Carbon Footprint of Organization: Case Study Faculty of Public Health, Khon Kaen University

Abstract

Khon Kaen University is aware of Global warming. Therefore, conducted Green & Smart Campus project to be a role model of the carbon footprint organizations. The project has a target to establish the carbon footprint database of all 33 faculties/sector which will lead to greenhouse gas reduction measures. The project also supports the country policy on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 13 target: Climate action by 2030. This research aimed to study the carbon footprint of the Faculty of Public Health, Khon Kaen University by collecting data about activities contributed greenhouse gas which is divided into 3 types including Type 1: activities of organization which directly emitted greenhouse gas such as emission from fuel for transportation  of works,  emission from fuel of rental vehicles, emission from refrigerant in air conditioners, and methane gas from septic tank, Type 2: electricity use, and Type 3: activities indirectly emitted greenhouse gas such as emission from fuel for traveling back and forth from workplace to accommodation, water consumption, paper consumption and garbage that must be eliminated. The data of activities contributed greenhouse gas was collected from October 2013 to September 2018. Then, the greenhouse gas emissions factors based on type of activities were applied to calculate the carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂eq) followed the IPCC formula. The quantitative data analysis with descriptive statistics was percentage.

The results of the study found that the total of 5 years greenhouse gas emissions of the Faculty of Public Health was 2,105 ton CO₂eq. The highest greenhouse gas emission was contributed from activity Type 2: emission from electricity use of 1,150 ton CO₂eq (55%), followed by the activity Type 3: activities indirectly emitted greenhouse of 651 ton CO₂eq (31%) and activity Type 1: activities directly emitted greenhouse gas of 303 ton CO₂eq (14%). When considering sub-activities of Type 1, the highest greenhouse gas emission was contributed from the refrigerant of 168 ton CO₂eq (55%), the fuel for transportation to work of 73 ton CO₂eq (24%), methane gas from the septic tank of 37 ton CO₂eq (12%), and emission from fuel of rental vehicles of 26 ton CO₂eq (8%). For the sub-activities of Type 3, the highest greenhouse gas emission activity was from fuel for traveling back and forth from the faculty to accommodation of 468 ton CO₂eq (72%), followed by disposed garbage of 144 ton CO₂eq (22%), the consumption of water and paper of 21 ton CO₂eq and 17 ton CO₂eq, respectively, equal to 3%.

The results of this study could be used for establishment of measures for greenhouse gases reduction. The findings could also be the baseline data for monitoring and evaluation of measures implementation which will lead to the measures improvement and could be the case study of carbon footprint evaluation for other organizations.