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The UAB has approved an ambitious Climate Policy program to eliminate the use of fossil fuels, reduce the carbon footprint and offset greenhouse gas emissions with the aim of achieving climate neutrality by 2030.
The Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona has approved the University’s Climate Policy program by the Governing Council. This is an ambitious plan that aims, in addition to reducing the consumption of resources (water and energy), to abandon the use of fossil fuels and to advance in the reduction of indirect emissions to achieve climate neutrality in 2030 for the activity of the University itself, with the intention of compensating for those greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that cannot be reduced.
The UAB is a university with a long history of commitment to the environment. She was a pioneer in the creation of Environmental Sciences studies and research in this field; It has the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA), one of the best research centers internationally, and has carried out different plans to improve the environmental management of the campus, such as the Sustainability Plan (2013-2017), the Healthy and Sustainable Campus Plan (2018-2022) and the SiS Campus Plan (2023). In fact, the University’s 2018-2030 Strategic Plan makes explicit the intention to implement a sustainable university model, placing special emphasis on training, environmental awareness and mobility.
In 2018, the UAB achieved a significant reduction in its carbon footprint, the indicator of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, when it began purchasing electrical energy from renewable sources. Although in 2015 total emissions were 40,420 tons of CO2, in 2023 this figure decreased to 24,593 tons. Broadly speaking, according to the data from the provisional closure of the year 2023, 79% of GHG emissions at the UAB were generated by mobility to access the campus, 12% by the gas consumption of the buildings and 4% for work trips.
The UAB has been working for some time to address the climate emergency and its effects, and has now taken a big step forward with the approval of the implementation of a Climate Policy program, a strategy for mitigation and adaptation to climate change with objectives and concrete medium-term commitments.
The approved measures include reducing water and energy consumption, gradually reducing the University’s direct GHG emissions to achieve carbon neutrality in 2030, progressively abandoning the use of fossil fuels with their total replacement by renewable energies in 2030, incorporate the calculation of the carbon footprint in new construction, join internationally recognized sustainability platforms and networks, add the low-carbon public purchasing criterion in contracting processes, or incorporate ecological transition, sustainability and climate change content in the training offer, among others.
The UAB will also transfer these commitments to the entities in which it participates, either directly or through its boards of trustees. In this way, the objectives and commitments of the UAB Climate Policy will contribute to territorial, national, and global objectives, and will serve as a guide for newly trained professionals, as well as for the organizations, companies, entities, and administrations that participate. in research and innovation at the University.
