Astronomy’s climate emissions: Global travel to scientific meetings in 2019

Author:

Gokus Andrea123ORCID,Jahnke Knud4ORCID,Woods Paul M5ORCID,Moss Vanessa A67ORCID,Ossenkopf-Okada Volker8ORCID,Sacchi Elena9ORCID,Stevens Adam R H10ORCID,Burtscher Leonard11ORCID,Kayhan Cenk12ORCID,Dalgleish Hannah1314ORCID,Grinberg Victoria15ORCID,Rector Travis A16ORCID,Rybizki Jan17ORCID,White Jacob18ORCID

Affiliation:

1. Department of Physics and McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis , St. Louis, MO 63130 , USA

2. Dr. Karl Remeis Sternwarte and ECAP, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg , Bamberg 96049 , Germany

3. Institut für Theoretische Physik und Astrophysik, Universität Würzburg , Würzburg 97074 , Germany

4. Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie , Heidelberg 69117 , Germany

5. Independent Researcher , London , UK

6. ATNF, CSIRO Space and Astronomy , Epping, NSW 1710 , Australia

7. Sydney Institute for Astronomy, School of Physics A28, University of Sydney , NSW 2006 , Australia

8. Universität zu Köln, I. Physikalisches Institut , Köln 50937 , Germany

9. Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP) , Potsdam 14482 , Germany

10. International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, The University of Western Australia , Crawley, WA 6009 , Australia

11. Leiden Observatory , Leiden 2300 RA , The Netherlands

12. Department of Astronomy and Space Sciences, Faculty of Science, Erciyes University , Melikgazi, 38030 , Türkiye

13. Politics and International Relations, University of Southampton , Southampton SO17 1BJ , UK

14. Department of Physics, University of Oxford , Oxford OX1 3RH , UK

15. European Space Agency (ESA), European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) , Noordwijk, 2201 AZ , The Netherlands

16. Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Alaska Anchorage , Anchorage, AK 99508 , USA

17. Weimar Institute of Applied Construction Research , Weimar 99428 , Germany

18. Independent Researcher , Vancouver , Canada

Abstract

Abstract Travel to academic conferences—where international flights are the norm—is responsible for a sizeable fraction of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with academic work. In order to provide a benchmark for comparison with other fields, as well as for future reduction strategies and assessments, we estimate the CO2-equivalent emissions for conference travel in the field of astronomy for the prepandemic year 2019. The GHG emission of the international astronomical community’s 362 conferences and schools in 2019 amounted to 42,500 tCO2e, assuming a radiative-forcing index factor of 1.95 for air travel. This equates to an average of 1.0 ± 0.6 tCO2e per participant per meeting. The total travel distance adds up to roughly 1.5 Astronomical Units, that is, 1.5 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun. We present scenarios for the reduction of this value, for instance with virtual conferencing or hub models, while still prioritizing the benefits conferences bring to the scientific community.

Publisher

Oxford University Press (OUP)

Reference97 articles.

1. Reducing global warming by airline contrail avoidance: a case study of annual benefits for the contiguous United States;Avila;TRIP,2019

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