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31 Oct 2023
Thank you to colleagues who rose to the challenge and gave us something to be proud of – now we can build on our result
Our University has limited its annual emissions from air travel to almost half of our 2018/19 level (pre the Covid-19 pandemic) in its first year of a new travel policy.
Our emissions for the 2022-23 academic year were just over 10,000 tonnes CO2e – that’s 54% of those for 2018-19, which were 18,641 tonnes CO2e. Despite narrowly missing the target, we’ve still saved the same amount of carbon as driving over 32.5million miles in the average petrol car or more than 3,000 return flights between Manchester and New York.
Last year we made changes to the Travel Policy to support our ambition to be a leader in developing sustainable research and teaching practices, as part of our Environmental Sustainability Strategy.
It is important that we all change our behaviour as part of the global need to address climate change. The travel policy change is part of a wider project to reduce our total carbon footprint, not just from our business travel but also our buildings, fleet vehicles, what we buy and our investments.
Vice-President for Social Responsibility, Professor Nalin Thakkar said: “We have made a big difference and I am so proud of the colleagues who rose to the challenge and found greener ways to work. This proves we are determined to address humanity’s greatest challenge, climate change.
“Let’s keep continuing to address our travel for work, a proven successful strategy, to hit or even beat our target next year.
“If we develop even more sustainable research and teaching practices, we will become a leader in the sector and a part of the global community that is addressing climate change and protecting the earth for future generations.”
Support and guidance
We are providing guidance and a range of support to those of you who are affected by the policy change, including a ‘top-up fund’ to cover additional costs. Please visit:
Our Travel FAQs address concerns you may have when attempting to reduce your air travel:
You can also get ideas on greener ways to work from our colleague case studies:
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