CO₂ Emissions from Theoretical Physics Research?
Abstract
Global Warming is a clear and present danger for humankind. Halting it in time will require technological advances and societal changes at impressive scales and rates. Both, Global Warming and mitigation efforts will have an impact on the way we conduct research. What should we do? What will you do?
Info
Participative poster presented at Strings 2022 conference, Universität Wien, 18 July 2022
authors: Niklas Beisert (Zürich), Nils Carqueville (Wien)
contact: Niklas Beisert, Nils Carqueville
Poster, Annotations
The poster was presented at the Strings 2022 poster session on Monday 18 July 18:00 – 20:30 at the courtyard of the main building of the University of Vienna.
During this time, we invited visitors of the poster session to contemplate the issue of Global Warming
(which is very briefly outlined at the top of the poster, especially in connection to Theoretical Physics research activities),
and to participate in finding ways for our Theoretical Physics community to come to terms with its carbon footprint.
We had many active discussions with visitors resulting in many annotation notes on the poster.
The poster remained in place until Thursday 21 July and some further thoughts and suggestions were added during this period.
You can download the original poster PDF here and the annotated poster here.
Transcription of Annotations
- Impact of Global Warming on Theoretical Physics Research
Will progressing Global Warming or mitigating efforts have a detrimental impact on Theoretical Physics research? Why (not)?
• Do you consider Theoretical Physics research resilient in this regard?
- I consider theoretical physics to be resilient because it can be done from almost anywhere. There will be an impact but it will affect experimental physics much more.
- Global warming is a threat to all of us, even if it doesn't affect everyone equally.
- We are absolutely not resilient! In a few years, nobody will care about string theory, so what is our work then?
- However, string theorists will be highly flexible to switch to another job, which might be more helpful.
- Impact of Theoretical Physics Research on Global Warming
Do you think research in Theoretical Physics causes relevant amounts of CO₂ emissions? Why (not)?
• Are we on track towards net-zero CO₂ emissions? When and how should this be achieved?
- Not more than most other “office jobs”. I believe large scale change in laws regarding heavy industry and mobility are of more importance.
- We could reach net-zero CO₂: 1.) No flights anymore, as soon as possible! 2.) Only possible if conferences can be held online such that it makes sense.
- … or plant trees, or contribute to organizations doing this!
- Large conferences are CO₂ inefficient. Maybe their time is over?
- Realised Steps in Theoretical Physics Research
What steps have you / your group / institution taken to reduce the climate impact of your research?
• Do you think the heads, leaders, organisers in our field approach sustainability issues well? Why (not)?
- Compensation of emissions for travel by plane.
- Allow remote access to talks and conferences to reduce travel.
- I can do and I really do: 1) reduce the amount of meat/animal products I eat to the minimum, 2) abstain from flying/using cars. We all should do what we can!
- Rules can simply be set by the heads of departments.
- Sustainable Research Activities in Theoretical Physics
How would Theoretical Physics research be different in a society at net-zero CO₂ emissions? Describe your thoughts / vision.
• What roles do you attribute to change of habits, reduction, compensation and CO₂-capture? What about scalability and time frames?
- X86 → RISC-V
- Force universities to re-sell used stuff (monitors, laptops, …)
- We need a “unified field theory” of action on climate change. And we need it soon!
- I don't think cutting down on offline conference activity is feasible. Focus should be on activism and increased funding and adoption of non-carbon based fuel in institutions.
- Maybe students/postdocs should be allowed to keep their laptops/devices provided to them even after their contract ends. Returning them to the universities is pointless — just contributes to e-waste!
- Our string theory community is relatively small from a global point of view: ~O(1000). So it is relatively easy and feasible to change the culture and practices of our community, e.g. less flying to conferences, more flexible working spaces etc. Our community would ideally act as a condensation point for more and larger changes in our society.
- Steps to be Taken in Theoretical Physics Research
What steps are yet to be taken to align our research culture with climate sustainability requirements?
• Who should bring forward / impose rules towards limiting CO₂ emissions in our research activities?
- Good online conferences with coffee breaks online? Interactions aside from talks.
- Use our creative and computational skills to create good online conferences.
- Why restrict to conferences? Our skills can be helpful in a much broader sense.
- We could try to limit wasteful behaviour such as cooling or heating offices the whole day.
- Responsibility to Research and Society
Which CO₂ reduction measures should we not impose on ourselves? Can you provide equally effective alternatives?
• What exceptions can we claim to retain / obtain higher than average CO₂ budgets? We would need solid arguments.
- I think we should be willing to sacrifice more than others because of the privilege we have.
- Theoretical physics researchers are privileged, we should try to go forward as a good example.
- Comments and Feedback
Should sustainability issues play a more prominent role in our professional life? Why (not)?
