Sustainability in Academia: Evaluating the Carbon Footprint as an Indicator of Environmental Responsibility at Higher Education Institutions
Keywords:
Climate change, Carbon footprint, Greenhouse gas emissions, GHG protocol, Higher Education InstitutionsAbstract
The unpredictable nature of the changing climate has become a major concern for the international community, demanding urgent action. Many of the world’s large organizations are concerted efforts to transition towards sustainability. Carbon footprint is a key approach used to measure the impacts caused by increased greenhouse gases. The current study aims to evaluate the environmental performance of International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) by assessing the carbon footprint of its on-campus activities, following the guidelines given by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard. The objectives of the study are: 1) to identify the scope of activities for carbon footprint assessment; 2) to quantify the IIUI’s organizational carbon footprint; and 3) to identify the major contributors (sources) for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at the university. Three emission sources were identified (Scope 1: natural gas, diesel combustion, university-owned transportation, refrigerants and fugitive emissions; Scope 2: purchased electricity; Scope 3: business travel and paper usage). Carbon footprint of IIUI was found to be 4660.38tCO2e, with per capita carbon footprint to be 0.16tCO2e. Scope 1 accounted for the largest share of emissions (80.96%), followed by Scope 2 (18.76%), with Scope 3 contributing only 0.28% in 2023. The greatest emissions stem from university-owned transport, accounting 1729.85tCO2e (37%). The study highlights significant hotspots responsible for those emissions and emphasizes the importance of assessing carbon footprint. The finding of this study can support efforts to improve environmental sustainability and contribute to higher education institution’s participation in national and global ranking systems.
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Data Availability Statement
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Copyright (c) 2024 Komal Zahra, Dr. Sarah Amir, Dr. Muhammad Zaman-ul-Haq, Asfandyar Khan, Sayyed Kifayatullah (Author)
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