Set carbon budgets to limit university flights, say researchers

Before we look at the occasional air flight, what's the carbon impact of continued wfh? If the employee flies once a year 3,000 km each way, how's that compare to a 30 km car commute 150x a year return? Also factor in the fact that the plane would probably fly anyway, but you'd also save on car wear and tear, new auto parts also have a carbon impact, as does scrapping and renewing the car. Of course if the Green Agenda is being driven by managers then the emphasis will be on having the employees in more often and on saving the costs of flights. What will drive the Green Agenda, financials or simply science?

Those who research/ work with groups who prefer face to face interaction, might as well pack it in. The Green Agenda would not have you visit family and friends overseas, and now have hit the research agenda.

Institutional carbon budgets will certainly come at some point. However, there are even deeper issues at play here that might need a significant change of academic culture. In the natural and engineering sciences, for example, participating in as many conferences as possible forms an inherent and increasingly important part of an individual's performance. Being seen at large international, that is, overseas conferences is an "indicator of esteem" and, therefore, not only encouraged but actually expected. To put it bluntly, a scientist who doesn't show up, say, in the US or Japan a couple of times every year has, realistically, little chance to be promoted. How this issue will be addressed in the future remains to be seen.