Decrease in CO2 emissions despite growth: AU is in line to achieve climate targets

AU is getting closer to achieving its target of reducing the university's CO2 emissions by 35 per cent in 2025.

This is confirmed by the 2024 greenhouse gas emissions report, which shows that the university’s CO2 emissions fell by 11 per cent from 2023 to 2024. This results in a total reduction of 35 per cent in 2024 in the baseline emission categories over 2018, the baseline year for the targets in AU's climate strategy, which runs through 2025.

University Director Kristian Thorn is pleased about the university’s progress. He points out that these results should be held up against the fact that the university has seen an 11 per cent increase in FTEs over this period. What this means is that AU has reduced its CO2 emissions per employee by 42 per cent in the baseline emission categories.

“Even though we’re attracting more external research funding and growing as a university, we’ve succeeded in shrinking our climate footprint in the baseline emission categories. That’s no easy task. With one year of our current climate strategy period left, I’m confident that we will be able to maintain a 35 per cent reduction – at a minimum – when the inventory for 2025 is in. But we’re not there yet, and we’ll keep on with the emission-reduction activities in our climate action plan,” Thorn says.

Farewell to oil and focus on greener procurement

The decrease in CO2 emissions is partly due to the university reducing its consumption of the gas and oil used to heat AU’s buildings. A major contributor to these reductions is that AU has stopped using oil for heating: the last oil furnaces are being retired. In addition, the university has also reduced its emissions from electricity consumption, air travel and agricultural activities, such as emissions from dairy cattle and manure management.

At national and local level, the increase in solar and wind energy in the electricity AU purchases, along with a lower emission factor for district heating, have also contributed to reduce emissions.

It’s positive that a combination of internal and external factors have brought AU closer to our reduction targets, according to Thorn. However, we need to start focussing on reducing emissions in other areas as well, he explains:

“As a social institution, we are committed to doing our part to contribute to the sustainability transition. There are areas with a significant climate footprint at AU where emissions weren’t possible to quantify when the climate strategy was drafted, and which aren’t included in our reduction target for that reason. This includes goods and services, which are a significant source of emissions at AU. We’re addressing this, including with our new purchasing policy, and it’s something we’ll continue to work hard at in coming years.”

Read AU’s greenhouse gas emissions report for 2024