Description
Emissions of greenhouse gases in tonnes of CO₂ equivalent, in the main areas of activity inventoried at the University of Barcelona (* the 2018 and 2019 commuting transport data include student emissions).
| Indicator | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | Evolution |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OVERALL EMISSIONS | 42.614,9 | 40.582,6 | 15.419,4 | 24.754,6 | 34.993,2 |  |
| DIRECT EMISSIONS | 4.356,9 | 4.232,8 | 3.266,8 | 3.947,7 | 3.768,8 |  |
| Combustion from stationary sources (gas) | 2.952,1 | 2.662,9 | 2.038,4 | 2.769,1 | 2.372,2 | |
| Combustion mobile sources (own vehicles) | 42,7 | 43,6 | 19,6 | 41,1 | 37,4 | |
| Fugitives (refrigerants) | 1.362,1 | 1.526,4 | 1.208,8 | 1.137,5 | 1.359,2 | |
| INDIRECT EMISSIONS | 38.258,0 | 36.349,8 | 12.152,5 | 20.806,9 | 31.224,4 | |
| Acquired energy (electricity) | 3.185,7 | 0,0 | 0,0 | 130,4 | 0,0 | |
| Distribution transport | 55,4 | 48,0 | 4,3 | 5,2 | 4,7 | |
| In itinere transport (PTGAS and PDI) | 28.408,0 | 28.171,8 | 2.094,8 | 2.929,4 | 9.520,9 | |
| Transport of clients and visitors (students) | * | * | 4.516,2 | 11.716,5 | 13.557,1 | |
| Business trips | * | 1.555,2 | 166,9 | 288,9 | 1.619,5 | |
| Municipal waste treatment | 498,4 | 470,4 | 140,8 | 327,0 | 581,1 | |
| Treatment of other waste | * | * | 11,2 | 85,1 | 16,1 | |
| Water consumption | 63,9 | 63,8 | 42,9 | 49,6 | 58,8 | |
| Cloud services | * | * | * | * | 71,6 | |
| Purchase of materials and products (paper) | 344,4 | 338,3 | 33,0 | 42,2 | 29,3 | |
| Acquired electricity production | * | * | * | * | 966,2 | |
| Capital goods (construction of buildings) | 5.702,3 | 5.702,3 | 5.142,3 | 5.232,7 | 4.799,0 | |
Results
The University of Barcelona carries out an inventory of its greenhouse gas emissions as a member of the Voluntary Emission Reduction Agreement Programme of the Catalan Office for Climate Change of the Government of Catalonia. Progressively, new components have been added to the inventory. When data is available, the emissions of these new parameters are calculated from the beginning of the series in 2017, but this is not always possible.
Total emissions have been significantly reduced during this period, mainly thanks to the contracting of electricity from renewable sources, the progressive reduction of energy and water consumption, and the implementation of measures to reduce waste generation, improve waste separation and reduce paper consumption. The emissions associated with the refilling of refrigerant gases in the air conditioning equipment have been stable for the last five years, and are derived from the maintenance of the existing equipment.
Emissions related to en route transport (PDI and PTGAS) and of customers and visitors (alumat), reflect the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. Even so, the emissions due to the compulsory mobility of the university community in 2022 are almost 20% lower than in 2019.
Over the last few years, new components have been added to the emissions inventory. From 2018 business trips began to be calculated, from 2020 the treatment of other waste, and from 2022 cloud services and purchased electricity production. These new components have been adding emissions to the inventory that make it difficult to compare with the beginning of the time series (2017), adding nearly 2,700 tons of CO₂ equivalent.