ICSE 2023 Sustainability Report

2026-03-03

AI Summary

This study evaluates whether the carbon footprint of the ICSE 2023 conference aligns with the perceived academic and social value of its activities, thereby assessing the environmental justification of such a premier software engineering event. Drawing on survey responses from 161 attendees regarding the perceived value of various conference components and registration data to estimate aviation-related emissions—approximately 5,053.5 metric tons of CO₂e, equivalent to the annual electricity emissions of about 1,000 households—the research pioneers an integrated approach that couples subjective value assessments with quantified carbon impacts. The findings reveal an overall attendee rating of 4.4 out of 5, with no significant differences in perceived value across sessions, offering empirical insights and actionable directions for designing more sustainable future conferences.

Technology Category

• Application Domains: Humanities & Computational Social Science
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Social Cognition And Interaction
• Constraint Satisfaction and Optimization: Applications

Application Category

• Security and Privacy: Large-scale security measurements
• Responsible Web: Sustainability and climate impact of web technologies
• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Sustainability and carbon-aware systems for Web, mobile, and WoT

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.

Problem

• carbon footprint
• academic conferences
• sustainability
• environmental impact
• conference value

Innovation

• carbon footprint
• sustainability
• conference evaluation
• CO2e estimation
• participant survey