Travel green

We in EDUC know that the mobility of students, researchers and staff to attend classes, workshops and conferences at other universities or to engage in staff weeks are a key component of academic education, research careers and continuing education.

Unfortunately, travelling can also create substantial environmental impact – especially when it comes to passenger air travel. Today, worldwide aviation account for almost 12% of CO2 emissions from all transportation sources[1] and for about 3% of the EU’s total greenhouse gas emissions[2]. Flights are considered particularly harmful to the climate due to the altitude effect.

These negative consequences of travelling are also addressed in the “Green Deal” by the European Commission.[3] The new growth agenda presented in December 2019 aims at Europe to become the world's first climate neutral continent by 2050. The EDUC alliance supports this highly ambitious goal by raising awareness to the topic of sustainable mobility among students, scientists and staff.

Calculate your flight emissions

To give you an idea about the flight emissions caused by a one way trip in relation to your individual climate compatible annual emission budget, we have prepared an exemplary table with destinations within Europe. 
 

*one way

The advantages of travelling by train are obvious: your journey normally starts and ends directly in the city center, there are no extended waiting-periods and long queues for security-checks and boarding, you have time and space to work in a quiet atmosphere with WI-FI and a power-socket at disposal and you can bring along as much water in a bottle as you wish. By the way, the new Erasmus+ program 2021-2027 provides financial top-ups for travelling by an ecological alternative.

Not in all cases, it will be possible to find a reasonable alternative to travelling by plane. One of the ways to reduce the impact of flying on the environment is by donating to projects that offset CO2 emissions. These are voluntary schemes where you can pay to make up for the emissions your flight produces. The downside being of course that carbon balancing doesn’t get rid of the carbon dioxide produced when flying. The basic idea, however, is to make up for the share of CO2 that gets released by reducing it somewhere else instead, which will help to slow down the global rise in carbon dioxide levels. This is usually based on measuring the total amount of CO2 produced by each flight and investing in a project which reduces CO2 levels by the same amount. The easiest option could be to offset directly when booking your flight. Numerous airlines already offer these kinds of compensation schemes.