Sustainable Travel
National and international travel at higher education institutions generates significant carbon emissions. To address this, ENLIGHT encourages students and staff to adopt more sustainable travel practices.
Sustainable Travel Policy
Since national and international mobilities at higher education institutions cause high amounts of green-house gas emissions, it is important to encourage employees and students to travel in more sustainable ways. Therefore, ENLIGHT has set up this Sustainable Travel Policy in 2024 to foster sustainable travel between the ENLIGHT partner universities.
Here are a few questions that every ENLIGHT staff member and ENLIGHT student needs to consider when planning their trip within ENLIGHT:
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- Is it necessary to attend in person?
- If no, consider taking part in the meeting virtually - this option should be explicitly made available for as many meetings as possible at the earliest stage
- If yes, you should anticipate the following questions - How many colleagues from your institution need to attend the meeting? Can this be limited to one representative from your university?
- Can this meeting be linked with any other planned event and/or activity?
- For mainland Europe, can the destination be reached in less than 10 hours by train and/or bus?
- If yes, it is highly recommended to take the train or bus
- A trip using public transportation is the most sustainable and preferred option. In addition to trains and busses, other mobility options such as car sharing and/or ferries should be considered.
Even though a flight seems quicker in many cases, it is important to consider that the journey to the airport, check-in, baggage claims, etc. take a considerable amount of time as well. - For trips outside of mainland Europe flying may be the only reasonable option but to ensure this is kept to a minimum please refer to point 1.
Sustainable Route Plannin
To make travel planning more sustainable, ENLIGHT offers practical tools and information for students and staff. The ENLIGHT Travel Map provides a quick overview of train connections across Europe, showing which destinations can be reached within 10 hours by train. With the ENLIGHT Sustainable Travel Tool, you can easily calculate the CO2 emissions of various modes of transport for your chosen route.
Sustainable Travel Map
Sustainable travel information and connections
© Back-on-Track Europe AISBL
Travel information and connections by train can be found under the following links:
- Night Train Map 2025: https://back-on-track.eu/night-train-map/
- European night trains: https://rail.cc/night-train
- Online travel agency for night trains: https://www.lunatrain.com/en/
- The Man in Seat 61 - How to buy European train tickets: https://www.seat61.com/european-train-tickets-online.htm
- European train and bus tickets: https://www.thetrainline.com/
Sustainable Travel Tool
With the ENLIGHT Sustainable Travel module, you can easily calculate the CO2 emissions of different modes of transport for your chosen route.
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