Description:
The Gustavson School of Business (Gustavson) is an internationally accredited business school at the University of Victoria. The school occupies classrooms, meeting rooms and office space in the Business and Economics and David Strong buildings. Gustavson has been carbon neutral for the past four years, having started by offsetting all emissions (including travel) that are not offset by the University of Victoria (UVic) with the 2016 inventory. This report measures Gustavson's carbon footprint for 2020 and 2021.
Gustavson's emissions in 2020 were 334.4 tCO2e, which is 65.1% and 66.7% lower than 2019 and the 2010 baselines respectively. This is largely attributed to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, resulting in school closures and travel restrictions. Gustavson's emissions increased to 405.8 tCO2e in 2021 as restrictions lessened, resulting in more staff commuting, and MGB and BCom student travel. The combined emissions for both years are 740.3 tCO2e, a 26.2% decrease over the 2010 baseline.
Gustavson uses emissions factors for travel from the BC Best Practices Methodology to align with UVic and other BC post secondary institutions. For consistency, 2010 - 2013 flight emissions have been restated with BC Best Practices for GHG Accounting. Emissions from service calls are now deminimis and have been removed from the inventory.
Emissions to be offset by Gustavson come to 409.7 tCO2e (excludes emissions already offset by UVic). The projects to be supported include the Vietstar Municipal Solid Waste Treatment Plant in Vietnam, the Darkwoods Forest Carbon Project in BC, and the InfraVest Windfarm in Taiwan.