Business trips and commuting

Objective: By 2045, University West will have gradually reduced its impact on the climate created through business travel to as close to zero as possible, whereby remaining carbon dioxide emissions are compensated through negative emissions in other areas, such as through CO2 storage and carbon sinks.  

We want to achieve our climate goals in a way that can be combined with internationalisation, since in addition to being a condition for high-quality scientific activity, international collaborations also make possible research and educational collaboration that contributes to climate adaptation at the global level. To combine climate objectives with internationalisation is a challenge, since CO2 emissions from international flights de make up the greater part of emissions from the university’s business trips. Success requires a new way of looking at international collaboration, where working together without physical mobility plays a larger role than previously, and where the trips that nonetheless must be taken are booked in the most climate-smart way possible.

• We only travel when we have to

A business trip is not an end in itself; rather, it is a way of reaching another goal and the effect on the climate, just like the price, must always be weighed in. Travel-free meetings should be chosen when possible and University West will work with others to render the academic meeting culture more flexible. We will offer digital participation at our own events in addition to developing the flexibility of our campus programmes to a degree that did not exist before the Covid-19 pandemic.

• When we have to travel, we do it in a climate-smart fashion

The impact on the climate will be accounted for in our booking system, to make possible the choice of a climate-smart trip. Train travel should be used for all trips under 500 km for domestic travel as well as, when possible, for longer, international trips. When we fly, it should be done in the most climate-smart way possible; for example, one should choose an airline that has efficient planes that take bio-fuel and try to avoid stop-overs. Systems for internal carbon emission trading will be introduced.   

• The university works together with property owners and the city of Trollhättan to promote climate-smart travel to and from our campus.