Calculating the Carbon Footprint of a University Located in an Asian Developing Country

Abstract

Many of our day-to-day activities emit greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. The impacts on the environment of an organization, product or person can be measured by calculating the carbon footprint. This study attempts to calculate the carbon footprint of Asian University for Women (AUW) in the fiscal year 2017 (FY2017), using the Campus Carbon Calculator (CCC) of Sustainable Institute of the University of New Hampshire. This has been the first attempt to quantify the total emission in one year of AUW since the university was established. In FY2017, AUW’s total emissions were 1,492.6 MT CO2e. The emissions per capita were 1.9 MT CO2e, emissions per square foot building space were 0.02 MT CO2e. Of this total, CO2 emissions were 952,056.1 MT, CH4 emissions were 20,518.6 MT, and N2O emissions were 12.4 MT. The major emission sources of AUW’s carbon footprint were solid waste (34%), international students’ air travel to/from home (21%), purchased electricity (17%), directly financed air travel (13%), and other on-campus stationary (7%). It is suggested that the biggest opportunities for reducing campus GHG emissions are related to these categories. The calculated offset due to the preservation of approximately 42.9 acres of tropical forest and 42.9 acres of tropical undergrowth jungle in AUW-owned land were 765.0 MT CO2e. This emphasizes that forest preservation has a significant role in reducing emissions of AUW because the net emissions after including offsets were only 727.6 MT CO2e, less than half of the total emissions. The carbon footprint of AUW is relatively low when compared to that of other universities in developed countries. AUW represents a large part of universities in developing world, where the life standards and operation scale are not high to generate huge emissions but in contrast, lack of advanced technology such as renewable energy and effective waste treatment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In this scenario, offsets from natural forest preservation became important for organizations which want to reduce their carbon footprint. Since most developing countries are located in Asian tropical regions which forests have the highest sequestration rate, purchasing forested land and promoting forest preservation programs are the most practical solutions for the universities in developing countries if they want to increase their carbon offsets.