Preparing the University’s First Sustainability Report

Under the direction of the Chair of Corporate Environmental Management and Sustainability, students are developing Chemnitz University of Technology’s first Sustainability Report and are looking for partners

Bachelors and Masters students at Chemnitz University of Technology will work on the first Chemnitz University Sustainability Report over the course of the next four semesters. This project was initiated by Prof. Dr. Marlen Arnold, Chair of the Professorship of Corporate Environmental Management and Sustainability, and she now leads the project. “In particular, this project is about identifying relevant sustainability indicators at Chemnitz University in the areas of ecology, economics and social affairs, as well as teaching, research and transfer,” says Arnold. The students will also analyse how sustainability is already being handled at the university, and where there exists the potential for development. “The project also takes into account the goals, measures and indicators of the Saxon state strategy for Education for Sustainable Development (BNE),” adds Arnold.

“The project, supported by the Rectorate of Chemnitz University, makes it clear that sustainability is a very important issue for the university – especially with regard to its own structures and processes,” says Prof. Dr. Gerd Strohmeier, President of Chemnitz University. Of particular importance to the President is the involvement of students and a broad, interested university public. “Any interested students who would like to volunteer, as well as interested members of the university community, are cordially invited to actively participate in the drafting of the first Chemnitz University Sustainability Report,” says Strohmeier. The “Sustainability” working group at the university, in which university employees and students from as many diverse backgrounds as possible collaborate, engage and regularly exchange ideas, should form an ideal platform for this project. A workshop will take place on 25 June 2019 from 9am until 12pm, and it will be supervised and moderated by employees of the university project “Sustainability at Universities: Developing – Networking – Reporting (HOCHN)”. “Engaged and interested members of any and all areas of Chemnitz University of Technology and Studentenwerk Chemnitz-Zwickau, as well as anyone who wants to actively develop and support sustainability in and around the campus can gladly participate in this workshop,” says Arnold. To register for the workshop, please e-mail Prof. Arnold directly (marlen.arnold@wirtschaft.tu-chemnitz.de).

Keyword: Sustainability Report

Sustainability reports are instruments that monitor developments in sustainability, for example from companies and universities, and also facilitate comparisons. However, there is no uniform international standard for reporting on sustainability at universities. The instruments currently available are the so-called University Sustainability Codex (HS-DNK) and a position paper published by “netzwerkes n”. “Nationwide, only about five percent of all universities currently report sustainability, in Saxony, sustainability reports either from or about universities are quite underrepresented,” says Arnold.

Contact: Prof. Dr. Marlen Gabriele Arnold, Chair of the Professorship for Corporate Environmental Management and Sustainability, e-mail marlen.arnold@wirtschaft.tu-chemnitz.de, phone +49 371 531-31120

(Translation: Jeffrey Karnitz)

Matthias Fejes
17.04.2019

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