The carbon footprint of thesis production: Advocating for academic reform at Bangladesh Medical University

Environmental protection is not optional for universities; rather, it is a global mandate. Paper production contributes to deforestation, water pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions. Discarded paper generates methane in landfills, compounding its climate impact [2]. Reducing paper consumption is therefore a moral, legitimate and effective climate mitigation strategy.

National policy landscape on carbon emissions in academia

Several universities in Bangladesh have adopted institutional climate or sustainability policies aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals. Notable examples include the University of Chittagong [3], American International University Bangladesh [4], BRAC University [5], East West University [6], University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh [7], Dhaka University of Engineering and Technology [8], Noakhali Science and Technology University [9], and Southeast University [10], all of which emphasise reducing campus greenhouse gas emissions and integrating climate awareness into education and research.

Despite increasing policy attention, a significant gap persists. Most university policies focus on energy, transport, buildings, and waste, while paper use in core academic processes receives little scrutiny. Although some institutions discourage unnecessary printing [6], none explicitly address thesis submission as a source of avoidable carbon emissions, nor do they require low-carbon alternatives, such as default digital submission or limited hard-copy requirements for theses and other work.

This disconnect is striking, considering Bangladesh’s commitment to cut emissions by 21.8% by 2030 under its 2021 Nationally Determined Contributions and its extreme vulnerability to climate change, despite contributing only 0.56% of global emissions [11]. This is primarily because of the absence of explicit low-carbon policies for students’ theses to align routine academic practices with national climate commitments.

BMU context of carbon footprint

The BMU is the country’s leading public university for postgraduate medical education, enrolling over a thousand students annually across MD, MS, MPH, MPhil, and PhD programmes. Sadly, it maintains the tradition of relying solely on physical documentation as the most reliable method for record-keeping and thesis evaluation. The entire process of thesis documentation requires numerous full-volume prints of protocols and theses. A typical master’s thesis at BMU averages around 114 pages, with only half containing core scholarly content. Single-sided printing, generous margins, repetitive formatting, and multiple mandatory hard-copy submissions significantly increase paper consumption.

A review of BMU’s thesis submission requirements, supported by verification from recent graduates and examination of completed theses, reveals that a single postgraduate student prints approximately 2,974 A4 pages over the course of thesis completion. This includes protocol submissions to ethics committees, drafts for supervisors, printouts of literature, examination copies, and final bound volumes.

When scaled to BMU’s annual postgraduate output of approximately 1,000 students, thesis-related printing amounts to an estimated 2.974 million pages each year. Assuming standard 80 gsm A4 paper (approximately 5 g per sheet), this corresponds to about 14.84 metric tons of paper annually. Using published life-cycle emission factors for copying paper and pulp-and-paper production, the associated emissions are estimated to range from approximately 9.6 to 23.5 tons of CO₂e per year, depending on methodological assumptions, system boundaries, and material recovery scenarios. These estimates are based on established life-cycle emission factors reported in the literature (approximately 0.648–1.58 kg CO₂e per kg of paper) [12, 13]. These figures do not include electricity use, toner, transport, storage, disposal, deforestation, and methane emissions from paper waste in landfills. While academic requirements are necessary, the significant carbon emissions it produces provide no additional educational benefit.

Simple solutions are available

Simple procedural changes would deliver immediate impact. Mandating double-sided printing alone would halve paper consumption overnight. Enforcing concise, standardised formatting would further reduce volume without compromising scientific rigour. Structured tabular presentation of literature reviews, now standard in systematic research, can replace dozens of narrative pages while improving clarity and quality. These are not radical reforms, but common-sense adjustments already adopted by universities worldwide.

Digital thesis submission and archiving offer additional benefits. They streamline administration, reduce student costs, improve accessibility, preserve scholarly work in durable formats, and expand global visibility of Bangladeshi research. As the leading public medical university, the BMU should discontinue paper-intensive systems in light of viable digital alternatives.

An opportunity for institutional leadership

BMU has a straightforward pathway to reducing its institutional carbon footprint through low-cost yet high-impact reforms. Simple measures such as mandating double-sided printing for all thesis-related documents and enforcing a concise and standardised format would reduce paper use by more than half. The next step is shifting to digital submission, review, and archiving to substantially reduce carbon emissions without compromising academic rigour. The destination should be a manuscript-based thesis submission process practised in many developed and developing countries.

Conclusion

Current thesis submission practices at BMU produce an estimated 9.6 to 23.5 tons of avoidable carbon emissions annually due to paper consumption. This burden is unnecessary, outdated, and misaligned with national and global aims to lessen carbon emissions. By modernising the thesis submission system, BMU can demonstrate that excellence in medical education also entails responsibility for the planet.