An analysis of ways to decarbonize conference travel after COVID-19

Abstract

efore the pandemic, many academics were frequent flyers. We travelled to conferences and board meetings, to conduct fieldwork, to visit collaborators and to give seminars and lectures. Many of us took multiple long-haul flights per year and have accrued thousands of air miles.Yet we are also acutely aware of the negative impacts of travel. Before the outbreak of COVID-19, the transport sector as a whole accounted for 24% of annual global emissions of carbon dioxide. Aviation was responsible for about 3%, road transport 18% and rail less than 1% (ref. 1).The vast majority of flights were taken by a small minority of frequent flyers. In the United Kingdom, 15% of the population was responsible for 70% of the flights 2 . There are clear inequalities in who travels by air 3 .Academics are part of this hypermobile lifestyle. The sum total of travel associated with attendance at one large academic conference can release as much CO 2 as an entire city in a Emissions associated with large academic meetings could be slashed by boosting virtual attendance and regional hubs, new calculations suggest. Some 28,000 people travelled to the American Geophysical Union's 2019 Fall Meeting, resulting in 80,000 tonnes of carbon emissions.

Reducing the Carbon Footprint of Academic Conferences: The Example of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

“…19 Last, a decentralized option may offer advantages. Although there will be considerable logistic challenges in organizing multiple conferences and caution is required to ensure participants from all continents have equal benefits, 18 the gains in terms of travel costs, emissions, and time are considerable. This decentralized option may be alternated with a central conference.…”

“…Several options may be considered to reduce the carbon footprint associated with future conferences. 18 Although a complete replacement of in-person meetings with virtual meetings can be considered, we are of the opinion that some in-person contact is needed for networking and productive scientific discourse. We thus consider three alternatives to the way ASTMH meetings have been organized in the past: 1) alternating in-person and online conferences, 2) offering a hybrid in-person/online conference, and 3) decentralizing the conference with multiple conference venues.…”

Making Science Organizations Sustainable—The Mission of the Max Planck Sustainability Network

“…Implementing more sustainable practices in research will not be possible without behavioral change and thus limitations which could be perceived as restrictions. For example, the major contribution to the carbon footprint of science presumably is air travel activity (accounting for up to 50% of emissions), especially to conferences (Jean and Wymant, 2019;Langin, 2019;Nature Nanotechnology., 2019;Klöwer et al, 2020). Here, the necessary action is to travel less and especially to fly less.…”

Shifting away from the business-as-usual approach to research conferences

“…The average amount of CO 2 emitted from travel to a research conference has been calculated at ∼800 kg per presenter ( Spinellis and Louridas, 2013 ). Long-distance travel is particularly problematic: a seat on a one-way intercontinental flight is estimated to release more CO 2 (3000 kg) than the average annual emissions for one person living in Britain or ten people living in Ghana ( Klöwer et al, 2020 ). We know the climate crisis is real.…”