Flying Less Concordia is a project that envisions the reduction of academic flying emissions. Our goal is to get everyone within Concordia University to commit to flying less, while promoting alternative solutions for academic success.
Why flying less?
In 2019, the Department of Geography, Planning and Environment (GPE) together with the Climate Emergency Committee implemented a departmental Flying Less Policy. Now, we want to inspire other departments and colleagues to join efforts with us and sign the pledge to reduce academic flying emissions.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in order to restrain global warming, the amount of cumulative anthropogenic emissions of CO2 must be limited to avoid surpassing Earth’s 1.5 °C warming threshold1. For this reason, we must aim for an individual total lifestyle carbon footprint of 2.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent by 20302. To illustrate this, a round-trip from Montréal to Vancouver produces 0.76 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent3. Which represents almost one third of your annual budget. Furthermore, due to research funding, universities’ incentives and low travel costs in western countries, intense air travel of academics substantially increases their carbon footprint4.
It is imperative that academics within Concordia University join the flying less movement and contribute to the building of an environmentally responsible University that would strengthen its value of social justice, activism, creativity and intellectual freedom. Please join this movement and sign the Flying Less Pledge.
Sign the Flying Less Pledge
Commit to reduce your academic flying emissions and encourage Concordia to implement a University wide flying less policy
References
1. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (n.d.). Summary for Policymakers—Global Warming of 1.5 oC. Retrieved 3 July 2020, from https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/chapter/spm/
2. Akenji, L., Lettenmeier, M., Koide, R., Toivio, V., & Amellina, A. (2019). 1.5-Degree Lifestyles: Targets and options for reducing lifestyle carbon footprints. Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, Aalto University, and D-mat ltd. https://www.iges.or.jp/en/pub/15-degrees-lifestyles-2019/en
3. Flightnook. (n.d.). Fly Cleaner Calculator. Retrieved 6 July 2020, from https://www.calculation.flightnook.com/
4. Ciers, J. ( 1 ), Toth, L. d. ( 1 ), Mandic, A. ( 2 ), & Veld, G. o. ( 3 ). (2018). Carbon footprint of academic air travel: A case study in Switzerland. Sustainability (Switzerland), 11(1). https://doi.org/10.3390/su11010080
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