Abstract:
Sustainable urban design, system-level organizational planning, and human
behavior have been recognized for their potentially important roles in helping to reduce
energy costs and associated environmental impacts, including greenhouse gas
emissions. University campuses, with their long planning timeframes, centralized
organizations and dense populations are ideal places to examine these carbon
mitigation strategies. A project was conducted, with a view to study the carbon
neutrality and sustainability of KCAET campus. It was done for the purpose of sector-
wise adaptation and mitigation strategies to develop KCAET campus of Malappuram
district in Kerala as a “Carbon Neutral Campus” by carrying out a carbon emission
and sequestration analysis in the sectors of food consumption, transportation, energy,
waste and AFOLU (Agriculture, Forest and Other Land Use). The study was
conducted for the period 2021-22.
In order to assess the carbon neutrality of KCAET campus, the total carbon
emission from above mentioned sectors were calculated and total carbon
sequestration by sectors such as trees in the homestead, coconut plantation, soil
profile and organic carbon content of soil and forest like dense vegetation were
analyzed. As per Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), three
hierarchical tiers are used to categorize the methodology complexities of emission
factors and activity data. Tier 1 uses default data and simple equations. The required
data were obtained by conducting various surveys and the corresponding emission
factors were taken. Carbon emission and sequestration of each sector was obtained
by the product of the emission factor and activity data.
The total carbon emission from the campus was found to be 330.261 CO2
eq. tonnes and the total sequestration from the campus was 177.2 CO2 eq. tonnes.
Since the carbon emission is higher than carbon sequestration it can be concluded
that KCAET campus is not carbon neutral. A recommendation on action plan at
KCAET campus level with short-term and long-term strategies for achieving carbon
neutrality had been proposed as a major outcome of this project.