Greenhouse Gas Inventories in Universities: A Literature Review and Research Agenda

This chapter presents results from a literature review on greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories in higher education institutions (HEI) and suggests future research pathways. The knowledge on HEI’s GHG emissions is vital in the process of leading by example when facing climate change. GHG inventory and life cycle assessment (LCA) are some of the used methods. However, there seems to be some confusion when naming GHG accounting “inventory” or “carbon footprint.” Both approaches have been assessed in the literature through papers from the Web of Science and Scopus. The discussion addresses assumptions and data quality issues, which are not always satisfactorily detailed in the papers. This challenges comparative studies, performance rankings, or even establishing cap and trade schemes. Results show that the definition of the main information sources is strongly context-dependent, making it difficult to produce general guidelines and strategies. Conclusions address the importance of future research on the potential errors in GHG accounting, due to different methods, data quality, and lack of transparency. Although it is impossible to produce a comprehensive inventory, the reasons behind the choice of emissions inventoried and the type of emissions ignored should be clearly stated. Given the nature of HEI and its multiple activities, emission factors and information sources are variable and should be clearly disclosed. Finally, management systems, which favor inventory data collection, should be promoted.