Carbon Footprint

In 2018, the University began collaborating with the Department of Industrial Engineering Center for Environmental Quality Studies to prepare annual greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) reports. The report aims to quantify the environmental impact of the Carbon Footprint of the University of Padua while guiding and evaluating the effectiveness of actions taken to reduce and contain its GHGs.

The report follows the design, development, management, reporting, and verification of an institution’s GHG inventory found in the ISO 14064-1:2018 Standard and outlined within the Guidelines for Sustainable Development set by the Italian University Network for Sustainable Development (RUS) and the principles provided for by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). The University of Padua Sustainability Report shows the inventory findings.

As for 2022, two different methodologies were adopted to calculate the University’s carbon footprint with reference to 2023. The first, called Market-based, takes into account the impact of renewable electricity purchase. The second, called Location-based, does not consider the purchase of energy from renewable sources. This second approach makes it possible to quantify and value the real reduction in climate-altering emissions due to measures and interventions to reduce energy consumption. However, this second approach is pejorative as it is linked to the national energy mix, which reports a lower component of renewable sources in 2023. Therefore, GHG emissions related to total energy consumption are higher, despite the fact that consumption has decreased compared to the baseline.

The University’s carbon footprint

In 2023, the University’s total emissions were 65,984 tons of CO2 equivalent, or 24% less than in 2018. However, for the year 2023, there was a 3% increase in GHG emissions compared to 2022. TThe reduction is, in part, attributed to the purchase of energy from renewable sources and the reduction in energy consumption due to the implementation of the energy-saving measures of the Energy Plan and, in part, to the increase in the number of enrolled students (+19% compared to 2018).

The overall increase in 2023 can be attributed to two aspects. The first is related to the higher number of students compared to the previous year (+4.1%), and the second is related to the methodology used for the new transportation survey, which introduces larger home-to-work distance ranges (in addition to the existing range above 50 km, also those above 100 km and 200 km). As a result, it appears that the road traveled by the student/worker is approximated with a higher value than in the previous analysis.

GHG emission certificates:

University of Padua greenhouse gas emission per activity (2023)