Carbon Footprint Determination: An Empirical Study at the PES Campus

Abstract

Carbon dioxide is the primary greenhouse gas produced by human activity that contributes to global warming and climate change. The quantity of emissions from various emission sources can be determined by carbon footprint and can be used as an environmental indicator, which is helpful in calculating the effect of human activity on the environment and global climate.  The purpose of this is to evaluate the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) using several emission inventories. A carbon footprint disclosure of any educational institution is very important to understand such that its key emission sources can be identified and necessary mitigation measures can be adopted for carbon reduction. The Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions of the scope site are included in the study. Three scopes—scope 1, scope 2, and scope 3—have been taken into consideration in the computation. It highlights the top 2 areas of emissions within the campus i.e., purchased electricity consumption (61.87% of total emissions), mobile source emission (21.81% of total emissions). The total emission computed for the campus is 971120.16 kg of CO₂ equivalent, out of which the major contribution is from Scope 2 (61.87%) emissions, followed by Scope 1 (31.87%), and the least contribution by Scope 3 (6.26%). Through the acquired results, it was noticed that annual emissions per individual is 0.2 tCO2 equivalents, while the annual allowable limit is 18 tCO₂ equivalents per individual. This can further be reduced using the recommended measures and through obtained results. Based on emissions below allowable levels, it is concluded that the chosen study area is Green Campus, and additionally, this empirical study raises staff and student knowledge of the carbon footprint in a fair way.