This workshop is for sustainability staff and academics concerned about Scope 3 emissions and the challenge of engaging individual academics (faculty, research staff, students) in measuring and reducing their emission footprints.

Background: The Global Research Council, comprising heads of research funding agencies from over 60 countries, agreed in 2024 to address the sustainability of research. Also in 2024, the German Research Foundation (GRF) implemented a requirement that all grant applicants include a one-page Reflection on Sustainability of the research practices proposed in their grant proposals, including travel.

Aims: To help spread the GRF policy to other countries, we developed a prototype online interactive Individual Sustainability Tutorial and Reflection (I*STAR).

Methods: I*STAR 1.0 was tested and improved by students.

I*STAR conveys influential ideas from The Carbon Footprint of Everything using a novel unit of CO2-equivalent emissions, named after Eunice Foote, the scientist who first observed that air with more CO2 warms faster in sunlight than air with low CO2. One Foote = one litre (one foot-sized cardboard carton) of solid carbon dioxide = the CO2 an average adult exhales in one sedentary day. Running a marathon adds another Foote of emissions. You can rest your foot on the carton of dry ice. You can lift it and feel its weight of 1.5 kg. This is a visible, tangible metric of a low-emission footprint.

I*STAR then uses questions from the GRF’s guide for Sustainability Reflections, starting with carbon emissions from travel. I*STAR ends with a 16-question survey that takes 3-4 minutes to complete. The user is led to reflect on their flying, modes of commuting, meat eating and actions to take as a citizen addressing the climate crisis. The survey could be completed anonymously annually by faculty members, researchers and students, yielding aggregate data on each department’s progress on emission reductions. Competitions between departments with rewards can be enabled.

Desired Results: I*STAR, or something like it, should be among online tutorials on Responsible Conduct of Research, required by research agencies, along with Research Ethics and Conflicts of Interest. First, it must be demonstrated as operational and appealing.

Discussion: This workshop will inform sustainability staff of I*STAR and inform us at cuspers.org how I*STAR can be adapted to complement AASHE’s Scope 3 initiatives.

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Presenters

Malcolm Maclure, Emeritus Professor of Patient Safety, University of British Columbia Dr. Maclure is a health services epidemiologist specializing in prescribing quality improvement interventions and measurement of their impacts using healthcare databases. Realizing that the greatest threat to patient safety is the climate crisis, he is applying theory and methods of activism, measurement and quality improvement from the Patient Safety Movement to the University Sustainability Movement.

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