Assessing the carbon footprint of a Colombian University Campus using the UNE-ISO 14064–1 and WRI/WBCSD GHG Protocol Corporate Standard

Abstract

Higher education institutions (HEIs) transfer skills and knowledge between industries, the government, and the public, playing a vital role at educating future leaders in creating a globally sustainable system. Therein, evaluating greenhouse gas emissions from an educational institute is the first step towards the proposed reduction targets at the local, national, and international levels. In this research, we report the first approximate carbon footprint calculation of emissions corresponding to scope 1, scope 2, and scope 3 emissions for the main urban campuses of Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Medellín, using the UNE-ISO 14064–1 and WRI/WBCSD GHG Protocol Corporate standard. The carbon footprint in 2019 was approximately 7250.52 tons CO2 eq, and 0.432 tons CO2 eq per person. Scope 1 emissions accounted for about 2.84% of the carbon footprint, while scope 2 and 3 emissions each contributed nearly 14% and 83%, respectively. The largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions were the transportation process (58.51%), the wastewater process (17.01%), followed by electricity consumption (14.03%), and the e-mails that are sent (6.51%). It is suggested some proposals and strategies for mitigating and reducing emissions. Colombian HEIs exhibit the lowest ton of CO2 eq. per person compared to the other HEIs. Several reasons explain this behavior across the document such as geographic location (climate and topography), cultural factors (consumption patterns and types of transportation), population size, typology (public or private), gross domestic product (GDP) of each country, and methodology implemented. Results cannot be extrapolated to the Colombian case for the differences in the local conditions; therefore, it is not possible to get solid conclusions on the CF behavior in the Colombian HEIs. In this research, we provide for the first time a carbon footprint calculation where the sociological, political, and geographic conditions not extrapolated representing a valuable contribution to the HEI’s of the country. This research can be a benchmark in the carbon footprint calculation and a methodological contribution to HEIs in the country.