scholarly journals Carbon Footprint of Academic Air Travel: A Case Study in Switzerland

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joachim Ciers ◽  
Aleksandra Mandic ◽  
Laszlo Toth ◽  
Giel Op ’t Veld
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Climate Impact ◽  
Air Travel ◽  
International Travel ◽  
Academic Institutions ◽  
Travel Costs ◽  
Reduce Emissions ◽  
Travel Impact ◽  
École Polytechnique

Relatively low travel costs and abundant opportunities for research funding in Switzerland and other developed countries allow researchers large amounts of international travel and collaborations, leading to a substantial carbon footprint. Increasing willingness to tackle this issue, in combination with the desire of many academic institutions to become carbon-neutral, calls for an in-depth understanding of academic air travel. In this study, we quantified and analyzed the carbon footprint of air travel by researchers from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) from 2014 to 2016, which is responsible for about one third of EPFL’s total CO2 emissions. We find that the air travel impact of individual researchers is highly unequally distributed, with 10% of the EPFL researchers causing almost 60% of the total emissions from EPFL air travel. The travel footprint increases drastically with researcher seniority, increasing 10-fold from PhD students to professors. We found that simple measures such as restricting to economy class, replacing short trips by train and avoiding layovers already have the potential to reduce emissions by 36%. These findings can help academic institutions to implement travel policies which can mitigate the climate impact of their air travel.

scholarly journals There is a silver lining: carbon footprint reduction by holding Preventive Cardiology conference 2020 virtually

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
T Batool ◽  
A Neven ◽  
Y Vanrompay ◽  
M Adnan ◽  
P Dendale
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Co2 Emissions ◽  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Carbon Emission ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Air Travel ◽  
Co2 Production ◽  
Scientific Conference ◽  
Preventive Cardiology ◽  
Transport Modes

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: Other. Main funding source(s): Special Research Fund (BOF), Hasselt University Introduction The transportation sector is one of the major sectors influencing climate change, contributing around 16% of total Greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions. Aviation contributes to 12% of the transport related emissions. Among other climate change impacts, elevated heat exposure is associated with increased cardiac events and exposure to air pollution caused by GHG emissions has also well-known association with increased cardiovascular related morbidity and mortality. The global temperature rise should be restricted to less than 2 °C which requires keeping carbon emission (CO2) less than 2900 billion tonnes by the end of the 21st century. Assuming air travel a major contributing source to GHG, this study aims to raise the awareness about potential carbon emissions reduction due to air travel of international events like a scientific conference. Purpose Due to the global pandemic of COVID-19, the Preventive cardiology conference 2020 which was planned to be held at Malaga Spain, instead was held in virtual online way. This study aims to calculate the contribution of reduced CO2  emissions in tons due to ESC preventive cardiology conference 2020, which was then held online and air travel of the registered participants was avoided. Methods Anonymized participant registration information was used to determine the country and city of the 949 registered participants of the Preventive Cardiology conference 2020. It is assumed that participants would have travelled from the closest airports from their reported city locations to Malaga airport, Spain. At first, the closest city airports were determined using Google maps and flights information, then the flight emissions (direct and indirect CO2-equivalent emissions) per passenger for the given flight distances were calculated. The CO2 emissions (tons) were calculated for round trips in economy class from the participants of 68 nationalities (excluding 60 participants from Spain as they are assumed to take other modes of transport than airplane). Results In total, 1156.51 tons of CO2  emissions were saved by turning the physical conference into a virtual event. This emission amount is equivalent to the annual CO2 production of 108 people living in high-income countries. Conclusion The pandemic situation has forced us to rethink the necessity of trips by air and has shown us the feasibility of digitally organized events. The information from this study can add to the awareness about reduced amount of carbon emission due to air travel by organizing events in a virtual way when possible. Apart from only digitally organized events there are others options to reduce the carbon footprint of conferences such as limiting the number of physical attendees, encouraging the use of relatively sustainable transport modes for participants from nearby countries (e.g. international trains and use of active transport modes at conference venue etc.) and including CO2 emission offsetting costs.

scholarly journals Evaluating the use of straw bales in achieving passive house certification (PHIUS+ 2015) in western Canada

