(Climate) research and research funding, particularly publicly funded research programmes, aim to play a supportive role in tackling the unprecedented challenge of climate change. Paradoxically, the research and research funding sector — including climate research itself — has developed a carbon-intensive working style, driven by growing expectations around international collaboration, cheap air travel, and the use of resource-intensive infrastructures.
However, the success of scientific communication depends heavily on credibility, which can be undermined by activities that are inconsistent with the message of climate scientists.
Many research institutions are taking concrete steps to reduce the carbon footprint of their activities:
- The Climate Change Centre Austria has implemented a climate-friendly travel policy, and the annual Klimatag is held as a Green Event.
- The Alliance of Sustainable Universities in Austria undertakes a wide range of activities, including the implementation of sustainability strategies at all participating universities and the pilot project "climate friendly climate research". In addition, a week-long virtual conference on climate-friendly research was held in November 2013.
- JPI CLIMATE has implemented a sustainability principle, under which the continuous improvement of the organisation's carbon footprint has been elevated to a key strategic priority. In addition, climate-friendly research criteria have been integrated into the first joint call for proposals.
- The UK's Tyndall Centre has made climate-friendly business travel an integral part of its collaborative work and held the "Radical Emissions Reductions Conference" in December 2013.
- In 2014, IASS Potsdam launched an organisational learning process to reduce the ecological and carbon footprint of its operations and infrastructure.
- The Austrian Climate and Energy Fund has integrated climate-friendly research criteria into the annual Austrian Climate Research Program.
In 2013, the Alliance of Sustainable Universities in Austria carried out the pilot project "Climate-Friendly Climate Research" as Austria's contribution to the JPI CLIMATE Fast-Track Activity (FTA), with the aim of stimulating and supporting a learning process towards more climate-friendly research and research funding.
The project set out to contribute to a breakthrough in climate(-friendly) research — and thereby to enhanced credibility — by reducing its carbon footprint. As a result, rather than simply applying a business-as-usual approach, innovative and inspiring solutions were jointly identified and developed, targeting different levels and stages of the research and research funding process.
Project outputs include 3 policy briefs and detailed recommendations. The project culminated in a week-long virtual conference on climate-friendly research.
Policy Briefs and Recommendations
JPI-Alliance-CFCR Policy Brief-Problem Analysis
JPI-Alliance-CFCR Policy Brief-Existing Solutions
JPI-Alliance-CFCR Policy Brief-Feasibility Assessment
JPI-Alliance-CFCR-Recommendations
Literature
"Let's meet — the climate-friendly way!"
Climate Friendly Climate Research Conference 2013