In this blog post, Stefan Baumeister reflects on the paradox of academic air travel and its environmental impact. While universities contribute to climate solutions through research and education, their own operations—especially travel habits—leave a significant carbon footprint. He explores the concept of green travel in academia, shares practical alternatives, and offers insights from his personal experience promoting more sustainable mobility.
While teaching and conducting research plays a significant role in the fight against climate change, the operations of universities do also leave a noteworthy carbon footprint. The highest impact stems from the buildings in which we operate but also the way we commute to campus, what we eat while on campus and how we travel during our academic mobility does contribute significantly. From an individual perspective, the largest carbon footprint stems from academic air travel. It is paradox that while we are fully aware of the tremendous impact air travel has on our climate, it is not only considered acceptable but even desirable to fly and attend meetings and conferences around the globe at an ever-faster pace. While air travel is often seen as the only feasible option, alternatives do exist such as green travel.
The lack of awareness for the green travel option
While the green travel option has always existed, it seems there is a clear lack of awareness towards this option especially in academia. Green travel simply means that we shift away from carbon intensive travel modes such as airplanes towards greener options like train travel, bus travel, using ferries or carpooling. Green travel usually starts with awareness about the impact of our travel behaviour. All of us should do their part to minimize the impact on our environment. Green travel is about understanding that there are eco-friendlier choices available. However, green travel is also about selecting those greener options. It is hereby essential to understand that each gram of carbon dioxide matters. For example, traveling by train creates on average 14g of carbon dioxide per passenger kilometer while air travel produces 285g per kilometer which is more than 20 times the impact.
How to travel green in academia?
Following the instructions given by the Erasmus+ program which provides students and staff with additional funding for green travel, there are three different ways how green travel can be practiced. In the ideal case one would of course avoid air travel entirely and complete a return trip to the destination and back by the means of green transportation modes only. In this case it would be possible to cut back emissions by about 90-95%. However, it is still considered green travel if one uses the airplane as long as less than half of the total kilometers traveled are flown. This option makes sense if parts of the journey require crossing larger bodies of water or the airplane is used where train and bus connections are very slow. The third option is to go one way green and the other way by airplane. These second and third options make sense if time is a constraint but one still wants to cut back on their own carbon emissions significantly. Here emissions reductions of 40-50% can easily be achieved by just replacing parts of the journey with green travel modes.
My personal experience with green travel
Besides doing research on green travel, I personally have engaged in academic green travel for almost 20 years. Back in 2006 before anyone spoke about green travel, I came to Finland from Germany as an Erasmus exchange student by train. Just recently I completed a 30-day green travel trip visiting 8 universities around Europe, traveling almost 15 000 kilometers by train. The purpose of this so-called Green Travel Road Show was to create more awareness towards the green travel option. I gave public talks and ran workshops on green travel at all universities, trying to engage students and staff as well as administrators. I actively posted on social media and reflected on my personal experience in a diary blog. I also conducted research interviews to better understand what the obstacles towards green travel are as well as what kind of benefits green travel can provide to us as individuals. The preliminary findings show that many of us are not aware of the real impact air travel has and how much emissions we could save by going green. There are a lot of misconceptions about how long green travel takes and how much it costs. Nevertheless, also a lot of benefits are seen in green travel like more cultural experiences, seeing the journey as part of the destination, having the opportunity to stop wherever you like, slowing down in general, finding more quality time for yourself and for your work as well as personal growth.
Stefan Baumeister
Senior Lecturer & Adjunct Professor
Member of the Board of the Union of Research Professionals