Mobility

At Maastricht University, we’re rethinking the way we move. With thousands of students and staff commuting daily, mobility is a major factor in our environmental impact. That’s why we are working towards a university where sustainable travel is the default, not the exception.

Our ambition is to drastically reduce carbon emissions from commuting and business travel. To do so, we promote and support cycling, public transport, and possibly shared mobility solutions. We also work to remove practical barriers that may prevent sustainable choices—such as complicated reimbursement systems or lack of facilities. Whether you're biking to campus, hopping on a train to a conference, or joining a meeting online instead of flying, every step counts. It’s not just about cutting emissions, but about creating a healthier, more connected university. Because sustainable mobility isn’t just good for the planet—it’s good for all of us.

A necessary condition to reduce UM’s carbon emissions, is to have a clear picture of our current emissions. Therefore, we started the data collection in 2025 for 2024. For business travel, we collected data with respect to costs, business flights (place of departure and arrival), travel class, train kilometres, and much more. Based on the available data, business travel emissions were 3,155 t kg CO₂e in 2024. Although this is substantial, we do not know yet what the share of business travel emissions is off UM’s total emissions because we are currently still calculating emissions for other categories.

The calculations and analysis did reveal some interesting insights though:

~71% of UM’s business travel emissions are because of flights (representing ~61% of km travelled by the UM)
~0.48% of UM’s business travel emissions are because of train trips (~19% of kilometres travelled)
FHML, SBE and FSE flew the most in 2024; 39.2%, 25.3% and 10.2% of total number of flights respectively.

Some other interesting facts about business travel emissions:

One retour flight Amsterdam – NY exceeds a person’s yearly carbon budget; one retour flight Amsterdam – Barcelona = ~25% of a person’s yearly carbon budget The carbon budget is the total emissions (not only for business travel!) that an average person can emit yearly to stay below 1.5 degrees global warming.
Academic researchers are among the highest emitters when it comes to business travel.

Sustainable transport to Maastricht

UM is a partner of the mobility programme Maastricht/South Limburg Bereikbaar. The programme aims to contribute to climate policy, a liveable environment, better health and vitality. On the Maastricht Bereikbaar website, students and staff can find specific information about (sharing) cars, public transport and cycling. On the smart map of Maastricht there are public bicycle parking facilities, public transport bicycle rental locations, Nextbike locations and e-loading points for cars. If driving is unavoidable, conscious driving helps to limit the environmental impact.

Commuting

UM is preparing a new mobility plan aimed at discouraging car use and promoting cycling and public transport. Due to the corona crisis, decision-making has been postponed. In 2022, the plan will be updated based on new insights from COVID-19.

In line with the intention of the new mobility plan, UM has committed itself to the Higher Education Cycling Mission in 2020 which aims that, after COVID-19, UM will have 10% more employees commuting by bicycle. UM encourages the use of bicycles with financial contributions and tax-attractive arrangements. Employees can find more information about the bicycle scheme on UMployee (login required). In addition, UM reimburses the use of public transport, see UMployee.

Employees can make free use of loaner bicycles for transport between the UM locations in Maastricht. On UMployee you can find an overview of the rental bicycles per UM location.

Air traffic

Internationalisation is embedded in the DNA of UM. As a result, air traffic is often unavoidable. The air traffic by UM employees is an important component of UM's CO₂ footprint. Based on the available data, the CO₂ footprint of business air traffic of UM employees pre-corona was estimated at 2.7 kilotons of CO₂ equivalent per year. UM started the campaign 'Take the green seat' in 2021. This focuses on raising awareness, promoting alternatives to air travel and facilitating voluntary compensation through an internal fund. In 2024, the campaign will be evaluated and it will be considered whether additional measures are needed to achieve a significant reduction in CO₂ emissions. Employees can find more information about 'Take the green seat' on UMployee (login required).

Zero Emission City Logistics (ZES)

In 2021, UM signed the Act of Ambition for Zero Emission City Logistics. Thereby, the UM supports the Municipality of Maastricht with the introduction of a Zero Emission zone on 1^stof January, 2025. This means that service providers and suppliers in the city centre may only use zero-emission transport, such as electric cars and bicycles. ZES also stimulates smart solutions that will reduce the number of transport movements. This way, CO₂ emissions are reduced and Maastricht retains a safe, healthy, accessible and attractive city centre as well as economically vital for a future-proof city.

With the Act of Ambition, UM demonstrates the need and urgency to take steps now to be able to introduce a zero-emission zone by 2025. In 2019, UM already switched to an electric vehicle for the department of maintenance and management of Facility Services. A number of service providers and suppliers have also switched to electric transport, including our internal moving service, print service provider, internal mail delivery and coffee supplier.

We set minimum requirements for means of transport through tenders and encourage suppliers to switch to more sustainable transport more quickly. In addition, we expect suppliers to drive energy efficiently. Are you a (potential) supplier or service provider and do you want to make the switch to emission-free logistics? Then visit the following websites for more information about ZES and the new way of driving.

#Posifiets

The Municipality of Maastricht and the organization “Maastricht Bereikbaar” have launched the #Posifiets campaign, which focuses on more frequent and safe cycling and proper bike parking. UM is contributing to the campaign in various ways. Students and employees can give their redundant bicycles a second life by returning them to UM collection points (more information here). UM also deploys bicycle stewards to manage the large flows of bicycle traffic at the university, to ensure that bicycles are properly parked and thus the university and its neighbors remain easily accessible. Together with partners, UM organizes annual bicycle repair days and bicycle lighting campaigns for employees and students. UM also draws attention to #Posifiets at open days and events and through internal communication channels.