Students pursuing a Bachelors degree on campus have a carbon footprint three times larger than distance students pursuing a similar degree.

A study commissioned by COL examined a traditional classroom-based programme and a distance programme in Business and Entrepreneurship offered in Botswana, to compare instances of students’ energy use and carbon emissions. Findings indicate that the distance delivery eliminated students’ need to commute and reduced the use of paper, resulting in the students consuming less energy and producing fewer carbon emissions than their face-to-face counterparts.