Comment: Using universities' land for carbon offsetting Published on: 1 December 2021 Writing for The Conversation, Professor David Werner argues that if universities want to hit climate targets, they should use their land for carbon offsetting. Universities across the world hold massive amounts of land. , , Over 1,000 universities and colleges from 68 countries have pledged to halve their emissions by 2030 and reach net zero emissions by 2050. Initiatives to add LED lighting and solar panels to buildings, like at the , have been important steps forward. But for emissions which prove harder to reduce 鈥� like those from heating ancient 鈥� many universities will have to resort to carbon offsetting. 鈥� capturing and storing atmospheric carbon or reducing carbon emissions from one source in order to compensate for emissions made elsewhere 鈥� is a practice that, , can help reach net zero goals. Academic institutions will reach when the greenhouse gases their activities release are balanced out by greenhouse gas removal from the atmosphere. Organisations often pay for carbon offsetting from providers with for, say, protecting or growing forests. Yet universities in the UK and beyond own substantial amounts of land which they could use to offset emissions in their own backyard. The universities of Oxford and Cambridge are among the in the UK. The ten largest college campuses in the US cover over between them. And yet of 16 university carbon-management schemes showed that none had quantitatively considered how their land might be used to offset emissions. Christchurch Meadow is part of the University of Oxford鈥檚 land. Our research 缅北禁地 in north-east England manages two research farms, Cockle Park and Nafferton, with a combined area of 805 hectares. found that the carbon stored in this land amounts to 103,619 tonnes 鈥� 98,050 tonnes from the top 90cm of soil and 5,569 tonnes from trees. That鈥檚 equivalent to 16 years鈥� worth of the university鈥檚 greenhouse gas emissions at current rates. the university could offset up to 50% of its greenhouse gas emissions by changing the way it uses land at the farms. Currently, most of the university鈥檚 farmland , meaning that the land is ploughed or tilled regularly to grow crops 鈥� removing carbon from the soil. By changing one of the university鈥檚 farms to mixed woodland with broad-leaved and coniferous trees, converting it into a research centre, 缅北禁地 could capture 1,856 tonnes of carbon per year 鈥� offsetting 29% of its greenhouse gas emissions over a period of 40 years. University researchers could then systematically study different to reducing emissions, like tree-planting versus or , and their implications for biodiversity as well as environmental, economic and social sustainability. This could restore significant terrestrial carbon losses from past land-use change. The division between agricultural land and woodland at Nafferton farm likely resulted from medieval 鈥溾�� agriculture. Our data suggests that this process, involving burning woods to create fields, resulted in an overall carbon loss of about 74,000 tonnes from the land that is now Nafferton farm. At Cockle Park farm, which has been part of 缅北禁地 since 1896, from around 1900 showed that 84% of the agricultural land was then managed as meadows and pastures, and only 16% was arable land. In comparison, just 21% of the land is now permanent meadows and pastures while 79% is arable. This change at the farm resulted in a carbon loss of about 3,250 tonnes while the farm was managed by 缅北禁地. Challenges Implementing carbon offsetting schemes that involve changing land use entirely comes with substantial challenges. According to our university鈥檚 farm director, the main concerns would be restrictions on land use within , as well as how land-use change might affect government or the university鈥檚 ability to deliver agricultural teaching. In light of this, we need to find ways to increase soil carbon in arable land too. This could be achieved by tilling less land, recycling straw and manure as fertiliser, or using . Mob grazing is where lots of animals are released onto a small area of grass to graze for a short time, before leaving the grass to recover for longer than usual 鈥� believed to enhance soil carbon content. Once carbon offsetting schemes are in place, the pros and cons of using land in this way could then be debated and researched by the academic community to improve offsetting techniques, rather than being swept under the rug by . In pursuit of their ambitious net-zero carbon targets, universities should first reduce their greenhouse gas emissions as much as they can. And to deal with the remaining emissions, universities should seriously consider carbon offsetting strategies for the land under their management. That鈥檚 how they can set a good example to other land-holding institutions across the world. , Professor in Environmental Systems Modelling, This article is republished from under a Creative Commons license. Read the . 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