Getting Here
Air travel is the largest contribution (>90%) to the carbon footprint of EWDA conferences
The large ecological impact of scientific conferences provides a good opportunity for us to make transformative changes towards sustainability. Based on calculations by the EWDA Sustainability Committee, the estimated average carbon emission per EWDA conference organized between 2010 and 2018 (excluding the combined EWDA/WDA conference in Lyon, 2012) was 220 tons CO2-eq. More than 90% of the carbon emissions of these conferences were from air travel.
To help reduce these carbon emissions, the EWDA council approved the following goal: “We aim to reduce the estimated carbon footprint of EWDA conference travel by 30% in 2030 (compared to the 220 tons CO2-eq average of the 2010-2018 conferences excluding Lyon), and to offset the remaining footprint as much as possible.” This means reducing the estimated carbon footprint of EWDA conference travel to 154 tons CO2-eq by 2030.
Reducing carbon footprint by paying attention to travel mode
Given the high contribution of air travel to the carbon footprint, the main action to decrease the carbon emission of the 2026 Novi Sad EWDA conference is choice of travel mode. To give a better idea about carbon emissions from different modes of transport: for a round trip from Berlin to Belgrade (~1240 km), travelling by train (~57 kg CO2-eq per person) emits 11 times less carbon than travelling by plane (~ 605 kg CO2-eq per person) (https://greentripper.org/calculator). Other options are traveling by bus (~75 kg CO2-eq) or by car (233 kg CO2-eq). Planning travel by different modes can be explored by use of different websites. E.g. the website Rome2Rio (Rome2Rio: discover how to get anywhere) gives a rapid overview of the different possibilities.
How to get to Belgrade (the capital of Serbia)
By train. For planning travel by train, the Swiss train website (The SBB online portal for timetable, trains and public transport) is one of several websites that can be used. It is useful to know that the term "Beograd Centar" is used for Belgrade (the capital of Serbia). As train station in Novi Sad is still not in use since the tragedy in 2024, you have to use 'Petrovaradin' station, instead of ' Novi Sad' as destination to get many more train options. Petrovaradin station is only 5 km away from Novi Sad centre. From Petrovaradin train station to Novi Sad centre there is bus line 3, or you can take a taxi which will be of value 8-10euro. If entering Serbia from Budapest station, the Hungarian train website is useful for planning and ticket purchase: MÁV Passenger Transport Co. new online ticketing (translates to English).
Figure 1: Railway lines in Europe
By bus. FlixBus (https://global.flixbus.com/) has an extensive network across Europe, including Belgrade and Novi Sad. In addition, regular (daily) long-distance bus connections (https://www.srbijatours.com/de/) link Germany and Serbia, departing from major cities such as Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt and Cologne, with typical travel times of around 15 hours (Berlin->Novi Sad) and prices of around €200, mostly as overnight journeys. The website is in German and Serbian language.
Figure 2: FlixBus stations in Europe
By car. Participants are encouraged to share private cars in case of choosing this option as mean of transport to reach the meeting.
By plane. Novi Sad does not have an airport, so the travel destination is Belgrade airport “Nikola Tesla”. Novi Sad is 90km away from Belgrade and can be reached by train, bus or car.
If you want to go from the airport to downtown Belgrade downtown, you can take bus number 72 to the station Zeleni Venac and also minibus A1 (drives to Slavija Square). Public bus transportation is free of charge in Belgrade. The second option to get to Belgrade downtown is by taxi. There is booth with the tickets for taxis at the departures with fixed prices for a few zones in Belgrade. Simply, you should take the ticket and hand it over to taxi driver in front of the Airport and your drive is secured per fixed price determined by the rulebook of taxi transportation.
Carbon offset. For people who choose to travel by air to Belgrade , carbon offset options are available. For example, at Greentripper (https://greentripper.org/) one can donate to various environmental projects that have a positive benefit on the climate.
Getting from Belgrade to Novi Sad
By train
There is a very good connection from Belgrade city to Novi Sad and the train gets to Novi Sad in 40 minutes (the name of the fast train is SOKO). You can take bus 600 to get to the Train Station in Belgrade where you can buy ticket for the Novi Sad and train directly. You can find train time table at this website. There is also application for mobile on Google play named “Srbija voz”
By bus
There are some busses going from the airport to Novi Sad, but the schedule is not so frequent. Some busses go through Belgrade city so it takes longer to get to Novi Sad https://www.rome2rio.com/map/Belgrade-Airport-BEG/Novi-Sad#r/Bus
Bus and train station in Novi Sad are at the same place and from there the conference venue at “Master Center” can be reached with bus No 11A or by taxi.
Bus line 11A http://www.gspns.co.rs/mreza?selected_lang=lat
By shuttle transfers
These shuttle transfers are organized by private companies and have to be reserved in advance:
By rent a car
At the airport there are several Rent-a-car agencies where cars can be rented. If you are interested in this option, please contact the host to make the reservation in advance, it is required.
Here you can find the list with contacts of rent a car companies operates at the Belgrade airport.
*There is an option for the shared travel from Belgrade airport to Novi Sad to be organized by the host, if more people would be coming at the same/close time. If you are interested for this option, please contact the Conference organizer on the email ewda26@congrexpo.co.rs.