ICSE 2023 Sustainability Report

TL;DR

This report evaluates the environmental impact of the ICSE 2023 conference through participant surveys and carbon footprint estimation, questioning the sustainability of traditional conference activities versus their perceived value.

Contribution

It provides an empirical analysis of the environmental costs of a major conference and offers guidance for more sustainable future event planning.

Findings

Overall conference rated 4.4 out of 5 stars.

Estimated 5,053.5 tonnes of CO2e emitted from air travel.

No significant differences in perceived value among different conference sessions.

Abstract

With growing discussions about the carbon footprint of academic conferences, more questions are being raised whether the environmental impacts caused by transportation and other factors justify the value of traditional paper presentations and social events. There is a pressing need to critically evaluate whether the ecological consequences of these events outweigh their perceived benefits. To that extent, we conducted a questionnaire survey among participants of the 45th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE) 2023 in Melbourne, Australia, seeking their feedback on the different conference sessions (e.g., workshops, keynotes, paper presentations, social events). In total, 161 participants filled out our survey. Overall, the conference was rated with 4.4 stars out of 5 stars. We do not see any significant differences among the different sessions, making it difficult to derive conclusions about their certain value and implications to sustainability. The relatively low response rate (11%) did not help in gaining better insights. Based on the participants registration data, we additionally estimated the carbon footprint emerged from air travel. The total carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) accumulates to around 5,053.5 tonnes of CO2e which is equivalent to the electricity required to power around 1,000 homes in a year. With this report, we want to provide guidance to organizers of future conference editions with respect to their location and the perceived value of traditional paper presentations, social events, and other sessions.