The ‘Cambridge Carbon Map’, a joint initiative led by University and town climate action groups, has launched with the aim to produce a public map of carbon emissions in Cambridge.

The interactive map will be available on mobile devices, allowing users to see and compare carbon emissions from institutions and companies in the city, in order to push organisations towards a zero carbon future.

The project is a collaboration between groups including Cambridgeshire Climate Emergency, Cambridge Climate Lecture Series and Big Cambridge Climate Conversation (BC4), a new group of Cambridge residents, students and academics who were inspired by a similar “situation map” created by Cambridgeshire Climate Emergency.

BC4 aims to bridge the gap between the town and the University in climate action, starting by measuring carbon emissions of all colleges and University departments.

Other groups collaborating on the Cambridge Carbon Map include the Trinity College Ethical and Green Affairs Society (TEGA), the Cambridge Group for Ethics in Engineering and Computer Science (GEECS) and the Leys School.

The groups making the map are encouraging businesses, colleges, University departments, schools and council offices to include their carbon emissions in the map.

Stefan Haselwimmer, spokesperson for Cambridgeshire Climate Emergency, told Varsity that the availability of the map depends on “how cooperative Cambridge colleges are” in providing relevant information, which he said “could take months and months”.

The University itself has not collaborated on the project.

“The Cambridge Carbon Map will be a useful tool to track local progress towards a fossil-free future, but in order to tackle the wider climate crisis we must examine its root causes,” said a spokesperson for activist group Cambridge Zero Carbon.

“The fossil fuel industry contributes overwhelmingly to climate breakdown, an enterprise which the University supports both directly and indirectly through its investments, research, professorships, recruitment events, and more”.

Despite initial support for the map, Zero Carbon emphasised “the climate crisis is a global issue and we have to fight on all fronts for climate justice: this means system change on a global scale”.

“Cambridge Zero Carbon Society continues to demand that the University cut all ties with the fossil fuel industry as a crucial step in the right direction towards achieving global climate justice,” they added.

Varsity has contacted the University for comment, but received no response.