission university was identified, and hence, the transformation should speed up globally.

COVID-19 Pandemic Effect on Energy Consumption in State Universities: Michoacan, Mexico Case Study

“…Likewise, in a particular way, the reduction in electrical energy consumption could be identified in the buildings and laboratories of some universities in Europe, with significant levels of decrease, as has been reported in some studies [25,35]. This translates into reduced environmental impact [36][37][38] and energy costs.…”

“…The mitigation of CO 2e emissions in universities, as in the rest of the world, as a result of the pandemic, is also significant [50] and it has been common in all the universities of the world [38]. In contrast, the reduction of CO 2 emissions as a result of the reduction of energy consumption in universities [38,46] has represented a mitigation strategy resulting from the pandemic, which has contributed to the reduction of the carbon footprint in the entire world's education sector [36].…”

Impact on carbon emissions of online study for a cohort of overseas students: A retrospective cohort study

“…We have assumed that a student living in Manchester would have the same consumption patterns as the general population, and so created our method of calculating their consumption by subtracting the per capita CO 2 emissions of their own country from that of the UK. It may be that students have lower consumption patterns than the general population, although the university campus has a high carbon footprint 9 , 10 . Caird et al .…”

Handling climate change education at universities: an overview

“…Universities globally are increasingly recognizing their responsibility to prepare students and society to actively contribute to the mitigation of and adaptation to climate change. This role sees universities adopting and promoting carbon neutral goals and practices [ 13 , 24 , 57 ]. Situated within this broader context, contemporary higher education (HE) providers progressively pursue a dual strategy [ 4 ].…”

“…Second, universities are developing curricula and pedagogical approaches to educate students (and by extension society) about the imperatives of carbon neutrality and climate change mitigation and adaptation. In the literature this dual education has been conceptualized as a critical twin strategy that sees universities concurrently reduce their own “carbon footprint” (by aiming for net-zero emissions of institution-linked greenhouse gasses) and expanding the societal “carbon brainprint” (by teaching knowledge and skills in the area of carbon neutral practices) [ 4 , 11 , 24 ] (Fig. 1 ).…”