University of Copenhagen fails to cut emissions — now higher than in 2018

Despite years of focus on its green transition, the University of Copenhagen (UCPH) is moving in the wrong direction in terms of climate footprint. The university is now unlikely to meet its own climate targets.

This can be seen in the university’s latest climate report.

In 2024, UCPH emitted 184,934 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent, a 20 per cent increase per full-time employee and student over the previous year.

The university’s target is to halve its greenhouse gas emissions per full-time employee and student by 2030 compared to 2018, which the Board has set as the baseline.

But since 2018, the climate footprint has instead increased by 11 per cent.

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New buildings boost the numbers

The latest spike is mainly due to the Niels Bohr Building at North Campus being taken into use in 2024.

The entire construction process — from concrete to ventilation — is recorded in the year the building is completed. This leads to a significant spike. But even without this spike, the UCPH climate footprint remains unchanged from 2023.

Much more needs to be done in the coming years.

Jacob Graff Nielsen, spokesperson for UCPH’s sustainability efforts

And over a longer period of time, there is a clear trend: Since the Covid lockdown, the university’s total emissions have been increasing.

The climate report shows that energy use has gone up. The university is using more energy overall and the energy it purchases has a higher climate footprint.

On the upside, emissions linked to laboratory purchases fell slightly in 2024. However lab activities remain among the university’s biggest sources of emissions. UCPH, in other words, is feeling the squeeze from multiple directions: Increasing activity, energy consumption, and new construction are pushing emissions up, while reductions are progressing too slowly to offset them.

Dismal first place

The University of Copenhagen has the largest climate footprint among Danish universities that produce climate reporting by consumption footprint.

While UCPH emitted nearly 185,000 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent in 2024, Aarhus University reported 86,524 tonnes, Aalborg University 56,739 tonnes (latest data from 2023), and University of Southern Denmark 36,199 tonnes.

Even adjusting for size differences, UCPH still tops the list.

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In 2024, the university emitted 4.8 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent per employee and student, while the country’s second-largest university, Aarhus University, emitted 2.5 tonnes.

The difference can partly be explained by the large share of laboratory-intensive research at UCPH, which leads to higher energy and materials consumption. But the numbers also show that UCPH has the highest climate footprint in the sector — even when construction-related emissions from the Niels Bohr Building are excluded.

READ ALSO: Soaring emissions: Air travel threatens University of Copenhagen’s climate targets

Unrealistic targets are being kept

Spokesperson for UCPH sustainability work Jacob Graff Nielsen declined to be interviewed for this article.

Instead, he submitted written responses to the questions from the University Post. He acknowledges that current trends will make it difficult to reach the goal of halving emissions by 2030.

»We must acknowledge that it will be really difficult, and that much more needs to be done in the coming years,« says Jacob Graff Nielsen, who is also Dean of the Faculty of Law.

When it comes to building investments, new construction should be limited.

Jacob Graff Nielsen, spokesperson for UCPH’s sustainability efforts

He notes that the climate footprint is closely linked to the university’s growing research activity. Since 2018, UCPH revenue has increased by 23 per cent and external funding by 40 per cent, while staff and student numbers have only grown slightly.

This means more greenhouse gases are emitted per full-time equivalent, even though the university is not necessarily growing in size.

Jacob Graff Nielsen rejects the idea of changing the climate target however: A halving of emissions between 2018 and 2030 should still serve as a guiding benchmark — even if it now seems unrealistic.

Growth or reduction

According to Jacob Graff Nielsen, UCPH faces a fundamental dilemma: The university can only reduce its climate footprint by either consuming less or buying products with lower emissions — and both options are challenging.

Cutting back on consumption runs counter to rising demands for productivity, while greener purchasing depends on suppliers changing their own production.

UCPH still has a responsibility, he emphasises. The university itself can do more to use resources efficiently, and to take the climate into consideration in major decisions:

»When it comes to investments in buildings, new construction should be limited. Instead, we should prioritise renovating and maintaining existing buildings. I see potential for UCPH to share buildings, labs, and equipment to a much greater extent. We’ve started doing this — but it needs to move faster,« explains Jacob Graff Nielsen.

READ ALSO: Danish universities are missing climate targets — the University of Copenhagen included

He highlights the move of the Faculty of Social Sciences to South Campus as an example of how climate considerations are increasingly influencing strategic decisions at the top level.

New initiatives and climate council on the way

Going forward, UCPH is to step up efforts in three areas that account for most of its emissions: Laboratories, buildings, and air travel.

Laboratories, in particular, have a high climate impact, and the university is working to develop more sustainable research practices.

In terms of buildings, the focus is on reducing the need for new construction and making better use of existing building space, while air travel emissions should be cut via things like behavioural changes.

Despite these initiatives, UCPH is far from achieving its green ambitions.

»As I see it, the efforts underway are not extensive or fast enough,« says Jacob Graff Nielsen.

To solidify the efforts, the university has set up the UCPH Climate Council, where deans, staff and students will discuss how to make the university more climate-friendly in practice.

The hope is that the council will create ownership and commitment throughout the organisation — without adding more layers of administration.

»The big question is how we create shared ownership and shift attitudes and behaviour in daily life, so we avoid resistance when people have to learn to work and study under new conditions,« writes Jacob Graff Nielsen.