CO 2 emissions from flight travel UCPH 2016

Transcription

1 U N I V E R S I T Y O F C O P E N H A G E N from UCPH 2016 Overview This report presents a short analysis of air travel activity, based on data from the university s travel agency Carlson Wagonlit Travel. The main points presented in this report are: from air travel in 2016 are calculated to be 8,456 ton, or 24% of the university s total in the same year. The greatest source of from air travel was long-haul flights (longer than 3,700 km), in spite of being far fewer than either short or medium-haul flights. Actual travelers from UCPH took an average of 5.3 individual planes in Counting all UCPH employees (full-time equivalents), the average was 4.61 flights in % of actual travelers took 3 or less flights. The carbon dioxide emission of individual UCPH employees increases exponentially from the least to most active travelers, in such manner that the 15% most active fliers represent the same global warming potential as the remaining 85% less active travelers. The roughly 8,500 UCPH employees estimated to have travelled in 2016 represented an average emission of just under 1 ton -e in 2016 per traveler, while the 90% least active remained under 2.4 ton/person, and the most active were responsible for up to 18.4 ton/person. This corresponds, respectively, to around a fifth, a half and three times the yearly emission of an average European citizen: The -e 1 from Correspond to of an average Dane s of 6.8 tons/year 2 of a European citizen s of 6.7 tons/year 2 One long-haul flight 22 % 23 % 30 % Average UCPH flight in 2016 Largest individual emission from flight transport at UCPH total from air travel in % 19 % 25 % 274 % 278 % 372 % 1067 Danes 1083 European citizens of the global average per capita emission of 5.0 tons/year people worldwide 1 -e (carbon dioxide-equivalent): total emission of all greenhouse gasses converted to an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide. 2 The World Bank Data, CO2 Emissions (metric tons per capita) : 1

2 Note on travel expenses and flight data The University of Copenhagen manages two-thirds of its air travel transactions through the travel agency Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT), according to compliance figures from the university s finance department. This means, 67% of travel budget in 2016 was spent via CWT, while the rest was executed independently by employees and researchers. The following analysis is performed mainly from CWT s data on flight frequency and greenhouse gas ; with the assumption that it describes the behavior and patterns of all UCPH air travel, whether it was purchased via CWT or independently. This extrapolation must be understood to carry a degree of uncertainty, as specific purchase data for flight tickets outside CWT is not available. Analysis According to available data, a total of 8,534 UCPH employees flew on university business in 2016; 5,718 of them through the travel agency Carlson Wagonlit Travel. That year, 45,049 individual flight tickets (one trip can consist of several individual tickets) were purchased, which cost roughly 7.7 million Euro, and represent a total greenhouse gas (GHG) emission of 8,456 ton -e (using CWT s emission factors). Among UCPH employees who travelled in 2016, the average total emission from flights that year was 0.99 ton -e, while 90% remained under 2.36 ton -e each. Put together, this 90% accounts for little over 60% of the university s total GHG from air travel in In other words, the 10% most active travelers accounted for just under 40% of the university s GHG from air travel that year. In general, the trend is that the more active flyers account for a disproportionately greater part of total even though they are far fewer than their less active colleagues (See Figure 1). Fig. 1: This pie chart shows the added from all employees, grouped by the number of tickets they flew on in The number of travelers in each group is shown under their collective emission. 2

3 These flights are not distributed homogeneously over the different faculties and departments at UCPH. As can be expected, different disciplines have different travel habits, the most active field being natural science. As can be seen in Figure 2, it is the natural science faculty (SCIENCE) that contributes most to the university s climate burden from air travel, followed by the health science faculty (SUND) and all other faculties put together. It is important to notice that not all faculties are equally large. Figure 3 shows the number of tickets per employee in 2016 for the different faculties, and SCIENCE and SUND have nearly the same average. On the other hand, Figure 4 shows that the CO2-e emission per employee at SCIENCE is nearly double that of SUND. This likely means that while the travel frequency is similar in both faculties, researchers and employees at the natural science faculty tend to travel longer distances than their colleagues at health science. In a similar manner, employees from the humanistic, social science and law faculties all travel less often than those from the science faculties, but their per person are all greater than that of SUND. The other important group of flyers is the guest or external travelers. Among these, external travelers without national registry numbers (i.e. foreign guests and newly arrived academic staff) make up 16% of the total CWT expenditure according to independent calculations made by finance department. Fig. 2: This chart shows the relative contribution from each faculty/department at UCPH to the total CO2-e from air travel. 3

4 Fig. 3: Number of tickets purchased per employee (full-time equivalent) at each faculty and the central administration at UCPH Fig. 4: CO2-e in kg per employee (full-time equivalent) at each faculty and the central administration at UCPH Possible measures It could prove beneficial to establish a strategy aimed at a relative of from employees who exceed a certain number of flights per year. This way only the most frequent flyers would be affected, and the required would be adjusted to the magnitude of their individual contribution to. An example is presented below: 4

5 Maximum number of flights per year > 10 flights > 20 flights UCPH employees affected Relative of 10% in total Relative of 20% in total % 0,7 % % 1,4 % % 0,2 % % 0,5 % A more stringent measure could take the shape of a voluntary cap system, with a yearly maximal emission per UCPH employee. This way, the overall Scope 3 for the university could be greatly reduced while affecting a relatively small portion of its employees. As examples, two scenarios are presented below, calculated using data from 2016: Cap in ton /year/ employee UCPH employees affected total 2.36 tons % 2.6 % 1.8 tons , % 3.7 % Either system would benefit from being implemented along with strategies that make it easier or more attractive to no travel, for example, good and accessible virtual conference facilities, or free-time compensations on the basis of avoided waiting times in airports. In conclusion, it must be recognized that air travel is an activity with great potential for s in both the university s carbon footprint and its travel-related expenses. 3 90% of all UCPH travelers had a total emission under 2.36 ton -e. 4 The 15% of UCPH travellers with above 1.8 tons contributed collectively as much as all the 85% that remained under 1.8 tons in