The project COUNTS aims to simplify and standardize greenhouse gas emission balancing of universities.

COUNTS (Standardization, further development and communication of greenhouse gas balances of Lower Saxony universities) is a three-years project funded by the Ministry of the Environment of Lower Saxony. It aims to simplify and standardize greenhouse gas emission balancing of universities in Lower Saxony to support their climate protection actions and make them measurable.

COUNTS has been initiated and is managed by the Sustainability Network of Universities in Lower Saxony (HochNiNa). The goal of this network founded in 2018 is to expand sustainability and climate protection at universities. It promotes exchange and cooperation between those responsible for sustainability at universities in Lower Saxony.

Many higher education institutions in Lower Saxony strive for climate or greenhouse gas neutrality or support climate protection and follow the principle of causation. This requires a greenhouse gas accounting and a consistent framework and methodology to quantify greenhouse gas emission sources and to identify mitigation potentials. 

At the same hand universities face challenges like

1. High balancing effort and low personal resources

2. Insufficient or difficult data availability

3. Inconsistent accounting framework

4. Inconsistent assumptions and methodological diversity

Because every university emission COUNTS a common accounting standard for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions will be developed within the framework of the project. It is taking into account the individual circumstances and requirements of the higher education institutions in Lower Saxony - Germany. This standard will be made accessible to the public as a comprehensible and user-friendly accounting tool.

The project is coordinated by Judith Wehrend, team member of COAST – the Centre for Environment and Sustainability of the University of Oldenburg.

Text by: Judith Wehrend.