Analysis

How science can become more climate-friendly

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Published: June 27th, 2024,
Last updated: January 4th, 2025

Symbolbild Luftfahrt / Luftverkehr Im Bild ein startender Airbus der Lufthansa am Frankfurter Flughafen Fraport.
Business air travel also has an impact on the carbon footprint of research organizations.
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Science impacts the climate. Depending on the discipline, the individual „CO2 footprint“ of researchers can be considerably larger than that of an average German citizen, which the Federal Statistical Office estimates at around eight tons per year (2020 data). Air travel is a significant contributor, as is the high electricity consumption of data centers, modeling and working with AI systems. Large infrastructures that require a lot of steel and concrete also negatively affect the climate balance.

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Klimaschutz Climate targets