Concordia University
OP-15: Air Travel
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
2.00 / 2.00 |
Cassandra
Lamontagne Sustainability Coordinator Office of Sustainability |
15.1. Air travel reduction and mitigation
Narrative and/or website URL providing an overview of the institution’s incentives designed to encourage employees to reduce their air travel:
Travel and Conference Policy (CFO-3) and accompanying handbook:
- The Travel and Conference Policy includes the following text:
- "The University strongly encourages all Travelers to make transportation and all other choices with sustainability in mind."
- Normally, travellers are required to select the most cost-effective option (which, since rail travel is very expensive, is often airline travel). The Travel and Conference Handbook specifies that when travelling to the three closest cities (Quebec City, Ottawa, Toronto) travellers are permitted to travel via business class rail even if not the most cost-effective option in comparison with airline travel or car rental.
- The Travel and Conference Handbook specifies that drivers who carpool are each entitled to per diem travel rates of $0.62/km instead of $0.52/km.
Via Rail discount:
- In a partnership with Via Rail, those travelling for business purposes are entitled to a 15% discount with Via Rail.
Has the institution adopted restrictive measures designed to reduce the GHG emissions associated with its directly financed air travel?:
Narrative and/or website URL providing an overview of the institution’s restrictive measures designed to reduce its air travel emissions:
GPE Flying Less Policy and Pledge:
The department of Geography, Planning and Environment adopted a Flying Less Policy in 2019 with the following commitments:
- Disclosing annual flying activity;
- Prioritizing travel-free meetings and telephone/video conferences over physical travel (e.g. participating on dissertation committees; giving academic presentations), and lobbying for better video conferencing facilities within the University;
- Prioritizing collective ground travel for all destination within 12 hours from Montreal (e.g. train, bus, car-pooling);
- Prioritizing extended stays over more frequent and shorter research trips (e.g. for field work);
- Declining to participate in academic activities that involve long distance travel for low academic benefit;
- Promoting a Flying Less Policy at the Concordia University level (by sharing this policy with other departments and the office of sustainability and lobbying for the implementation of a centralized air travel emissions accounting system) as well as at the provincial and federal level (by encouraging the Tri-Council Funding Agencies to develop its own Flying Less Policy);
- With financial support, encouraging students to attend academic activities that do not require flying.
They have also launched a community-wide flying less pledge for individual staff and faculty at Concordia.
The Office of Sustainability supports these efforts by:
- Sharing the policy and pledge on our webpage and in other circles;
- Partnering with the GPE on annual Flying Less workshops for faculty and staff;
- Integrating the Flying Less Pledge and Policy into the Employee Sustainability Ambassadors Program training materials;
- Integrating a Flying Less into New Faculty Orientation;
- Partnering with Accounts Payable to integrate the fields necessary for our office to calculate GHG emissions from business and research travel (with the possibility of narrowing to air travel);
- This winter, we will launch a centralized webpage for all Fly Less Resources and will offer departments the opportunity to calculate their air travel emissions via the Office of Sustainability.
Does the institution have a program designed to mitigate the GHG emissions associated with its directly financed air travel?:
Narrative and/or website URL providing an overview of the institution’s air travel mitigation program:
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