Taking actions to reduce air travel emissions can be done at all levels: from individual travelers (and non-travelers) to Departments to Executives, find out here what you and your team can do.

The Challenge

Aviation is one of the most difficult sectors of the economy to decarbonize, and currently-proposed technological innovations are still a long way from being sufficient to reduce its environmental impacts to a sustainable degree.

In addition, it is not economically nor environmentally viable to address UBC’s air travel emissions through offsets or carbon capture. This poses a particular challenge, as it means that to meet its target emissions reductions, UBC must focus on significantly reducing its demand for air travel.

Collective and Individual Action

Reducing demand for university air travel is not something that can be done only by individuals, as such travel is informed by longstanding cultural norms and practices. However, individuals can still help by working to reduce their own travel needs, and by supporting department and university efforts to equitably reduce the need for such travel.

The following (non-exhaustive) list of actions may be done by individuals or as departmental initiatives. It is recommended that departments consider adopting these measures as a matter of policy or procedure to ensure accountability and equity where possible, and with consensus from staff and faculty members.

Demand Reduction

  • Improve departmental capacity for virtual conferencing and guest lectures; this can be in the form of a cap on the number of long-distance speakers invited, in improving telecommunications capacity, investing in training in utilizing such technologies for long-distance presentations and for hosting guest lecturers and speakers virtually.
    • These kinds of investments can also be used to increase capacity for hosting virtual and multi-hub conferencing opportunities, which can enable international academic collaboration and knowledge sharing without requiring air travel. The UBC Centre for Teaching and Learning Technology and UBC IT Audio Visual Services can provide support for these kinds of initiatives.
  • Implement a flight justification policy: UBC already requires approval from immediate supervisors for business air travel; department heads may choose to require would-be travelers to submit written justification for any air travel.
  • Limit or prohibit low-value trips such as same-day return flights, brief-stay long-haul flights, and flights solely for delivering guest lectures.
  • Prioritize high-value and irreplaceable trips such as field research and key networking opportunities for junior researchers.
  • Make use of the UBC Library’s Travel Decision Tree to assess the necessity of in-person attendance.

Impact Reduction

If it is determined that air travel is both necessary and unavoidable, there are some options which can still be used to make marginal reductions to the total emissions from air travel.

  • Trip bundle as much as possible: plan a trip so as to minimize the number of anticipated returns to the destination in the foreseeable future.
  • Minimize the number of passengers making the trip.
  • Fly Economy class; upgraded seats are associated with emissions impacts up to 4 times higher than economy-class seats.

Climate Action Committees

Numerous UBC Departments have existing Climate Action Committees, which can help guide department-level climate action design and implementation as well as ensure that staff, faculty, and students from the department can contribute to the discussion. Find out more here.

Toolkits

Many helpful resources exist which can help guide individual and group-level actions to address and reduce the need for air travel:

  • The FlyingLess Toolbox is a highly comprehensive set of resources which can help to assess baselines, set targets, address challenges, and answer questions around reducing academic air travel.
  • The Handbook on Climate Change and Air Travel for UBC Departments provides some useful metrics on the impact of air travel, and a decision-making tool for critically assessing the necessity of certain activities that require air travel.