"I'm glad that the report shows how the University's heightened sustainability ambitions are turned into tangible results. But we mustn't settle with just that, but instead continue our endeavours to reduce the environmental and climate impact from the University's own activities. Our research and education must actively contribute to the transformation of Sweden into a sustainable society," says University Director Hans Wiklund.
At the start of each year, all higher education institutions and other public authorities must report their environmental management to the Swedish Government and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency through an environmental report. A new piece of information to be added from 2022 is an account of how well the University, as a public authority, makes use of experiences learnt during the pandemic, with the aim of reducing the climate impact from business travel.
In 2022, Umeå University took several leaps forward in its sustainability work. Some examples are:
- Sustainable development was included as a permeating perspective in 85 per cent of study programmes, which is an increase from previous years.
- The cross-disciplinary network UTRI, Umeå Transformation Research Initiative, organised 15 seminars to highlight sustainability in research for and about sustainable development.
- Umeå University formalised its collaboration with other Swedish higher education institutions through the Universities' climate network (Lärosätenas klimatnätverk).
- In terms of local sustainable development, Umeå University has introduced a new analysing tool and a digital twin of Campus Umeå with the aim to optimise use of premises and hence reduce campus energy consumption. In 2022, energy consumption was nearly equal to that of 2021, but ten per cent lower than that of 2019.
- In procurement and purchase, environmental requirements were placed on 86 per cent of the financial value of goods and services, which totalled over SEK 865 in 2022.
Reduced air travel but increased climate impact
In line with the University's environmental policy, several faculties, departments and offices are actively working towards travel-free meetings and sustainable travels. Umeå University has continued its efforts to harness experiences from the pandemic, by developing online meeting technology. The number of meetings held online was 2.9 million, which is a considerable increase compared to 2018 (155,000 hours), but still a reduction from the height of the pandemic in 2021 (5 million hours).
Air travel represents the University's single biggest direct climate impact. The total number of business trips by air travel has reduced by approximately 30 per cent – from 30,150 flights in 2019 to 19,200 in 2022. The climate impacting emissions per annual employee derived from business trips by air travel are still comparable with 2019, though. And since Umeå University has more employees now, total emission has increased by ten per cent.
"What's positive to see is that the number of business trips by air travel has reduced, and probably been replaced by online meeting alternatives when possible. At the same time, it is a paradox that the climate impact of business travel increases. This needs further analysis for us to better understand the correlations," says University Director Hans Wiklund.
Last year, Umeå University also set environmental requirements on the travel agent that was being procured, to promote more environmentally friendly modes of travelling. When booking a business trip, the new travel agent will be presenting the most environmentally alternative first, and the carbon dioxide emissions related to various alternatives will be visible. The number of business trips by rail in 2022 was nearly 6,600, which is a reduction compared to 2019 when the number of such travels exceeded 7,300. The climate impacting emissions from train travel still increased between these two periods, from 13 kilos to 42 kilos in total.
Vice-Chancellor Hans Adolfsson approved Umeå University's 2022 environmental report, including the report to the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, on 17 February 2023. The most important results from the environmental report will be presented in the upcoming 2022 annual report for Umeå University. (This section in the annual report will also be made available in English.) In 2023, Umeå University will produce a new sustainability report as well as an action plan for 2024–2026.
Interested in learning more?
For information about Umeå University's 2022 environmental report, please contact Lisa Redin, environmental coordinator.
Read Umeå University's 2022 environmental report in Swedish, registration number: FS 1.6.2-186-23.