Decarbonised mobility

For journeys between home and the university, the goal is to reduce the number of staff who drive home by a quarter by having them switch to cycling, public transport or car sharing, and to double the modal share of cycling and car sharing among students. This is to be achieved through an ambitious cycling plan (improving cycle routes, providing secure bike parking areas, repair points, etc.), support for car sharing, strengthened partnerships at the wider city level, etc. For business travel, the objective is to reduce carbon emissions from flying by 10% and to streamline the fleet of university-owned vehicles.

In 2022, travel by the university community accounted for 19,300 tCO2eq, i.e. 31% of the university’s total emissions. In 2019, greenhouse gas emissions linked to travel (excluding international student mobility) came to 0.35 tCO2eq per person. In 2022, greenhouse gas emissions linked to travel came to 0.32 tCO2eq, i.e. an overall reduction of 10% per user.

Travel at the University of Bordeaux falls into one of two categories:

• Everyday journeys (travelling between one’s home and place of work/study), made using a wide range of means of transport, which
• Business travel for work, between the different campuses or for European or international exchanges

The university is aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions linked to travel by 15% by 2027, based on recorded emissions in 2022 (approx. 19,300 tCO2eq).

Objectives

Journeys between one’s home and place of work/study: the aim is to encourage people to make the move to less polluting forms of transport that promote greater well-being, particularly by combatting sedentary lifestyles among staff and students, in line with health policy.

For business travel, the objective is to reduce carbon emissions from flying by 10% and to streamline the fleet of university-owned vehicles.

By 2027, the aim is to:

• reduce the number of staff who drive home by a quarter by having them switch to cycling, public transport or car sharing. In terms of carbon impact, this would enable emissions from these journeys to be reduced by 20%.
• double the modal share of cycling and car sharing among students, which would reduce carbon emissions by 10%.

Action plan

• Implement the cycling plan, including the creation of a campus network of safe routes for active modes of transport and parking for bicycles, with the roll-out of large, secure parking areas and services such as lockers and repair points.
• Develop a communication and events plan
• Promote car sharing: roll out a car-sharing solution in partnership with an operator, rethink on-campus car parks: experiment with conditional access and install charging infrastructure for electric vehicles.
• Continue engaging with other institutions, towns and the Bordeaux Metropolitan Area to advocate for the needs of campus users at a local level.

The measures presented here are relevant at an inter-institutional level. Some are specific to the university estate, while others will be applied to the university as a whole from 2024 onwards. From 2024 onwards, the mobility analysis will be extended to the Bordeaux campuses (Victoire, Carreire, Pôle Universitaire des Sciences de Gestion (PUSG) and Pôle Juridique et Judiciaire (PJJ)) to refine the metropolitan vision for these initiatives.

This will then allow a university action plan to be drawn up, taking into account the specific nature of each site (particularly the two local campuses in Agen and Périgueux, which will require specific assessments) and falling within the university’s own areas of responsibility (particularly in terms of roads, parking, human resources policy and communication).​​​​​​