Procedure and methods for the assessment of greenhouse gas emissions of flights at ETH Zurich: On behalf of the Mobility Platform of ETH Zurich

Abstract

ETH Zurich committed to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from air travel by 11% in the next few years. The reduction shall be in addition to reductions achieved by the aviation industry. Flights taken by ETH’s employees and guests are included if they are paid for by ETH. Flights taken by ETH students are also considered, if they are part of their curriculum. Strategies for reducing emissions include avoiding air travel by increased use of modern communication technologies or by preferring trains to flights and, if air travel can’t be avoided or substituted, by choosing the most efficient flight available. The methodology used in previ-ous years to estimate GHG emissions of air travel at ETH is not suitable for monitoring emis-sions in the accuracy required. Therefore, a new procedure for collecting flight information and calculating GHG emissions of flights was developed for ETH Zurich.