• Do you have any other related remarks?
- Yes, I think most people do not care so much about emissions caused by conferences.
- Yes! We can set a good example!
- Thanks for identifying clearly a few points about personal contributions to the cause.
- Damn it is so dangerous! And everybody tries to calm themselves and not think about global warming. We are analytically thinking people. If we cannot convince ourselves to investigate the problem, then nobody can! So let us start solving the problem now! And not put it aside as we have done so far.
Comments on Annotations and Interactions
The poster spurred several dozen discussions on the climate crisis
during the conference. In our opinion, broad discussion as well as bold
action in face of one of the most pressing challenges to humankind is
urgently needed. We noticed that the vast majority of interlocutors
showed interest in the topic and agreed that it is relevant. On the
other hand, we realised that many colleagues were only partially aware of
some basic facts, fundamental data and relevant mechanisms
(e.g., main contributors of CO₂eq emissions, relative emission magnitudes,
CO₂eq budgets, importance of net-zero targets).
We consider an understanding of these an essential prerequisite
for an informed assessment of the climate footprint of our own profession,
for a consideration of emission causes and objectives reached by them,
and eventually for a meaningful discussion on alternative, climate-neutral ways to conduct our profession.
The anticipation of climate-induced societal and budgetary changes in the next decades
and their effects on theoretical research is a natural incentive for us to consider seriously.
To this end, the top two boxes on the poster provide a few relevant pieces of information (necessarily incomplete, see the references below for a fuller picture).
We therefore stress the importance of being well-informed and leading open discussions on this issue
(keeping in mind the available time scales for mitigation).
Acquiring information and discussing are in fact core skills in research,
but unfortunately, we noticed little discourse on climate
issues at Strings 2022
(similar remarks would apply to nearly every concurrent scientific conference)
besides our poster presentation and some remarks and efforts by the conference team.
Finally, we feel obliged to minimally, and broadly, comment
on the thoughts and ideas added to the poster in the form of sticky notes.
We believe that these, as a whole, go in the right direction and point out important aspects.
We welcome the initiative and openness of the contributing participants,
and we are glad that they took this step to the benefit of the community.
However, it is also evident to us that, in total, the concrete suggestions do not go sufficiently far
and are not sufficiently broad in order to achieve the goal they aim at, even in parts
(being a bit more climate-friendly will delay the detrimental effects of global warming by merely months or years).
At the same time they will have a significant impact on the ways and the efficiency
with which we conduct research. Clearly, there needs to be balancing of these objectives,
but taken at face value, the given suggestions can hamper our scientific progress
without achieving significant reductions CO₂eq emissions within our domain.
To this end, we point out
several existing professional initiatives which have assessed our situation broadly and carefully,
as well as proposed, considered and discussed suitable implementations for our research activities.
Please see the references on the poster or the links below.
Reuse and Further Reading
This poster has attracted some attention and we invite reusing it at other occasions (see also below).
Here we list some further instances and mentions of the poster that have come to our attention:
Data Sources
Illustrations
References
-
IPCC Reports:
-
Workshop “Sustainable HEP 2021”,
28–30 June 2021, virtual only
-
Workshop “Sustainable HEP 2022”,
5–7 September 2022, registration now open
-
Sustainable HECAP+ initiative, paper “Environmental sustainability in basic research: A perspective from HECAP+”
-
ALLEA: “Towards Climate Sustainability of the Academic System in Europe and beyond” (2022)
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ETH Zürich, Department of Physics: “Towards Sustainability in Research at D-PHYS/ETH” (2020),
document by working group on CO₂, approved by department
-
Jürgen Knödlseder et al: “Estimate of the carbon footprint of astronomical research infrastructures”,
Nature Astron. 6, 503 (2022)
-
David Ayala et al: “An approach to less climate-impactful conferencing”
in Newsletter of the London Mathematical Society Isse 480 (January 2019)
-
Agnes S. Kreil: “Does flying less harm academic work? Arguments and assumptions about reducing air travel in academia”
Travel Behaviour and Society 25, 52 (2021)
-
Agnes S. Kreil, Michael Stauffacher: “Reducing air travel related greenhouse gas emissions in academia: An empirical policy overview” (2021)
-
Ariane Wenger: “Shifting from academic air travel to sustainable research exchange:
Examining networking efficacy during virtual conferences”
Journal of Cleaner Production 414, 137577 (2023)
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The 2022 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: health at the mercy of fossil fuels
-
IARU Green Guide for Universities
-
Labos 1.5
-
ETH Zürich air travel project
Poster Source
This poster was designed in LaTeX with beamer class and beamerposter extension.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons License “Attribution 4.0 International” (CC BY 4.0).
The poster may be adjusted and reused under the conditions of the above license.
The LaTeX source files can be downloaded from here.