Lowering the climate impact of academic conferences: lessons learned from two Swedish cases

Academics, universities and activists increasingly scrutinize academic conferences for their carbon footprints, with questions being raised about the justification for events with very high emissions. This article reports carbon emissions from two international academic conferences held in Sweden, with mean per-participant emissions of 0.17 and 0.19 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (t CO2e) (or 0.15 and 0.17 t CO2e, respectively, including virtual participants). Of total calculated emissions, 93% to 95% came from travel (over 80% by air), while accommodation accounted for an estimated 5%. The emissions from digital technology for remote participation were negligible. Emissions were comparatively low in comparison to other international academic conferences. Both events targeted sustainability-related communities and aimed to reduce operational emissions. Our findings suggest three key factors to explain the observed low emissions. First, both conferences had predominantly regional participation, with comparatively few intercontinental attendees (1% and 3%). Second, both conferences were held in locations that are easily accessible by public and land-based transport. Finally, both events offered online participation as an alternative to in-person attendance. This article concludes that conference reach (international vs. regional) has the greatest impact on emissions. For a given geographic extent, organizers should support and promote low-carbon mobility, for example by choosing a conference location with good public, land-based connections and offering meaningful online participation. We also recommend consistently assessing carbon emissions for any academic conference and promoting low-carbon travel for attendees.