Travelling better to emit less

The UNIL Rectorate has set itself the goal of reducing UNIL’s impacts within the planetary boundaries while fulfilling its social mission. A great deal of work has been carried out to quantify precisely UNIL’s current impact in order to guide the actions that need to be taken.

In particular, it shows that business travels by UNIL personnel alone accounts for 23% of the institution’s greenhouse gas emissions (estimated on 2019 data). It is therefore the largest single source of emissions.

So, even though international exchanges play an important role in the academic life, we must rethink certain travel practices to make sure that the academic world contributes to achieving the objectives of the Paris Agreement.

The services of the Rectorate and the deaneries have therefore elaborated a directive on business travel in order to establish a frame for reducing its environmental impact.

The main points of this directive are:

• Introduction of prior authorization for air travels and travels outside of Europe (art. 4)
  For all travels and travels outside of the European Union by any other means, employees must fill the request form prior to departure and receive authorization by their line manager.
• Introduction of a list of destinations for which only train tickets are reimbursed (art. 8 et 9)
  For all destinations accessible within a day’s train journey (approximately 10 hours) from the station closest to the contractual place of work (Lausanne or Sion), plane tickets will not be reimbursed and the train must be chosen.
  This rule applies in particular to all the destinations on this list.
• Clarification of train travel arrangements (art. 8)
  For train journeys of more than 5 hours, 1st class is reimbursed.
  If time constrains so require, an additional night’s accommodation will be reimbursed on the outward and/or return journey.
  The use of night trains as well as Interrail-type flat-rate tickets is reimbursed.
• Introduction of a CO2 contribution (art. 23)
  For air travels, a CO2 contribution proportional to the emissions generated will withhold to fund an internal redistribution mechanism for transition projects.
  This mechanism must still be perfected with the faculties and will not come into force until 2024.
• Special measures (art. 25)
  The UNIL Rectorate and the deaneries may grant exceptional exceptions to the rules set out in the directive for the following reasons:
    - reasons relating to the reconciliation of work and family responsibilities,
    - health reasons, or
    - other cases of force majeure.
  Any derogation must be justified and documented when requesting the reimbursement.
• Transition period
  Until September 30th, 2023, the Financial department will apply the new directive with a degree of flexibility.

These principles are largely inspired by the decisions taken by other universities and represent a first meaningful step. The introduction of the advance request form will make it possible to obtain precise and systematic data on annual flights. This information will allow to adopt additional targeted measures at a later date, in particular to reduce the proportion of intercontinental flights, which have the greatest impact.

The ecological and social transition towards a university that respects the planetary boundaries necessarily implies a major rethink of our current practices, both individually and collectively. With the adoption of this new directive, which is undoubtedly open to improvement, the Direction is inviting the entire academic community to begin this process of reflection.