2025

Grénman, Miia; Räikkönen, Juulia; Sorakunnas, Esko; Honkanen, Antti

The Nature Positive Universities Network, an international initiative led by the University of Oxford in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme, aims to mobilize higher education institutions to emerge as leaders and exemplars in the sustainability transformation by advancing nature-positive goals. The University of Turku (UTU) is an active member of this network, and its involvement has encouraged a critical evaluation and improvement of the institution’s operations. Since joining the network, UTU has successfully organized a campus-wide BIOBLITZ event in 2022 to identify species co-inhabiting the campus environment, calculated the university’s biodiversity footprint, and is currently developing a comprehensive biodiversity strategy. In alignment with the broader sustainability transformation, this study focuses on academic flying, a well-documented yet complex challenge within universities’ sustainability efforts. This study examines academic flying at UTU through the following framework: (1) a review of the existing literature on academic air travel and sustainability; (2) a statistical analysis of air travel data from UTU staff; and (3) preliminary recommendations for future strategies to mitigate the environmental impacts associated with academic mobility while supporting academic collaboration and leadership. The case of academic flying serves as an interesting lens for reevaluating leadership within higher education: truly nature-positive universities must not only protect biodiversity on their campuses but also critically assess their broader environmental footprints. By thoughtfully engaging with the challenge of academic flying, universities can demonstrate leadership, promote sustainability transformation, and genuinely align their practices with the nature-positive future that is urgently needed.