ICSE 2022 Sustainability Report

TL;DR

This paper evaluates the ecological impact of the ICSE 2022 conference by surveying participants to assess whether the benefits of in-person attendance justify its carbon footprint.

Contribution

It provides an empirical assessment of the sustainability of academic conferences through participant feedback and quantifies perceived ecological trade-offs.

Findings

8 of 42 respondents felt benefits did not offset carbon footprint

Survey conducted among 53 participants of ICSE 2022

Highlights need for sustainable practices in academic events

Abstract

The carbon footprint of academic conferences becomes a topic of increasing debate. It is important to consider whether the benefits derived from attending conferences in person outweigh the community's carbon footprint. Therefore, we need to evaluate the overall ecological consequences in relation to the perceived advantages. To that extent, we conducted a post-conference questionnaire survey among participants of the 44th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE) 2022 in Pittsburgh, USA, seeking their feedback about the conference and experience from a sustainability perspective. In total, 53 participants filled out our survey. Overall, 8 of 42 respondents felt that the community's carbon footprint was not offset by the benefits of in-person attendance.