Emission reduction potentials for academic conference travel

Stijn van Ewijk and Paul Hoekman

Journal of Industrial Ecology, 2021, vol. 25, issue 3, 778-788

Abstract: Air travel, including academic conference travel, is a major contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions and must be limited to achieve climate change targets. To model reduction potentials, we analyzed travel emissions for three global conferences of the International Society for Industrial Ecology. Travel emissions were 722–955 t CO2e per conference and averaged 1.3–1.8 t CO2e per attendee. A shift to land transport for short flights has a maximum reduction potential of only 5% because long‐haul flights contribute most of the emissions. A carbon tax of 100$/t CO2e could reduce emissions by 4–14% but students face the largest relative increase in the cost of conference attendance. Having the 10% of attendees who travel furthest attend virtually reduces conference travel emissions by 20–30%. A multi‐site conference with two video‐linked locations yields a reduction of 25–50%; a three‐site conference yields a reduction of 46–75% and combined with a shift to land transport a reduction of up to 82%. A virtual conference would yield zero travel emissions. We conclude that the effectiveness of the reduction options mostly depends on how international the conference is and whether the longest flights are eliminated. We call on conference organizers, universities, academic societies, and funders to further develop, support, and implement multi‐site and virtual conference models. This article met the requirements for a gold–silver JIE data openness badge described in http://jie.click/badges

Date: 2021
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