Sabbatical officers at the Students’ Union will collectively travel at least 18,500 miles on international trips by the end of this academic year, The Cheese Grater can reveal.
Their travels so far include the US, Azerbaijan, and Northern Ireland, with at least five more planned trips to Hungary, Slovakia, Czechia, Poland, Sweden, and Portugal.
Assuming they are flying in economy class on all these visits, the sabbs are expected to rack up 8.03 tonnes of carbon dioxide by the end of their term, equivalent to 18.6 barrels of oil consumed.
Asked whether these trips are good value for the carbon cost, Activities Officer Ana Boikova said: “The whole point of them is for us to network with other sabbatical officers… and look at what we can bring back.”
She pointed to the Student Life Strategy as an example of a policy “loosely based” on ideas from previous visits to the Association of College Unions International.
Boikova and Education Officer Shaban Chaudhary’s 6,500-mile round trip to the ACUI Conference in Boston last November had the highest carbon cost of all, coming to 2.11 tonnes of CO2 per sabb.
Following closely in their carbon footsteps is Union President Goksu Danaci, whose 5,000-mile round trip to Azerbaijan for COP29 accumulated 1.60 tonnes of CO2.
Danaci previously struggled to defend the carbon cost of the trip when she admitted she “didn’t feel too comfortable” at the UN climate summit owing to the “limitations” of her role.
It has also seen the President miss a number of important meetings back home, having been absent for both votes that were put to Union Executive so far this academic year.
But Boikova will retain the title of the biggest globetrotting sabb when she embarks on a five-day “study tour” to Hungary, Slovakia, Czechia, and Poland this month alongside a number of UK students’ unions.
While she claimed that “trips in Europe aren’t that expensive”, the tour will add half a tonne to the Activities Officer’s carbon footprint and bring her to a total of 2.64 tonnes of CO2 – equivalent to just over six barrels of oil consumed.
Other sabbs are also set to make their mark on the world map, with Welfare Officer Rachel Lim to visit Stockholm from 24-25 February and Postgraduate Officer Darcy Lan to likewise spend two days in Lisbon from 21-22 April.
It leaves Equity and Inclusion Officer Eda Yildirimkaya as the only sabb with no planned trips outside of the UK, although she is scheduled to visit Belfast next month as part of the Union’s Impartial Chairs programme.
It comes as Prime Minister Keir Starmer was under fire in recent months for his frequent overseas visits, racking up over 75,000 air miles since he entered Downing Street in July.
Air travel accounted for 2.5% of global carbon emissions, but studies have shown non-carbon climate impacts of aviation were responsible for at least 4% of global warming to date.
2024 was not only the hottest year since records began, it was also the first time global average temperatures broke the 1.5°C warning limit set by world leaders over a decade ago.
The world is now 1.6°C warmer than the pre-industrial average, according to new data from EU climate scientists.
A Union spokesperson said: “Sabbatical officers and students’ union staff are often to required to attend conferences, visit universities and students’ unions, and deliver programmes of work away from campus.
“Occasionally, undertaking this work includes overseas travel which is arranged in line with the UCL Travel Policy for Staff and Students based in the UK.
“We have ambitions to be a truly global students’ union and an excellent student-led organisation making impact for our members – engaging with organisations across the world, including occasional visits and exchanges, is an important part of our work and these trips are carefully planned and executed to ensure the maximum benefit for members.
The problem with the sabb team’s globetrotting is not the carbon cost itself but the fact that students do not see their travels as good value for the carbon cost incurred.
Of course air travel is sometimes necessary. Indeed, any means of travel will have a carbon cost attached.
The point here is not that the Union should cease all travel or make the sabbs walk to their next international conference on foot but that whatever cost that comes with these trips must be justified by the benefits of attending them.
Ultimately, these 18,500 air miles are only an embarassing statistic to the Union because it has thus far failed to communicate to students why the sabb team’s overseas travels are worthwhile.
In most cases, there is no hard evidence that the student body has benefitted in any substantial way from, say, jetting the President off to Azerbaijan, especially given her comments upon her return.
In fact, some of these trips weren’t even publicised: we only learned of Ana and Shaban’s trip to Boston thanks to the Activities Officer’s very active public Instagram story, which is arguably doing a better job at comms than the Union itself!
Alas, the Union’s chronic inability to communicate the value of its work to students is a tale as old as time itself.
This article appeared in CG89
