Program on the Environment

Emissions from air travel are expected to keep rising – making them an important problem to tackle. Universities must find a way to lower their air travel emissions, while still finding a way to perform necessary work that has depended upon air travel. The aim of this work was to understand how UW gathers data to calculate emissions from air travel and use that data to lower emissions. I was connected to UW Sustainability, and with their backing and suggestions, I contacted UW groups to collect flight and emissions data. I also conducted a literature review to research what methods other universities had found effective. A more detailed understanding of our air travel can help lead to both better efficiency in the short term, and knowledge of which big choices may need to be made. Improved data can help understand which next steps will be both most consequential and most effective. A breakdown of which departments are responsible for what number of emissions allows us to make goals and track progress over those smaller groups. This lets us see which groups are leading the way, and we can share which methods are most effective. Better data and understanding can both help UW leadership and other departmental groups make decisions. The success stories can also be published to share proven emission reduction methods with other universities eager to put them to use.