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  • CORRESPONDENCE

Outdated rules on expenses prevent academics from travelling more sustainably

By
  1. Andrea Cardini

    1. University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy.

“When departure and return are not possible on the same day ... the journey may begin at most the day before the activity starts and may end at most the day after.” This rule, from the Italian education ministry’s regulations for reimbursing travel expenses (see go.nature.com/4g4doia; in Italian), will be familiar to many researchers in Italy. Similar policies no doubt exist elsewhere — and are one of the reasons that academics continue to fly to meetings, despite knowing the harms (see Nature https://doi.org/n24k; 2024).

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Nature 638, 321 (2025)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-00433-4

Competing Interests

The author declares no competing interests.

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