The Sustainable University

Our Environmental Policy
The University of Gothenburg shall be one of the most
prominent universities in Europe for education and
research within sustainable development and the environment.
The
Sustainable
University
1. The University will endeavour to make students and
staff aware of environmental and development issues and
stimulate people to take concrete action in favour of
sustainable development through research, education and
interaction with the surrounding society.
2. The university shall, through systematic environmental
work, strive to prevent or reduce the aggregate environmental load. The university shall have a certified environmental
management system.
3. Environmental considerations are to be factored into
every decision. Research and education, as well as administration and technical functions, are to be characterized by
environmental awareness.
4. The university’s environmental work shall be continously improved and evaluated through regular environmental
audits.
5. The university will comply with the applicable environmental laws and regulations, along with other pertinent
environmental requirements.
Learn more
Read our Sustainability Report
2010 on www.gu.se/miljo.
Read more about the latest
sustainability research at
Miljöportalen,
www.miljoportalen.se.
Contact information:
www.gu.se/miljo
Production: The Environmental Unit 2011. Layout: Amanda Forsman and Jonna Bjuhr Männer
E-mail: miljo@gu.se
Phone: 0046 31 786 1545.
A university for a sustainable
development
At the University of Gothenburg the future is important.
We want to ensure a sustainable development, a future
where the different actors in society are taking decisions
that are long term and good for both society today and for
future generations. Our students are tomorrow’s decision
makers and our research provides a basis for political and
business decisions, so we strive to be one of the leading
universities in Europe for research and education in sustainable development.
“Everyone who works here and come
from here should be environmentally aware
regardless of wether or not they address questions
concerning the environment in their profession”.
Pam Fredman, Vice-Chancellor at the
University of Gothenburg
Become a sustainable student
At the University of Gothenburg, you’ll find a wide range
of programs and courses with elements from environment
and sustainable development. Environmental Psychology,
Consumption and sustainable development, International
relations, Marine ecology and Atmospheric chemistry are
examples of courses with the perspective of sustainable
development.
At the webb site and in the catalog with all our courses are
all the courses that incorporate environmental and sustainable development marked by this symbols.
Rephotography is an ongoing research project at the School of Photography.
The project devotes itself to landscape photography, changes over time and
the photograhic research’s contribution to the work of trying to understand
the dramatic changes in the Arctic wilderness on Svalbard – visibly influenced by global warming. In the project, pictures from Svalbard taken in
the 19th century are compared to new pictures. Photo: Tyrone Martinsson
Broaden your education with a course or read a whole
program for sustainable development. You find the courses
at: www.mls.adm.gu.se/Student/Program_kurser/
Environmentally certified,
unique in the world
Since 2004, University of Gothenburg has the international
environmental standard ISO 14001 certification and is also
registered under the EU’s environmental regulation EMAS.
This makes us unique among universities in the world. In
our work we aim both to reduce the university’s environmental impact, for example from energy use and travel,
and to improve education and research. Some results from
2010:
• The number of programmes dealing with sustainable
development increased by twelve precent and the number of courses dealing with sustainable development
decreased by one per cent.
• The number of theses on sustainable development was
13 percent of the total number of the theses during
2010.
• 607 public events were offered in sustainable development, which is an increase with nine precent.
• The amount of carbon dioxide emissions from energy
use, heating and travels decreased by 4,4 per cent.
• In 86 per cent of the framework agreement procurements, environmental requirements were applied to the
products or services.
• The average generated amout of waste per person
decreased by 20 per cent.
The university’s possibilities of influencing sustainable development are
greatest with the 38,900 students and the knowledge they carry into their
professional lives.
Sustainability Day
Students at the University of Gothenburg are welcome
to the Sustainability Day every fall. Sustainability Day
inspires student to engage and act for a sustainable development, both in their education and in their every day
life. Sustainability Day 2010 offered a full programme of
Clothes Swapping Day and lectures with environmental
profiles such as Maria Wetterstrand and Tone Bekkestad.
See our films
The films The Sustainable University, The Sustainable
Student and The Sustainable Laboratory describes how the
University of Gothenburg engage in a sustainable development and demonstrates the importance of the engagement
among the students. See the films on www.gu.se/miljo.