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashley Lubyk
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Climate Impact ◽  
Simulation Software ◽  
Embodied Energy ◽  
Single Family ◽  
Passive House ◽  
House Design ◽  
Straw Bale ◽  
Wall System

Achieving Passive House certification requires super insulation which can significantly raise the embodied energy and carbon footprint of a project, effectively front-end loading the climate impact, especially where petrochemical foam-based products are used. This research sought to evaluate the use of straw bales - a low embodied energy, carbon sequestering agricultural by-product - to achieve PHIUS+2015 certification. A straw bale wall system was adapted to a single-family detached reference house designed to meet the Passive House standard. The wall system was evaluated for applicability across three Western Canadian cities using WUFI Passive energy simulation software to evaluate compliance; thermal bridging and hygrothermal performance were also evaluated. It was found that the proposed straw bale wall assembly satisfied the PHIUS+ 2015 requirements in all three locations - Saskatoon, Calgary, and Kelowna - with only minor changes required to the reference house design. The annual heating demand and peak heating load, the two targets most sensitive to design changes, were, respectively, 4% and 8.6% below the target in Saskatoon, 63.1% and 21.3% below in Calgary, and 63.1% and 32.6% below in Kelowna. The research also revealed that maintaining a high degree of air tightness is essential for satisfying the requirements. Overall, this research demonstrates that straw bales can be a beneficial component in creating high performance enclosures without exacting a large embodied carbon footprint.

From Township Tourism, Semigration, and Second-Home Tourism

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Unathi Sonwabile Henama
Keyword(s):  
Local Community ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
International Travel ◽  
Second Home ◽  
Global Tourism ◽  
The Developed Countries ◽  
Township Tourism ◽  
Developed World

Tourism is disproportionally important for African economies, considering that Africa receives less than 10% of the global tourism receipts. The majority of international travel occurs between the developed world, which means that the positive economic impacts of tourism are shared amongst the developed countries. Tourism has become the number one foreign exchange earner for many countries in Africa, diversifying the economy from either agriculture or mining. Tourism is developed with the intention that it will improve the quality-of-life and standard of living of the local community. The tourism industry has shown sustained growth, and it is regarded as a panacea for the plethora of challenges facing many countries. The structural challenges that face the economy in South Africa require an economic sector that can create immediate employment and catalyse the economy.

scholarly journals Carbon footprint of air travel to international radiology conferences: FOMO?

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (11) ◽  
pp. 6293-6294
Author(s):  
Derya Yakar ◽  
Thomas C. Kwee
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Air Travel

scholarly journals CON: COVID-19 will not result in increased antimicrobial resistance prevalence

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Collignon ◽  
John J Beggs
Keyword(s):  
Antimicrobial Resistance ◽  
Infection Prevention ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
International Travel ◽  
Infection Prevention And Control ◽  
Resistant Bacteria ◽  
Healthcare Facilities ◽  
Factors Associated ◽  
Resistance Rates ◽  
And Control

Abstract Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is affected by many factors, but too much of our focus has been on antimicrobial usage. The major factor that drives resistance rates globally is spread. The COVID-19 pandemic should lead to improved infection prevention and control practices, both in healthcare facilities and the community. COVID-19 will also have ongoing and profound effects on local, national and international travel. All these factors should lead to a decrease in the spread of resistant bacteria. So overall, COVID-19 should lead to a fall in resistance rates seen in many countries. For this debate we show why, overall, COVID-19 will not result in increased AMR prevalence. But globally, changes in AMR rates will not be uniform. In wealthier and developed countries, resistance rates will likely decrease, but in many other countries there are already too many factors associated with poor controls on the spread of bacteria and viruses (e.g. poor water and sanitation, poor public health, corrupt government, inadequate housing, etc.). In these countries, if economies and governance deteriorate further, we might see even more transmission of resistant bacteria.

scholarly journals Consumer Preferences for Different Designs of Carbon Footprint Labelling on Tomatoes in Germany—Does Design Matter?

