Seven steps to make travel to scientific conferences more sustainable

Abstract

A ll scientists face pressure to give external seminars and attend conferences. This is especially important for early-career researchers because doing so can help them to find new positions, and adds to their CVs. To do research effectively, scientists need to build networks and collaborations, and learn about cutting-edge developments in their field. But the benefits need to be weighed against the environmental costs of attending conferences and meetings 1. A return flight from London to New York (11,000 kilometres), for example, releases around 2 tonnes of carbon dioxide-roughly the same as that produced, on average, by a year's car usage in the European Union. Attending a conference generates an estimated 800 kilograms of CO 2 emissions per participant. From our experiences as junior and established faculty members in the biological COLUMN Celebrate sustainable travel at conferences Universities should reward green travel practices when they make careerdefining decisions, say Olivier Hamant, Timothy Saunders and Virgile Viasnoff. WAVEBREAK MEDIA LTD/ALAMY Travelling by train can reduce the environmental impact of attending a conference.

Have international in-person medical meetings had their day?

“…On the eve of COP26, it’s important to recognise the environmental impact associated with meetings, regardless of their format. Recent estimates suggest that attending conferences in person can generate more than 800 kg (0.8 tonnes) of carbon dioxide emissions per participant 11. Virtual conferences have been positioned as the environmentally friendly alternative.…”

The future of conferences: lessons from Europe's largest online geoscience conference

“…However, from the results of this survey, these steps do not go far enough to alleviate the concern that many of the respondents have with regards to the environmental impact of the General Assembly. Furthermore, as noted by Hischier and Hilty (2002), the environmental impact of a large international conference such as the EGU General Assembly is dominated by the travel activities of the participants. Here long-range flights are the dominant element, as exemplified for the 2019 Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union, where 75 % of the emissions were due to intercontinental flights over distances larger than 8000 km made by 36 % of the attendees (Klöwer et al, 2020).…”

Travel Less. Make It Worthwhile.

“…At the individual level, critical self-assessment is warranted. Some colleagues have started developing ideas for making academic travel and events more sustainable ( Hamant et al., 2019 ; Nathans and Sterling, 2016 ; Quinton, 2020 ; Sarabipour et al., 2020 ), but few have taken drastic steps, and the disciplinary background doesn’t seem to make a difference ( Wynes et al., 2019 ). Despite the slow progress, we are amid a massive shift in the culture and practice of scientific travel.…”