Trains - the best way to travel

Trains back on track

Two departments are at the forefront in the work on climate change: the Department of Conservation and the School of Public Administration. These departments allow you to take a maximum of two flights a year, and flights under 1,000 km are more or less not permitted. Travel within Europe should preferably be undertaken by train.

BOTH DEPARTMENTS have updated their environmental and sustainability plans with stricter requirements for air travel. The goal is to significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions from business travel. The objective is that as an employee, you can make a maximum of two round trips per year. Before booking a business trip, you should carefully consider whether a digital meeting would suffice.

At the Department of Conservation, Researcher Staffan Lundén has led the work of the department's environmental group in developing a new travel and meetings policy, which in several respects entails dramatic restrictions compared to the University of Gothenburg's goals. – Ultimately, it is about helping to save the planet from total collapse, and what little we can do here and now will hopefully be important for future generations. Everything else seems meaningless otherwise. As Greta Thunberg says, it is about listening to the researchers. It's bad when not even the researchers do that, Staffan Lundén points out.

When it was time to update the policy, they chose to aim higher than the University of Gothenburg's central goals.

– IT IS IMPORTANT that a policy does not become too ambiguous and flexible, but it must also not be too rigid and strict. Flying to Stockholm is not permitted, and trips under 1,000 km require written permission from the head of department. The purpose is to do away with unnecessary travel, says Staffan Lundén

He hopes that the policy will be an important planning tool for determining which conferences you can participate in and where you can choose to arrange conferences, based on how accessible the place is by train. For example, for a European network, Munich may be preferable to Sicily or Gothenburg as a meeting place.

– FIRST AND FOREMOST, you should try to replace travel with digital meetings. Secondly, investigate the possibility of travelling by train and thirdly taking a flight. What the pandemic has taught us is that a lot can be accomplished digitally. I myself have participated in several conferences digitally and it has saved a lot of time.

Instead of flying, staff are encouraged to take the train. As compensation, it should be possible to book first class and, when required, get paid for an extra hotel night or sleeping car in first class. But the policy also covers short trips within the city. Therefore, the department has purchased Västtrafik cards, Styr & Ställ cards and bicycle helmets.

Staffan Lundén says that the policy has been discussed at several workplace meetings and that the staff have been overwhelmingly positive. Personally, he does not think the measures are particularly dramatic.

As Greta Thunberg says, it is about listening to the researchers. It's bad when not even the researchers do that.

STAFFAN LUNDÉN

Photo: SHUTTERSTOCK

THE PRINCIPLE is that it should be easy to make decisions about how business trips and meetings should be conducted. One point of the policy is that it is not overly controlling but is based on everyone taking responsibility. – We have borrowed some formulations from SLU, chiefly regarding the so-called decision ladder. It means that you have to think about whether it is even necessary to participate, based on your working hours and the department's resources.

The idea is also that students and guest researchers coming to the university should take the train, if possible.

Despite the fact that it will be both more expensive and more complicated to book train trips, Staffan Lundén highlights the benefits of travelling. – We need time to recuperate and maybe in the long run we will not be more efficient by rushing around and taking flights. Of course, it is absurd that the train is

more expensive than a flight, but we must accept that if we are to save the climate.

The Head of Department, Anneli Palmsköld, points out that sustainability issues are central to the nature of the subject, and that working digitally has been a long-standing habit, as the department is located in two places: Gothenburg and Mariestad. – The follow-up will take place at the performance appraisal. As head of department, it is gratifying that the policy has garnered such overwhelming support among the staff. We are convinced that we can achieve the goals, she says and sends a special thank you to the School of Public Administration, which has shown the way.

YLVA NORÉN Bretzer is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Public Administration, but also works part time as an environmental and sustainability coordinator. She says that the department has worked strategically with environmental and sustainability issues since 2014. The document, which is based on the 2030 Agenda and the University of Gothenburg's Vision 2021–2030, covers all areas, such as research, education, energy, IT, purchasing, travel, and refuse. – We want to show that the School of Public Administration takes sustainability issues very seriously and that we are at the forefront. It is not only self-interest, we also have a great deal of expertise in these matters. Centrally, the university does not actually remember what it has done, so it is important that we, at the departmental level, continue to push these issues, says Ylva Norén Bretzer.

The plan has now been updated with respect to air travel. – Trips under 500 km, such as to Stockholm, must always be undertaken by train, and flights further than 1,000 km require the written permission of the head of department. This also applies if you fly from Copenhagen or Oslo, then you will have to take the train.

Ylva Norén Bretzer points out that it’s not about reducing travel, but about reducing the number of flights.

Trips under 500 km, such as to Stockholm, must always be undertaken by train.

YLVA NORÉN BRETZER

But at the same time, is it not easier for the School of Public Administration that is not as dependent on collaboration with other countries, which the School of Global Studies or the Department of Environmental Economics are, for example?

– Yes, most of our empirical data is from within the country's borders, but we have some researchers who collaborate with Eastern Europe and Latin America and who need to travel. Furthermore, we must ensure that our young researchers can travel and build networks. At an overarching level, there may be departments that need to take more flights, but then perhaps other departments can reduce the amount they fly by 70–80 percent if we are to achieve the climate goals. You need to look at the university as a whole, says Ylva Norén Bretzer.

SHE POINTS OUT that it is not about reducing travel but about reducing the number of flights. The majority of the trips already take place within Europe, and now it is important to get more people to take the train. – In 2018, I went by train to Venice for a conference and it went very smoothly. It was luxurious, as I had my own sleeping compartment; furthermore, I got breakfast in bed. It is a fairly simple route, but as a large university, we must demand that Egencia step up their game.

EVEN THE SMALL things matter. A few years ago, the School of Public Administration was one of the first at the University of Gothenburg to offer vegetarian food at conferences. Tap water is standard. Furthermore, all employees have received thermos mugs to cut out the use of disposable mugs.

She is driven by a desire to make a difference. – It's actually quite fun to be a contrarian, and it’s also exciting to see how you can do things in different ways. I think that sustainability issues are crucial for everyone's future. Not everyone can do everything, but everyone can do something, says Ylva Norén Bretzer.

Text: Allan Eriksson Photo: Johan Wingborg