For a Future Worth Living - Sustainability at the University of Bonn
The sustainable transformation of economy and society is the key issue of the coming decades. Through our commitment as a university in research, teaching and operations, we make an important contribution to this and lay the foundations for change.
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Sustainability Newsletter
News in the field of sustainability
Quarterly Campaign Months
To promote a culture of sustainability, the University of Bonn organizes campaign months once every quarter. All members of the university are invited to participate in the diverse offers around the topics of sustainability.
Sustainability in research
Sustainability is becoming increasingly important in research. Whether it involves construction materials, fuels, sustainability in horticulture or sustainability in development policy, our researchers are working on projects with a wide range of solution-oriented and interdisciplinary approaches.
Sustainability in teaching
Issues connected with sustainability and sustainability research also play a key role in teaching. As well as covering sustainability issues through its content, this teaching also educates people in sustainable development through its methodology in formats with a practical, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary focus.
Sustainability in operations
Our University needs resources in order to operate. Our commitment to sustainability, particularly in terms of our energy supply, building work, waste management, mobility and procurement, helps minimize the negative impact on the environment.
More information is currently being put together and will be published soon.
With five action areas, several dozen objectives and measures, and well over 250 people involved in its creation, the new Strategy Paper on Sustainability is set to embed the issue even more firmly across the University of Bonn. Representatives from all status groups put it together in a collaborative process and will continue to adapt it in line with changing requirements going forward.
Trash separation systems with a uniform look, fewer waste bins in lecture halls and offices, better communication—2023 saw the University of Bonn launch a new waste management system. Professor Annette Scheersoi, Vice Rector for Sustainability, takes stock of developments after a year.
What to do with used clothing and other items? Instead of just throwing them away, try the sustainable alternative of giving them away to others, extending their useful life. And this was precisely the idea behind the campus Night Flea Market.
On July 8, 2024, the Vice Dean's Office for Sustainability and Scientific Infrastructure in the Medical Dean's Office was elected by the Faculty Council. As Germany's first and so far only Vice Dean's Office in the field of sustainability, this is a major step - both for the university and UKB and also for a more sustainable future.
BOOST—the University’s very own sustainability program
Participation, networking and student involvement all have a major role to play in realizing this sustainability program, as reflected in the guiding principle of “Working Together for Sustainability.”
The Vice Rectorate for Sustainability, the Sustainability Unit and the Green Office are all working together as Team N (N for “Nachhaltigkeit” or “sustainability”) to make the University ever more sustainable. This means above all coordinating the transformation process, developing the sustainability strategy with the involvement of representatives from all stakeholder groups (in the BOOST working group), conducting communications on the issues and bringing together the many different actors and obtaining their support for sustainability projects.
A unique governance structure
As a university with Excellence status, the University of Bonn is doing its bit for sustainable transformation processes.
