Sustainability efforts and climate protection measures are becoming increasingly visible

The second online survey took place from May to July 2024 under the title "Establishing a participatory sustainability strategy at the University of Kassel". The aim was to determine attitudes and behaviors among students and employees and to find out how the university's sustainability efforts and climate protection measures are perceived. The aim was also to identify ideas, wishes and expectations. Sustainability Manager Nadine Chrubasik, who developed the survey, reports, "Unfortunately, the participation of students and staff was again rather low at 1,500 responses. But it still gives us information about how our sustainability efforts are perceived. We are pleased that 50 percent of students and staff now agree with the statement: 'I know where I can find contact persons at the university if I want to work towards more sustainability and/or have questions about sustainability'. This shows that we have already achieved better findability and visibility".

Interest in volunteering for sustainable development at the university has also improved, with 50 percent agreeing. In the previous year, this figure was 12 percent. Another point shows that 40 percent are willing to get involved in participation formats for sustainable development, whereas in the previous year only 9 percent fully agreed and 25 percent agreed with "somewhat agree".

It is pleasing to note that students and employees are aware of the measures taken by the university to improve energy efficiency. 54% agreed with the statement "The university is taking measures to improve energy efficiency and reduce electricity consumption and costs". However, 82 percent of students and staff are unaware that the university obtains a large proportion of its electricity from renewable energy sources. The situation was similar for the following statements: "The university promotes measures for the efficient use of resources to reduce climate-damaging emissions as part of university operations", "In procurement/purchasing, the university attaches great importance to products that conserve raw materials, are low-waste, repairable, low-emission and recyclable" and "The university takes measures to increase biodiversity". Most participants chose the answer option "don't know" here. 31% of employees were aware of the sustainability guidelines, 59% chose the "don't know" option and 10% answered "no". Overall, it is clear that a lot of information needs to be better prepared and communicated.

When evaluating the wishes, suggestions, comments and ideas, it was noticeable that campus design is a concern for many students and employees, with 153 comments submitted. Nadine Chrubasik explains: "We can see that a better flow of information is needed here. We are currently in the process of developing the concepts for the planned optimization measures, making them accessible to the university public and promoting cooperation on sustainable campus design in order to better involve students."

https://www.uni-kassel.de/uni/nachhaltigkeit/nachhaltiger-betrieb-und-campus/green-office/mitmachen

Contact:

Dipl.-Ing. Nadine Chrubasik
Sustainability Manager / Coordinator Green Office
Tel.: +49 (0)561 804-2519
Mail: chrubasik@uni-kassel.de