Scientists visit international conferences to exchange knowledge, hear about new studies and expand their networks. They regularly fly all over the world for this purpose. With all the CO2 emissions that entails. An astronomer decided to take stock of the emissions caused by the travel of her colleagues and was shocked.
In 2019, traveling to international academic conferences on astronomy generated 42,500 tons of CO2 emissions. This amounts to an average of one ton of CO2 per person per conference. Together, all those astronomers covered one and a half times the distance to the sun. In a year.
362 meetings in a year
American astronomer Andrea Gokus discovered this Washington University. “We were able to calculate the emissions from travel for 362 meetings, of which 258 were conferences. This resulted in a total of 42,500 tons of CO2 emissions. Since we have not included many other international meetings, this amount is likely a lower limit for all travel-related emissions in 2019,” she tells Scientias.nl.
On average, emissions were one ton of CO2 per person per conference. “But a few meetings stood out with an average of more than 2.5 tons. The majority of these took place in Australia. The reason for this becomes clear when you look at where most astronomers come from. The majority work in Europe or North America, which is far away from the Australian continent,” Gokus explains.
No more candy trips
The researcher does not say that conferences should never be held in Australia again, but does ask organizers to think more carefully about their choice of location. “If you look through all the meetings in 2019, you will see that there were a few where it was very clear that they were chosen because they are an attractive holiday destination. As a result, many people had to fly very far, while there were also locations much closer to where the majority of participants lived.”
As far as Gokus is concerned, organizers should try to minimize greenhouse gas emissions, although that is not always that easy. “I would like to add that some areas have an easier time making their meetings more sustainable than others, partly due to the available infrastructure. For example, in Europe everything is closer together than in the US and traveling by train is easier.”
Other scientists
Astronomers, of course, are just one group of scientists. And not the largest by a long shot. There are doctors, technicians, psychologists and many more researchers, all organizing international conferences and symposia. How much is known about the CO2 emissions of all their trips? “To my knowledge, our study is the first to map CO2 emissions from travel across an entire group of scientists, but our average greenhouse gas emissions of 1 tonne of CO2 is a value also found by other studies looking at the large gatherings in their field.”
However, there are no precise dates. “But one way to make a rough estimate is to look at the number of researchers per field. In astronomy it is estimated that this involves around 30,000 people, including students. I would not be surprised if a research field that has three times as many researchers and the same number of meetings also produces three times as much CO2 emissions.”
The solution: the hub model
You don’t have to be a great mathematician to figure out that scientists emit a lot of CO2 with their trips. Fortunately, there are solutions. For example, conferences could be organized mainly near where the majority of scientists live, i.e. in Europe or the US, so that fewer scientists have to travel far.
But Gokus is also introducing a hub model, so that people from other parts of the world can also attend. This means that the same conference is held simultaneously in several places, but on a smaller scale. “A hub model for conferences would be a good idea for large and international meetings, which would otherwise require many intercontinental flights. In such a conference, sessions on the same topic take place in each hub. This means that all participants have access to the same scientific material being presented, while also having the benefits of personal contact and networking during coffee breaks, dinner or other social activities.”
Logistical challenge
It is still quite a logistical challenge to organize these sessions due to the different time zones, for example if there is a hub in North America, Europe and Asia. “My idea would be to record all presentations in advance and use the same program for each session: in the hub where the speaker is, the presentation is given live and at the other hubs a recording is shown. This makes virtual participation immediately possible without extra effort.” Gokus calculates how effective that is: “If the American Astronomical Society meeting in Seattle in 2019 had been held in four hubs (Seattle and Baltimore in the US, Amsterdam in the Netherlands and Tokyo in Japan), CO2 emissions would have been 70 percent lower.”
Now this is quite possible with such a large meeting, but with smaller conferences it becomes difficult to have enough people for each hub so that real networking can take place. “That is why we must also focus more on hybrid conferences, where virtual participation is just as attractive and you do not feel like a second-class participant, as is often the case now.” Of course, a completely virtual meeting is also an option, precisely because the playing field is level for everyone. “Then the focus must be on the interaction between participants instead of passively listening to another chat on Zoom.”
More inclusive conferences
The researcher believes that it is time for action. She was shocked by the results of her own research. “What surprised me most was the total distance astronomers traveled to all the conferences. That was more than three hundred times the distance to the moon and back, or perhaps even more shocking, more than one and a half times the distance to the sun.”
But she is not all negative. “A positive surprise was that making meetings more sustainable can also make them more inclusive. I discovered during my studies that I am extremely privileged in that I usually have the opportunity to attend conferences in person.” For many scientists in poorer countries or who have family commitments, this is not possible. It would be much easier for them to attend virtually.
Tags: Scientists produce shocking amounts CO2 emissions trips international conferences
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