UAntwerp Climate Team

Financing the Climate Action Plan

UAntwerp’s Climate Action Plan has set the goal of becoming climate-neutral by 2030 and fossil-free by 2050 (Scope 3). Large efforts (financial or other) are necessary to achieve this objective. Creating a robust financing mechanism addresses these needs is therefore of utmost importance. Along with significant reductions in carbon emissions (mitigation), a part of emissions that UAntwerp still has, will have to be offset through carbon offsetting. However, the ultimate goal remains to actually reduce CO2-eq emissions as much as possible and to compensate as little as possible. Therefore – compared to the previous Climate Action Plan – the focus of this chapter has switched from ‘Compensation’ to ‘Funding the Climate Action Plan’, and we will build upon the knowledge that was produced by the Compensation Working Group.

The current focus is on two topics: ‘Budgeting CO2 emissions’ and ‘Developing a climate investment fund’.


Budgeting for CO2 emissions


At present, CO2, or more generally, greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction measures remain dependent on the goodwill of individual people. For example, through UAntwerp, employees can use Tago Travel to book flights. The travel agency charges a contribution per plane trip that is proportional to the amount of CO2 emitted. These contributions will be invested in the ‘Kasigua Corridor REDD+ project’ (Wildlife Works) until 2022 and a forestry project in Kenya from 2023 onwards. However, it is important to note that employees are not required to book trips through this travel agency, because with the CO2 compensation it would cost more than if you would pay for the flight yourself (booked through an agency of choice). Therefore, researchers with a tight budget might opt out on this option.

            

Furthermore, we noticed that researchers who work on projects with high CO2 emissions do not always have room in their research budget to compensate for their emissions. This makes the individual burden very high and for most even too high to reduce or compensate for their emissions.


Developing a climate investment fund


The university is developing several climate projects, but there is no real sustainability or climate fund available. To achieve the goals set for 2030 and 2050, a sustainability or climate investment fund could help these projects achieve their goals. It is yet to be determined what shape this fund should take, how it should be managed and who should be in charge of decision-making for this fund.


Milestones reached


In the 2019 Climate Action Plan, three priority action points were defined by the ‘Compensation Working Group’.


  • Establish a broad stakeholder consultation on what and when we will anchor compensation in the operational management of the university. Define methods to gather budget for GHG emission compensation at UAntwerp

    There have been meetings with the Board of Governors and the CFO of UAntwerp regarding funding the Climate Action Plan. These meetings have resulted in a number of specific, new action points that we can use in the Funding the Climate Action Plan Working Group. ​​


  • Cost-benefit analysis: perform a detailed investigation of potential external compensation projects and compile an overview, highlighting advantages and disadvantages, such as implied societal impacts, time frame issues, or opportunity costs. Already existing initiatives, i.e. the travel emissions compensation tool developed by Eric Struyf at the Department of Biology, is especially suited to be picked up and expanded. Internal projects could include green roof initiatives, study programme development and the integration of compensating actions into the curriculum and credit system of UAntwerp.

    External compensation projects for air travel have been defined by UAntwerp. For the upcoming period, a forestry project in Kenya will be supported by calculating the CO2 emissions into the cost of traveling. Besides looking at compensation, we have also investigated whether there are opportunities to work with external parties to reduce our CO2 emissions. An interesting opportunity to explore is a collaboration on sustainable energy in a PPP (public-private partnership).


  • Quick wins could include a guide on personal GHG emission compensation and the dissemination of information on potential compensation initiatives. A feedback loop with students and staff of UAntwerp could help identify new initiatives and evaluate existing ones.

    Since the ‘Compensation Working Group’ became the ‘Funding the Climate Action Plan Working Group’ in March 2022, this action point has received less attention. The focus is now on creating a sustainability fund and less on compensation.


Goals


  • UAntwerp proactively seeks sufficient financial resources to achieve its climate goals (for example, by establishing a climate investment fund or through other financing mechanisms).


Actions


Air travel:

  • The central booking system needs to be improved. We have to consult with the travel agency and we should learn from other universities that have better functioning booking systems.
  • Motivate staff to use Tago Travel (a travel agency). We can interview some employees to discover their reasons for using or not using Tago Travel to book flights, or send out a feedback questionnaire.
  • Draft a proposal to increase the CO2 contribution to €70–€100 per tonne of CO2 to not only account for the effective carbon cost, but also the social cost of carbon. Additionally, we should research if it is a possibility to pass this increased cost on to research groups (legal feasibility). Can this contribution be integrated into budget applications from Horizon, FWO or BOF projects?


Energy reduction and external funding:

  • Draft a proposal to set up a working group as soon as possible with representation from the Finance Department, Legal Services, Infrastructure Department and Climate Team to develop a PPP (private public partnership).


CO2 compensation:

  • Draft a proposal to extend the compensation mechanism to car travel (long-term planning).


Indicators


Climate investment fund (CIF):


  • Budget available for the climate policy’s mitigating measures (in Euro)
  • Budget used for the climate policy’s mitigating measures (in Euro)
  • Budget assigned for the climate policy’s adaptation measures (in Euro)
  • Budget used for the climate policy’s adaptation measures (in Euro)


CO2 compensation:


  • Amount of CO2-eq reduced due to investments in mitigation measurements (in CO2-eq)


Air travel:


  • Percentage of travellers/employees using Tago Travel to book their flights.
  • Amount of the contributions to the Kenya Forestry project (in Euro)


Challenges


At present, we do not have a dedicated climate investment fund (CIF) at UAntwerp. Moving forward, a university-wide CIF needs to be implemented, for which the introduction of a central funding strategy is crucial. Budgets should be allocated and properly communicated to all stakeholders. The financing strategy is ideally embedded centrally, in a way that reducing emissions in the first stage is given priority over compensating costs at a later stage. For this purpose, intermediate targets will have to be defined, based on the results of the Zero Measurement Working Group, to avoid that the resulting compensation costs will be unanticipated and exorbitant.