Carbon emissions facts

• The University of Sydney has conducted a full “carbon footprint” of its operations, including accounting for our share of greenhouse gas emissions in the supply chain. Only a few universities anywhere in the world have conducted such a comprehensive study.

• The University of Sydney’s greenhouse emissions are high compared to the whole Australian education sector, largely due to our high volume of research activity.

• Using business activity measures such as “per student” and “per academic output”, our use of electricity is low compared to other leading universities, nevertheless it is significant and the largest single contributor to greenhouse gas emissions for the University of Sydney, followed by emissions from air transport.

• The majority of the University’s carbon emissions occur in the supply chain as a result of the combined effect of many, relatively small activities, such as procurement of equipment, paper, chemicals, fuel, construction materials, services, transportation of goods, and so on.