Greenhouse Gas Emissions Report (2019)

Sustainable development is one of the priority areas of the University of Luxembourg in its 2020-2029 strategic framework. One of the objectives is to establish the institutions’ contributions to the national and European roadmaps towards a climate-neutral and resource-efficient development.
As a first step, the University has set out to better understand the greenhouse gas emissions generated by its activities, operations, and resources. The report presents the calculation of the University’s greenhouse gas emissions for 2019 – the last year before the Covid 19 pandemic reduced activity and imposed mobility restrictions.
This analysis provides a baseline of the volume of the University’s GHG emissions, making it possible to identify the sources of emissions and determine the hotspots on which to take effective priority actions.

The calculation for this analysis is based on the recommendations of the IPCC on the quantification and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions, and on the GHG Protocol and the Bilan Carbone. Given the specificities of higher education and research institutions, we decided to compute greenhouse gas emissions as closely as possible to the activities developed by the University. The categorisation does not therefore correspond exactly to the recommendations of each of these guidelines.

Overall results

In 2019, the University’s activities generated 44,080 tons of CO₂ equivalent (tCO₂e) in direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions, with a margin of error of 16%.

Direct emissions generated by the University’s resources using fossil fuels (Scope 1-fig.1) represent 1% of total emissions, or 558 tCO2e. Indirect emissions linked to the consumption of energy for the University’s activities (Scope 2-fig.1) represent 10% of emissions, or 4,558 tCO2. Finally, other indirect emissions generated by and for the University’s operations (Scope 3-fig.1) account for 89%, or 38,964 tCO2e, of total emissions.

Preliminary observations and proposed areas of action

• Procurement is the University’s largest emission item (16,710 tCO2e – 38% of total emissions). By focusing on the most important purchasing categories, the University shall achieve rapid results. A key action is to systematically include environmental clauses in tenders and selection criteria of products and supplier.
• Staff and student mobility accounts for a third of the University’s emissions (15,199 tCO2e – 34%). Two key actions are the promotion of (1) car-sharing, car-pooling and public transport, and (2) flight reduction usage for business travel by focusing on short-haul flights and their partial substitution by train.
• Fixed assets, including buildings and student residences (7,058 tCO2e – 16%). Emissions come from the past construction and production of these assets. For buildings and residences, selecting or renting future areas built with low-emission and/or recycled materials is a first action. For the other fixed assets, two avenues can be explored: include environmental clauses and selection criteria at the time of purchase and assess the possibilities of using fixed assets over longer periods.

• Energy-related emissions, mainly from buildings, present a complex situation (5,103 tCO2e – 12%). To clarify this picture, the initial step involves implementing a more precise monitoring system for energy consumption within individual buildings based on the activities conducted there. The University’s digital activities (computing centre and HPC) also have a significant impact that needs to be monitored specifically. Finally, the analysis highlighted the absence of projects aimed at producing or financing local production from renewable sources.

Perspectives

This analysis marks the initial stage of the University’s operational efforts in the pursuit of climate change mitigation.

1. The initial step towards implementing a climate policy involves establishing the University’s targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, particularly for the years 2030 and 2050.
2. Breaking down these objectives into reduction targets by activity or category of emissions will be the next step. This can support the definition of an institution-wide sustainability strategy achieved through community discussions and working groups to co-define relevant and effective actions within our three missions and the scope of responsibility of the faculties, interdisciplinary centres, and central services.
3. Indicators will be designed to measure progress and assess the impacts and associated reductions in greater detail.
4. A virtuous cycle of continuous improvement would then be set in motion, supported by a regularly updated analysis of greenhouse gas emissions, and regularly reassessed reduction targets and renewed actions.

For detailed information, please read the attached report.