The status and improvement opportunities towards carbon neutrality of a university campus in China: A case study on energy transition and innovation perspectives

In response to China's commitment to meet carbon peaking and carbon neutrality targets, universities are seeking to assess and minimize their greenhouse gas emissions. In this study, a new methodology based on LEAP and LCA was developed to assess the carbon footprint of a medium-sized university campus in eastern China. The emission sources consider six areas: electricity, fuel, transportation, water, waste, and consumption of other materials. The results showed that the campus emitted about 13,877 tonnes of CO₂-eq in 2020. In particular, electricity consumption contributed about 77% of the total CO₂-eq emissions on campus, while green cover and material recycling resulted in a negative emission of 404.4 tonnes of CO₂-eq. In addition, seven common mitigation strategies were proposed to reduce the campus carbon footprint, and budgets would influence the implementation time. It was found that the seven proposed carbon reduction measures could reduce emissions by 97% in 2060, with decarbonisation of electricity being the largest contributor, leading to an emissions reduction of 64.7%. In addition, carbon offsetting is needed to achieve a carbon-neutral campus by 2060.