Do Travelling Academics put their Money where their Mouth is?

Abstract

Academics are often environmentally-minded, and they often travel internationally to share their research. Are they prone to attitude-behaviour gap? We collected data from 104 academics in Europe regarding attitudes towards online conferences, flight shame and carbon offsetting, and analysed their trip-making and mode choices in hypothetical conference travel situations. We find that while respondents and their social environments are conscious of the environmental impacts of flying, travel time considerations dominate their travel choices. Respondents are willing to buy a € 5 more expensive ticket or extend their travel by train by 30 seconds to reduce 1 kg of CO2.