Office of Sustainability

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Open Access
The Irony of Climate Science and the Race to Net Zero A Carbon Footprint Investigation
(2019-08-19) MacKinnon, Catherine Marie; Assefa, Getachew
A carbon footprint investigation of the Kluane Lake Research Station (KLRS), which supports the advancement of climate science, is vital to identify the organization’s large-scale contribution to climate change. A comprehensive measurement of KLRS’s emissions profile enables the development of effective mitigation and management strategies to approach net zero carbon, in alignment with current IPCC projections. The GHG Protocol Standard was applied to evaluate KLRS’s material emission sources and understand its energy demands and environmental impacts, supplemented with an economic analysis of mitigation efforts addressing its predominant direct contributor. The findings yielded 86 percent of KLRS’s absolute emissions were scope 3 with 86 percent attributable to aviation, emphasizing the importance of decarbonization, extensive behavioural change, and global collaboration essential to progress this fundamental exploration whilst minimizing its impact. This signifies a critical juncture in addressing climate science’s ironically high carbon signature and the synergistic pursuit required to realize carbon neutrality.