High-speed travel by train

UG staff members travel many kilometres by plane each year. To reduce CO2 emissions and to encourage staff members to make more sustainable choices, the UG recently formulated a new travel policy. To make travel decisions easy for everyone, a decision tree and a map have now been created, so that you can find out immediately whether you should travel by train or by plane.

Why the new travel policy?

16% of the total CO2 footprint of the UG is caused by business trips. Almost 70% of these trips are made within the EU. There are two ways in which the UG wants to reduce its CO2 emissions. First of all, staff members are encouraged to make conscious decisions: is the journey necessary? Or would a Skype call or video conference be sufficient? Secondly, the UG encourages its staff members to make short journeys within the EU by train instead of by plane.

Simple steps

For all of the destinations that can be reached within 6 hours by train and/or are within a distance of 500 km, you may only travel by train. Also if the travel time by train is not longer than by plane, you must take the train. To find out which travel options apply to your journey in a few simple steps, you can use the decision tree.

Yellow, green and red destinations

On the map, you can see at a glance which destinations can be reached within 6 hours by train (green), for which you must travel by train. Destinations with a travel time of between 6 and 8 hours by train (yellow) are still fairly accessible. Would you choose to travel by train to these destinations too? Then we applaud you for making a sustainable decision!

You will also find extra information on the map. For example, you can see the CO2 emissions of each journey by train and by plane to a number of destinations. If you travel to Paris, your CO2 emissions will be 16.9 kg if you travel by train, compared to 200.3 kg if you fly. This helps to immediately demonstrate why we need this policy.

Do you want to receive a printed A3-sized version of the map? Let us know on social media where you are travelling to by train for your next business trip, or send an email to greenoffice@rug.nl. You will then receive a nice art print to hang in your office!

The decision tree and map were created in collaboration between the Green Office and the Facility Services department and were designed by Cake Mixstore.