Abstract

The objective of this research is to evaluate the impact that the implementation of the ISO 14001:2015 standard has had on the reduction of the carbon footprint at the Instituto Tecnológico Superior de Álamo Temapache (ITSAT) during the period 2018-2022. The Greenhouse Gas Protocol methodology was used to quantify direct and indirect emissions of scopes 1 and 2 before and after ISO 1400:2015 certification in 2018. The results show a 36.4% decrease in the footprint. Of total carbon, they are going from 108,868 tons of CO2 equivalent in 2018 to 69,157 tons in 2022. Although the year-on-year comparison was affected by the atypical drop-in activities in 2020-2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the data reveal a better environmental performance in 2022 than in 2018, before certification. It is concluded that adopting the Environmental Management System based on ISO 14001:2015 has positively impacted the mitigation of Greenhouse Gas emissions in this institution. Some limitations were the lack of data to estimate indirect emissions of scope 3. As future work, it is recommended to include scope 3, replicate the study in other educational centres and develop specific decarbonization plans for the sector.