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v2026.1714 entries · CC-BY 4.0
Dictionary termTrack EStablev2026.2

Research carbon footprint

The total greenhouse gas emissions (expressed in CO2-equivalent) attributable to research activity, encompassing direct laboratory energy use, computing, procurement, travel, and end-of-life of research equipment.

ByCASRAI Editorial Board
· Last updated 21 May 2026

Examples

Worked examples

  • Is an instance

    A research group uses GES1point5 to publish its annual carbon footprint by category and sets a 30 percent reduction target by 2030.

  • Is an instance

    A funder mandates a project-level carbon estimate at proposal stage for any grant over 1 million pounds.

Counter-examples

Looks similar, but isn't

  • Not an instance

    A single energy-bill total for an entire campus is not a research-specific footprint.

  • Not an instance

    A travel-only count ignoring procurement is incomplete.

Editorial commentary

The research carbon footprint is increasingly assessed at multiple levels: an individual project (often required as a climate impact statement in DMPs), a research group, a department, or an institution. It draws on the GHG Protocol's scope 1, 2, and 3 framework, with scope 3 (procurement and travel) usually dominating in research-intensive universities. Tools include the Laboratory Carbon Calculator, the GES1point5 calculator for academic groups, and institutional environmental reports under SECR (UK) and CSRD (EU) regimes.

References

  • GHG Protocol Corporate Standard; GES1point5 project (CNRS / Labos1point5).

Also known as

Research GHG footprint · Academic carbon footprint

Machine-readable encodings

Use in your systems

JATS XML <role> element
xml
<role vocab="credit"
      vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
      vocab-term="Research carbon footprint"
      vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/research-carbon-footprint" />
Schema.org DefinedTerm (JSON-LD)
json
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  "@type": "DefinedTerm",
  "name": "Research carbon footprint",
  "identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/research-carbon-footprint",
  "description": "The total greenhouse gas emissions (expressed in CO2-equivalent) attributable to research activity, encompassing direct laboratory energy use, computing, procurement, travel, and end-of-life of research equipment.",
  "inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/sustainable-research-and-laboratory-operations/",
  "url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/research-carbon-footprint",
  "sameAs": [
    "Research GHG footprint",
    "Academic carbon footprint"
  ],
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
}

Adopted by research universities worldwide

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  • University College London logo

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