One of the University's goals for sustainable development addresses the climate impact of work trips:
Overall Goal 2021-2026
“The climate impact from business travel must be reduced at such a rate that the overall climate goal (minus 6 percent per year) can be achieved. Travel-free meetings must be a functional option for all employees and must always be considered, taking into account the requirements for the respective meeting and its efficiency, accessibility and creativity.”
Plane, train or car – or no travel?
A large part of the University’s climate impact stems from business travel. Air travel accounts for the absolute majority (approximately 85 percent of carbon dioxide emissions), followed by car travel (just below 10 percent). Emissions from train travel do not even account for one percent: electrified railways and electricity from mainly fossil-free sources mean low emissions.
The potential is great to reduce the number of trips that are not in line with current rules for meetings and travel: for example, short trips by airplane, which in many cases should be made by train.
On the staff website (Medarbetarwebben), you can find Rules for Meetings and Travel (pdf) (Swedish) and information about how to plan and book trips (Swedish webpage) .
It is important that we make use of our experiences from the pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, the University had already come a long way with online education. Nevertheless, for those unaccustomed to working online, the pandemic meant an involuntary crash course. To prevent travel from returning to pre-pandemic levels, we need to continue to develop technical solutions and digital meeting know-how, as well as a culture for digital meetings.
