Carbon dioxide emissions analysis from mandatory transportation of members of the university

Abstract

The carbon dioxide (CO₂) is the primary greenhouse gas (GHG) contributing to global warming. Mandatory transportation at universities is one of the significant sources of CO₂ emissions. While emissions from transportation are commonly included in universities' carbon footprint analyses, they are often reported in general terms, hindering the implementation of disaggregated policies or incentives to mitigate them. This article presents a methodology for assessing CO₂ emissions from mandatory transportation, categorizing sources into three groups related to university activities: (i) students, (ii) teaching and research staff, and (iii) administrative staff. The results indicate that use of individual car is the largest contributor to CO₂ emissions, averaging approximately 2 kg per person per journey. Notably, CO₂ emissions from cars are three times greater than the use of public transport and twice by use of taxis or similar services. The application of a simulated strategy (promoting walking and cycling) showed a potential reduction of CO₂ emissions around 238.49 kg and proved to be more effective among administrative staff compared to the other groups. Additionally, the linear model used in the assessment demonstrated robust performance, with Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) values ranging from 0.833 to 0.898 and correlation coefficients between 0.91 and 0.94.