While everyone agrees something needs to be done, most agree that an outright ban on flying would be inappropriate and counterproductive.

Dr Ivan Scales, a lecturer in geography at St Catharine’s College, is taking his own action: he has not flown since 2016. But even he does not believe ‘no flights’ pledges are the way forward. There is, he says, a danger of ‘hairshirtism’, of depriving ourselves of things, and of seeing the problem of flying as an all-or-nothing situation. Rather, we should try to change the mindset about when and how much we travel.

“I’ve had a few conferences I've gone to and thought, ‘I'm not sure this was worth the carbon, I'm not sure this is worth the travel’. And so now, whenever I'm invited, I ask myself, ‘What is the value being added?’”

Dr Cameron Brick, a behavioural psychologist at the University of Amsterdam, and formerly a by-fellow at Churchill College, agrees it is about ‘nudging’ people to change their behaviour.

“We could encourage academics to take a pledge that anytime they’re offered a talk, whether at a department or at a conference, they would just say ‘Thank you so much for this opportunity. Is there the possibility of giving this talk remotely?’”

Brick believes this would encourage academics to consider the impact of their flights, but importantly would push conference and meeting organisers to introduce alternative options – with the added bonus that it's cheaper for everyone. Academics could attend remotely, recording their talk in advance and then, during broadcast, respond to questions online, “like in a live-streaming way on Reddit or YouTube. People can submit their questions and then other people can vote up the questions they're most interested in. That way, you get much higher quality questions.”

Cambridge Zero – the University’s ambitious new climate initiative – together with Cambridge University Press have begun exploring options for remote – or ‘virtual’ – conferencing ahead of the 2020 UN climate summit (COP26) in December. But while the technology may already be in place, or at least feasible, to allow virtual talks and panels, to truly replicate the conference experience, such plans will need to address a common concern expressed among the academic community: that attending remotely (or not at all) would remove the opportunity to network, with consequences for their international reputation. As Foster says, “There's currently no substitute for having a beer and standing at a poster session. There’s no substitute for informal networking. That's really where many interesting intellectual conversations come in.”

Conference poster session (Credit: NASA Ames) Conference poster session (Credit: NASA Ames)

But Foster also points to a 2019 study from the University of British Columbia that suggests the benefits from conference attendance may be exaggerated. A team of researchers investigated the links between air travel emissions and publicly-available bibliometric measurements, such as citations, and found no relationship, even when accounting for department, position and gender.

Scales believes a fundamental change is needed to academic culture. “There’s a lot of pressure to attend as many international conferences as possible, especially for early career researchers, who are looking to build their research profiles and networks. It’s part of a wider problem of the way academics are recruited and promoted, and how we are incentivised. There is pressure on individuals to develop lots of networks and collaborations, bring in grant money, and find ways to publish research quicker, faster and in higher numbers.”

Foster agrees, arguing that change must begin with institutions such as Cambridge University. “What we need is for the University and for individual academics in positions of power to make it clear to people applying for positions in their labs or departments, that frequent flying in itself is not a virtue.”

Tackling this culture would also make the landscape more equitable, with implications beyond carbon footprints, argues Pidgeon. “Some people can't travel because they've got caring responsibilities or have health issues. I've even had one person say, ‘I don't feel comfortable going to certain parts of the world, because I'm gay, so that precludes me from taking part in all of these conferences.’”

