Carbon footprint as an environmental sustainability indicator for a higher education institution

This study aimed to quantify carbon footprint of the University of Haripur (UoH), Pakistan for one fiscal year (July 2016-June 2017). Primary data was collected through questionnaire surveys, interviews, personal observations and measurements by visiting concerned offices, departments, laboratories, library, canteens, and agriculture fields. The UoH carbon footprint was calculated according to the IPCC 2007 greenhouse gas (GHG) protocol for 100 years' time horizon using environmental impacts modelling software SimaPro v.8.4. The results showed that UoH emitted around 578,898 kg CO2-eq emissions to environment during 2016-2017. The largest GHG emission (38%) from single source to the total carbon footprint was from the purchased electricity. Up to our knowledge, there is no published literature available for any other Pakistani universities who conducted their carbon footprint. The highlights of this study are: this study quantified carbon footprint (CF) of the University of Haripur (UoH) Pakistan, primary data was collected through questionnaire surveys, interviews and measurements, IPCC 2007 GHG protocol for 100 years' time horizon was used to calculate UoH CF, the UoH emitted about 578,898 kg CO2-eq emissions to environment during 2016-2017 and this study will provide a baseline to other universities in Pakistan to measure their CF.