Quantifying Carbon Dioxide Emission Equivalence from Dalhousie Undergraduates’ Air Travel During the 2024/2025 Academic Year Study

Abstract

Aviation accounts for 4-5% of global Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. With only 15% of Dalhousie University's undergraduate student body being from Nova Scotia, several students partake in extraneous (Section 3.2) flying over the fall and winter study breaks. This study was conducted to estimate the quantity of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2 eq) emissions produced by Dalhousie undergraduate students based in Studley campus who took part in air travel during the either the fall or winter 2024/2025 study breaks. Quantitative data on student flight paths and qualitative data on perceptions on air travel were gathered through online survey, wherein a sample of 378 eligible students responded. Calculations determined that approximately 9,206.40 tonnes (t) of CO2 eq were emitted by the extraneous study break flights of Dalhousie undergraduate students, based on Studley campus, during the 2024/2025 academic year. Results from this survey disclosed that the added CO2 eq emissions from one (1) student air travel round-trip (Section 3.2) during study breaks amounted to a 6.33% increase from the Canadian average, representing a difference between 17.7 and 18.8 t of CO2 eq emitted by a person in a year. Comparisons were also made to the 1.5 t of CO2 eq target level of emissions per person required to the Paris Agreement goal of keeping warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius (°C ) and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 (Kreil, 2021). These added emissions were calculated for the 38.1% of respondents who took flights during either or both fall and winter study breaks using a weighted average. Flight destination and consequent distance was also analyzed as a variable of this study. These factors were compared to respondents’ level of concern around CO2 eq resulting from air travel. The results determined that students flew to a multitude of different cities across Canada and the world, with Toronto being the most common stop, where 215 students reported landing (Figure 2). This is in part due to the volume of layovers that take place at Toronto Pearson International Airport. The qualitative data gathered from the survey reflected that the majority of respondents do not consider the CO2 eq emissions of air travel as a factor impacting their decision to fly. Instead, flight cost, local activities, and obligations were reasons why students chose to stay local during study breaks. This signifies that Dalhousie should take these factors into consideration, along with the large CO2 eq expenditure of students flying over study breaks and attempt to find ways to incentivize students to remain in Halifax over their Fall and Winter study breaks to reduce overall CO2 eq emissions.