Air Miles Monitoring

Air travel by academic staff is the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions at GIUZ. Our aim is to quantify, address and reduce the amount of air travel at our department.

The goals of the Airmiles group are:

To continuously monitor GIUZ air travel and compare the development to the baseline information (2017-2019)
To reduce air travel by 40% by 2022 and 53% by 2030, in line with the UZH-wide goals
To support staff in finding sustainable alternatives to air travel for fieldwork, conferences etc.

The group also provides a platform for discussion about strategies on how to reach the reduction goal.

Reports from the future and virtual conferences

Weiterführende Informationen

… and we have reached our goals and reduced our flight emissions to less than 53% compared to 2018. What concrete steps did we undertake? What support did we receive? Did it influence our research? Nearly 50 students, early career and senior scientists participated in this thought experiment as part of the first GIUZ airmiles workshop.

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Are you looking for ways to reduce flight-related greenhouse gas emissions in science? Virtual conferences have become more important in this regard.

The information event “Smarter than flying – How to organise successful virtual conferences” took place on 13 November 2023. This page documents the presentations given by the invited experts, among them Prof. Michael Zemp (Director World Glacier Monitoring Service, Department of Geography).

Links to supporting websites are also provided.

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How air miles monitoring is being done at GIUZ

Our reduction goal

Who we are

Our reports

The GIUZ Airmiles Report 2022

In 2022, total air travel at GIUZ increased significantly compared to the Covid-19 travel ban period, but remained lower than pre-Covid years. Flight distances and emissions were just below the UZH target.

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Scenarios for the future

How can we reach our air miles reduction goal? What do you think?

Can we already reach the target by avoiding short-distance flights in Europe?
Should we still fly to far-away destinations?
What about inviting fewer guests arriving by plane?
And which division at GIUZ has the best environmental footprint for air miles?

Have a look at the five scenarios in the slideshow below and find out!

Scenario 1: No ultra-long flights

We reach the reduction target by reducing ultra-long flights (> 10,000 km one-way) by 90%.
Scenario 2: Train rides instead of short flights

Trains are great, but they will not help us reach the reduction target. We still miss the target clearly by avoiding short flights to destinations that can be reached by train (<1,000 km).
Scenario 3: Visit European instead of non-European conferences

We miss the reduction target slightly by visiting only-European conferences instead of conferences on other continents. The number of conferences and the number of flights is assumed to remain constant.
Scenario 4: Fewer guests arriving by plane

If 90% of all guests at GIUZ arrived by other means of transport than by plane, we would reach the reduction target.
Scenario 5: Be like GIScience

Currently, the GIScience division has the fewest air miles of all research divisions at GIUZ. If all other divisions had a similar travel behaviour, we would easily reach the reduction target. In fact, travelling like GIScience 75% of the time would be enough.

We want to learn about your ideas and scenarios to reduce air miles at the GIUZ! See us in the Air Miles Monitoring group and join the discussion! Contact

Weiterführende Informationen

Michael Zemp

… and we have reached our goals and reduced our flight emissions to less than 53% compared to 2018. What concrete steps did we undertake? What support did we receive? Did it influence our research?

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Air travel at GIUZ: Preaching water – drinking wine?

More about Air travel at GIUZ: Preaching water – drinking wine?

We believe that we cannot go back to flying as usual if we are to remain credible as (climate) scientists.

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Are you looking for ways to reduce flight-related greenhouse gas emissions in science? Virtual conferences have become more important in this regard.

Links to supporting websites are also provided.

Virtual conferences

UZH promotes forms of scientific collaboration that involve less air travel. The project "Make Science, Not Miles" aims to make UZH members aware of the high external costs of air travel, which are particularly caused by the emission of greenhouse gases.