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1587 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephan Meyerding ◽  
Anna-Lena Schaffmann ◽  
Mira Lehberger
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Choice Experiment ◽  
Latent Class ◽  
Consumer Preferences ◽  
Significant Proportion ◽  
Climate Impact ◽  
Traffic Light ◽  
Tomato Production ◽  
Impact Reduction ◽  
Northern European

The climate impact of tomato production is an important issue in the sustainability of tomatoes, especially in northern European countries, such as Germany. Communicating the climate impact of products to the consumer is difficult and the design of the label might be the key to its success. For this reason, the present study compares the utilities of six different carbon footprint labels to evaluate which label design works best for the consumer. 598 consumers were surveyed in a representative online choice-experiment. The participants had to choose between tomatoes with different product characteristics, such as origin, price, organic label, and carbon footprint label. A split sample approach was used where each sub-sample with around n = 100 saw a different carbon footprint label design in the choice-experiment. The results suggest that qualitative carbon footprint labels using color-coded traffic light labelling are superior to those that claim climate impact reduction or neutrality, including those that provide more details regarding the climate impact of the product and the company. The latent class analysis with four consumer segments shows that a significant proportion of consumers in Germany would consider a carbon footprint label as an important characteristic.

Space, Mobility and Legitimacy

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ettore Recchi
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Technological Progress ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
International Travel ◽  
The European Union ◽  
International Mobility ◽  
Dependent Variables ◽  
History Of ◽  
Widespread Phenomenon

While migration has always existed, and its consequences have always been important, few people have lived a mobile life in the history of mankind. Population immobility has recurrently been part and parcel of political strategies of social control and domination. Since the second half of the 20th century, however, the extent of geographical movements of individuals has expanded enormously. In particular, the size and scope of international travel has increased at an exponential pace. Favored by globalization and technological progress, transnationalism, initially linked to migration, has emerged as a relatively widespread phenomenon that involves a growing portion of the general population, especially, but not only, in developed countries. Mainly on the basis of research carried out in Europe, there is evidence that transnational practices tend to strengthen cosmopolitanism and the legitimacy of supranational polities (particularly the European Union [EU]), while it is less clear whether they entail denationalization. Further research is needed to improve the quality of independent and dependent variables in this area and assess the effect of international mobility and transnationalism outside the European context.

scholarly journals Tipping to Staying on the Ground: Internalized Knowledge of Climate Change Crucial for Transformed Air Travel Behavior

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 1994 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Jacobson ◽  
Jonas Åkerman ◽  
Matteo Giusti ◽  
Avit K. Bhowmik
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Travel Behavior ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Climate Impact ◽  
Air Travel ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
The Media ◽  
Effective Policy ◽  
The Impact

Air travel accounts for a major share of individual greenhouse gas emissions, particularly for people in high-income countries. Until recently, few have reduced flying because of climate concerns, but currently, a movement for staying on the ground is rising. Sweden has been a focal point for this movement, particularly during 2018–2019, when a flight tax was introduced, and air travel reduction was intensely discussed in the media. We performed semi-structured interviews with Swedish residents, focusing primarily on individuals who have reduced flying because of its climate impact. We explore how such individual transformation of air travel behavior comes about, and the phases and components of this process. Applying a framework of sustainability transformation, we identify incentives and barriers in personal and political spheres. We show that internalized knowledge about climate change and the impact of air travel is crucial for instigating behavioral change. Awareness evokes negative emotions leading to a personal tipping point where a decision to reduce or quit flying is made. However, the process is often counteracted by both personal values and political structures promoting air travel. Even individuals with a strong drive to reduce flying feel trapped in social practices, norms and infrastructures. Hence, we argue that personal and political spheres interact complexly and to reduce flying at larger scales, interventions are needed across spheres, e.g., change of norms, effective policy instruments and better alternatives to air travel.

Global travel deals will be subject to reversals

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Global Economy ◽  
Recovery Process ◽  
Air Travel ◽  
International Travel ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Crucial Component ◽  
The World ◽  
Global Travel ◽  
Affected Country

Significance The pandemic has seen an unprecedented reduction in global travel. Previously unthinkable travel bans and border closures have been implemented throughout the world in an attempt to control the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Many countries are now beginning to ease restrictions, aiming to achieve a new and sustainable normal. Travel is a crucial component of the global economy and the sector is restarting, but it faces major challenges. Impacts Domestic air travel will begin its recovery much ahead of international travel as it will not have to deal with border restrictions. Large outbreaks could lead to quarantines for individuals traveling to and from the affected country until control has been regained. Improvements in testing quality and capacity will significantly aid the global recovery process.

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