Vision climate-neutral university
SLU has the vision to be a climate-neutral university by 2027. To achieve this, six focus areas have been identified.
Focus area 1- Electricity
All electricity purchased or consumed by SLU to come from fossil-free sources.
Action plan:
The energy contract must be clear and state that SLU only purchases fossil-free electricity.
Follow-up:
Only fossil-free electricity is purchased in 2023.
Status:
The objective can be fulfilled within the given timeframe.
Focus area 2- District heating/district cooling
All district heating/cooling purchased or consumed by SLU to come from fossil-free sources.
Action plan:
Information to those responsible for the agreements. Dialogue with Akademiska hus and power plants to be conducted and documented.
Follow-up:
Of the heating/cooling purchased in 2023, 97% was fossil-free.
Status:
The objective can be fulfilled within the given timeframe if appropriate action is taken.
Focus area 3- Vehicles, machinery and tools
All SLU-owned vehicles, machinery and tools to run on fossil-free fuel.
Action plan:
Some vehicles will be decommissioned, others exchanged for electric, biogas or ethanol-powered vehicles, and the remainder will run on HVO100. The action plans are specific to each vehicle and have not been published externally.
Follow-up:
SLU owns 216 vehicles distributed by fuel type as follows: diesel 51%, HVO100 21%, petrol 19%, electricity 8% and other 1%. In 2023, 26% of the fuel used was fossil-free. Converted to CO2 equivalents, this corresponds to 9% of the emissions caused by fuels.
If our research vessel R/V Svea is included, the figures are 13% and 3% respectively. Due to the rise in fuel prices, SLU has opted to grant R/V Svea permission to temporarily use fossil diesel instead of HVO100.
Status:
The objective cannot be fulfilled within the given timeframe.
Focus area 4- Procurement
Procurement of goods and services to be clearly characterised by climate awareness.
Action plan:
See our objectives within procurement here.
Follow-up:
Largely satisfactory results. When relevant, energy consumption must be acknowledged as much as possible for procurement of products, services and buildings. The number of procurements with environmental requirements are affected by the type of procurement in question. SLU operations are broad, and it is not unusual that very specific products are procured. In most cases, there is only one supplier, which affects environmental requirement.
Status:
The objective can be fulfilled within the given timeframe.
Focus area 5- Business travels
Emissions from business travel to be reduced according to the existing action plan and objectives.
Action plan:
See objective 2 (business travel).
Follow-up:
See the follow-up of the business travel objective.
Status:
The objective can be fulfilled within the given timeframe.
Focus area 6- Climate compensation
Action plan:
Ongoing project into exploring the practical steps SLU can take to bind carbon, for example using biochar.
Follow-up:
Pilot studies have explored what SLU can do to bind carbon dioxide, for example by producing and taking charge of biochar. We are currently investigating whether it is possible to procure an external party to transform manure and vegetation from SLU’s activities into biochar which can then be spread over SLU’s land.
Status:
The objective cannot be fulfilled within the given timeframe.