University of Montreal Professor of biochemistry Herve Philippe says he's a committed environmentalist. But he discovered his own research produces 44 tons of CO2 annually. The average citizen produces 20 tons.

"I did my Ph.D. on nucleotide sequencing in the hope of advancing our knowledge of biodiversity, but I never thought the research itself could have a negative impact on biodiversity," he said.

According to Philippe's calculations, his computers produce 19 tons of CO2 per year, the air conditioning in his laboratory produces 10 tons of CO2 per year and transport from one meeting to another produces 15 tons of carbon dioxide annually.

For universities, he recommends having less frequent international conferences, increasing the use of videoconferences, avoiding research on well explored topics, reducing publications and evaluating the amount of CO2 produced by research projects.

He presented his views during a recent University of Montreal symposium.