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University Lund LUCSUS
In January 2019, the Centre for Sustainable Studies at Lund University (LUCSUS) started a 1-year commitment period in which they pledge to make serious and significant efforts to reduce work-related emissions. After the first commitment period, LUCSUS will re-evaluate the travel policy with the goal to increase the ambition and set more concrete reduction targets in the future.
Their efforts are partly inspired by Tyndall Centre’s travel policy.
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Concrete measures to reduce air travel
LUCSUS will
- track and collect its carbon emissions via the university’s travel agency and through an individual carbon tracker and make them available collectively, in anonymous format, and also create a personal report directly to each individual at the end of each year. This data will be used as an awareness-raising tool, to evaluate progress, and to gradually increase the ambitions.
- pursue a long-term strategy to reduce emissions from academic travel, and facilitate staff needs in choosing low-carbon travel.
- investigate opportunities for an internal fund, from which to finance potentially increased costs of international low-carbon travel, or other ways to facilitate (and push for) a reduction in academic travel emissions.
- actively give voice to the academic flying issue in fora within and outside the university
- help to address institutional barriers to change, and to advocate for, and develop structural solutions.
LUCSUS staff agrees to:
- follow a decision tree before making a travel decision.
- monitor individual, work-related emissions, and set progressively ambitious objectives to reduce them.
- prioritize, wherever possible, travel-free meetings and telephone/video conferences over physical travel, and collective ground (train, boat or bus) travel over air travel.
- prioritize ground travel for all trips within Sweden.
- prioritize ground travel for all international destinations within 12 hours from Lund, and seriously consider this for all trips within Europe.
- justify (for oneself) any travel made, taking into account: the location and purpose of the event, benefit to LUCSUS of participating, benefit to individual career, own level of seniority and responsibility, and the alternative options available.
- prioritize low-carbon opportunities for any activities and events that are organized (low carbon travelling of participants, choice of locations, encouraging train travel, using online conferencing tools)
- encourage and stimulate a low-carbon working culture at LUCSUS and within the wider academic community,
- working with colleagues, institutional actors and funders to value alternative metrics of success and encourage the promotion of low-carbon research as a viable alternative to a high-carbon research career.
Contact
Kimberley Nicholas, kimberly.nicholas@lucsus.lu.se
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