Carbon footprint of higher education institutions

Abstract Higher education institutions (HEIs) play a fundamental role in sustainability, promoters of innovation, science, and technology. Therefore, every day more institutions are joining the fight against global warming. One of the contributions of HEIs is the carbon footprint (CF) report, to implement policies and management systems to establish strategies to reduce polluting gas emissions from their campuses. In the present study, a systematic review was carried out for 50 reports of CF, where 94% of the studies were published from 2018 to 2022. This research compiles methodologies, scope, results, and trends in Carbon Footprint calculations and provides a procedure to evaluate CF on college campuses. This research shows that the most evaluated emission sources were the consumption of electrical energy (78%), transportation (74%), and the use of fuels (64%). In addition, the HEIs with the lowest emission factors for electricity consumption are Finland, England, and Colombia. Furthermore, establishing a specific carbon footprint guideline for universities would improve reports and allow better comparisons between HEIs.