The Carbon Footprint Report 2021 of the University of Twente is available. From this year onwards, in addition to a yearly report, a digital dashboard is available: utwente.nl/footprint. The UT has published a yearly carbon footprint report since 2014, including the emissions caused by external suppliers, commuting and business travel.
A small rise in emissions
Emissions in 2021 are comparable to 2020 with 19.1 Ktons of CO2 emitted. Compared to 2019, the emissions have gone down significantly, as the UT emitted more than 25 Ktons of CO2 that year. However, it is difficult to draw long-term conclusions from this, as corona had a major impact on the UT’s operations in both 2020 and 2021. For example, in both 2020 and 2021 fewer people went on business trips than in previous years, lowering emissions from mobility significantly. On the other hand, in 2021 the UT used more energy for heating than in 2020 because of stricter ventilation requirements. Overall, this translates into a slightly larger footprint in 2021.
Improving data
Another relevant factor is that as the years progress more and more information becomes available about the emissions of our suppliers. When the UT puts out a new tender, a request to report on emissions is made. One of the goals of doing this is to raise awareness among our partners about their CO2 emissions and our desire to lower these. Over time, we see that the number of reports grows, and the level of detail improves, which can result - on paper - in a growth of the university’s scope 3 emissions.
About the report
By reporting its CO2-footprint annually and providing a dashboard, the University of Twente aims to increase transparency and provide inspiration for further measures to reduce CO2 emissions. The reports are also used to help decide how to take action to reduce our CO2 footprint. In the future, besides publishing a yearly report, the new carbon platform will be quarterly updated to help monitor the progress towards the set goals more dynamically.
More information and CO2-footprint reports of earlier years can be found on the sustainability website.
