New Delhi: An international group of astronomers and researchers has come together to publish a paper on a pressing topic that brings together academia and climate change — carbon emissions when academics travel for conferences.
The study paper, published in the journal PNAS Nexus on 30 April, calculates the total carbon emissions — from flights and trains taken by the international astronomy community — in one year for academic meetings, referred to as “conferences” and “schools”.
The study was conducted by astronomers affiliated to various global schools and some independent researchers.
It found that a total of 42,000 tonnes of CO2 was emitted in the year 2019 by astronomy academics while travelling to 362 open academic conferences and schools.
The paper looked at all open astronomy conferences around the world during the year, and given the substantial research by the paper’s authors, they’re “confident it represents the whole of the astronomy community”.
The authors compiled information about where these meetings were held, what was the mean number of participants, what was the average distance the participants were flying, and then they calculated the mean greenhouse gas emissions of each participant for each conference.
There were two types of academic meetings that the researchers studied — conferences with an average 128 participants, and schools with an average of 54 participants.
The total amount of 42,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions was calculated based on information about where most participants for a conference were coming from. The researchers also found that the average global round-trip travel emission per participant per conference was 1.1 tonnes of CO2.
“For context, in 2019 the average per-capita carbon footprint in Africa was 1.2 tonnes of CO2,” read the paper.
The astronomers also estimated that the total travel undertaken by their community for conferences in 2019 was equivalent to 5,650 times the circumference of the earth.
The average per participant emission did vary based on the type of conference and its location. For example, European “schools” had fewer per participant emissions as compared to European “conferences”, but in the US the emissions were roughly the same.
The emissions also differed based on the kind of participants each conference saw — Asian schools saw more local participants, and hence had fewer emissions, as compared to their European counterparts.
According to the study, local participants were those that travelled less than 200 km for the study.
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What is the solution?
The purpose of the study was to assess how the astronomy community contributed to direct greenhouse gas emissions and climate change, through their conference travels.
The paper’s abstract said that they wanted to “compare with other academic fields, and also come up with future reduction strategies”.
The main solution proposed by the researchers after the study was to shift to virtual sessions for most conferences, but they did acknowledge that this won’t be possible for all conferences.
Instead, they proposed a reduction in long-distance flights as much as possible, since they contribute the most to CO2 emissions.
According to their calculations, only 21 percent of the total trips taken by participants for all conferences were long-distance trips, but still they accounted for 61 percent of the total CO2 emissions.
Instead, the researchers suggest that conferences could take place in more central locations that are accessible to most participants, rather than in exotic or “retreat-worthy” locations.
They gave the example of a conference in Australia which resulted in the highest per capita CO2 emissions, because 105 of the 115 participants were from outside Australia.
According to the analysis of participants and travel locations, the study estimated that if the same conference had been held in central Europe, the emissions would have reduced by 50 percent or more.
The authors further acknowledged that holding conferences in Europe or US would be disadvantageous to participants from other regions of the world, but to combat that they also provided other options for holding academic conferences.
In the case where sessions cannot be fully virtual, the paper suggests that instead of all participants gathering in one place, conferences should be divided into regional hubs where people can gather physically and then connect together virtually. This would reduce the amount of long-distance flights that would be taken by people, while still keeping the networking aspect of conferences alive.
The authors also calculated the different scenarios where participants would meet in hubs in North America, South America, Europe and East Asia for the American Astronomical Society’s annual conference and found that it would reduce emissions by 70 percent.
Recognising the logistical constraints of organising virtual and hybrid conferences without compromising on the essence of networking in these events, the paper said that it would be a “worthwhile impactful endeavour” if it would reduce carbon emissions in the face of climate change.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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