高等教育机构(HEI)或大学,作为从事教育的组织,研究和社区服务,在促进可持续发展中发挥重要作用。因此,它们越来越多地与计算碳足迹(CF)的倡议联系在一起,这是从温室气体(GHG)排放的角度评估可持续性的工具。本研究的目的是通过分析不同的关键要素,对学术机构的CF评估现状进行系统的回顾,比如时间段,方法和实践,计算工具,排放源,排放因素和减排计划。审查协议考虑了直到2021年3月发布的文章。在审查的文章中,35的目的是专门计算HEI的CF,而其余的文章包括审查,特定活动的CF评估或温室气体减排文章。当比较归一化CF的结果时,已经确定了明显的差异(平均2.67tCO2e/学生,范围从0.06到10.94)或碳抵消百分比,仅在14%的研究中考虑,范围从0.09%到18%。其主要原因是在时间度量方面缺乏标准化(年,学期),功能单元(学生,雇员,区域)和数据收集边界(范围1、2、3),排放源和排放因子,主要用于范围3(水的消耗和处理,废物处理,office,ICT和实验室耗材,通勤和旅行,建筑材料,食堂,等。),以及是否包含碳抵消项目的影响以抵消CF(项目目标和吸收来源和因素)。然而,尽管存在差异,随着时间的推移,一个减少是显而易见的。因此,HEI中的CF需要进一步改进和解决许多挑战,包括代表性排放源的定义,建立一个强大的排放因子数据库,并开发涵盖这类组织所有需求的工具/方法。
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Higher Education Institutions (HEI) or universities, as organisations engaged in education, research and community services, play an important role in promoting sustainable development. Therefore, they are increasingly linked to the initiative of calculating their carbon footprint (
CF), which is a tool to assess sustainability from the perspective of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The aim of this study is to carry out a systematic
review of the current situation of
CF assessment in academic institutions by analysing different key elements, such as the time period, methodologies and practises, calculation tools, emission sources, emission factors and reduction plans. The
review protocol considered articles published until March 2021. Of the articles reviewed, 35 are aimed specifically at calculating the
CF of HEI, while the remaining articles consist of
review, activity-specific
CF assessment or GHG emission reduction articles. Clear differences have been identified when results are compared for the normalised CF (average of 2.67 t CO2e/student, ranging from 0.06 to 10.94) or the percentage of carbon offsetting, only considered in 14% of the studies and ranging from 0.09 to 18%. The main reason for this is the lack of standardisation as regards the time metric (year, semester), functional unit (student, employee, area) and data collection boundary (scope 1, 2, 3), the emissions sources and emission factors, mainly for scope 3 (water consumption and treatment, waste treatment, office, ICT and laboratory consumables, commuting and travel, construction materials, canteens, etc.), and the inclusion or not of the effect of carbon offset projects to offset the CF (aim of the project and absorption sources and factors). However, despite the differences, a reduction over time is clearly observed. Therefore, CF in HEI requires further improvements and solutions to a number of challenges, including the definition of representative emission sources, the creation of a robust emission factor database and the development of tools/methodologies that cover all the needs of this type of organisation.
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