The Australian National University has pledged to take more carbon out of the atmosphere than it puts in by 2030.
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This makes the ANU the first university in Australia and the second university in the world to aim for the ambitious negative emissions target.
Director of the ANU Institute for Climate, Energy and Disaster Solutions Professor Mark Howden said the science shows that carbon dioxide needed be removed from the atmosphere to avoid the worst effects of climate change.
"I think given the nature of the debate in Australia it's important for organisations like ANU to step up and show the way," Professor Howden said.
The university's emissions were already lower than other similar-sized organisations because electricity was drawn from renewable sources through the ACT grid.
Emissions from gas and business travel make up the largest components of the ANU's carbon footprint.
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Professor Howden said the university was looking to improve the energy efficiency of buildings by reducing leaks, using low-emissions building materials and switching to electric heating.
Work-related travel will be limited in order to meet the target while the university will also use technologies developed by its researchers to take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.
"There's work on building products, like cements, which actually absorb carbon dioxide rather than emit, and also various chemists who are working on ways of sucking carbon dioxide out the atmosphere and putting it into useful products," Professor Howden said.
Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology in Finland has already promised to get to negative emissions by 2024.
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