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A Re:Start for more sustainability and climate protection on campus - environmental activities at the University of Kassel become more visible
How can the university better involve students and employees in the sustainability process? Which committee and participation structures will enable greater transparency? How can the university become CO2-neutral? The operational sustainability management team at the University of Kassel has been working on these and other questions since 2015 and is now continuing the operational transformation process with a Re:Start. The focus is on setting up a Green Office on the Holländischer Platz campus as a central contact, service and coordination point.
The Green Office will coordinate the university's operational sustainability process and make the contact persons and opportunities for participation more visible. It bundles, manages and makes sustainability activities transparent. With its participatory approach, it involves all university stakeholders and departments in the development process and thus relies on the commitment of everyone. On the one hand, the aim is to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. On the other hand, interested students and employees can get involved in numerous participation formats for more sustainable campus development. For example, ideas workshops, an ideas platform and an ideas consultation hour are planned.
Sustainability is formulated as a cooperative cross-cutting issue and is to be anchored in all operational processes, both internally and externally. Newly defined guidelines for sustainable action in day-to-day operations should help to initiate important structural developments and changes at the university and improve environmental performance. An energy master plan sets out concrete measures and shows which resources can be used to achieve the University of Kassel's self-imposed goal of becoming largely CO2-neutral.
Another topic is sustainable mobility with measures such as the establishment of an e-charging infrastructure or the connection of cycle paths to the city's cycle path network. Students and employees will thus be given incentives to switch to bicycles or alternative means of transportation. In addition, a further concept aims to increase biodiversity, provide more species protection and improve the quality of life on campus. Last but not least, technical plant operation is to be optimized, energy and resource consumption in the buildings reduced and energy efficiency in building operation increased.
This Re:Start is made possible by the HMWK. Within the innovation and structural development budget (2021 to 2025), it is funding six projects at the University of Kassel on the topic of sustainability with a total funding volume of 1.75 million euros.
- Establishment of a Green Office (sustainability office)
- Measures to influence user behavior
- Sustainable transport at the University of Kassel - concept and measures for sustainable mobility and logistics
- Climate adaptation measures for sustainable open space management
- Energy master plan for CO2 neutrality
- Energy optimization of plant operation
Six staff positions will be created for the projects in the Department of Construction, Technology and Real Estate, Occupational Safety and Environmental Protection at the University of Kassel. Two further staff positions will be created in the departments of "Transport Planning and Transport Systems" (Prof. Dr.-Ing. Carsten Sommer) and "Landscaping, Landscape Management and Vegetation Development" (Prof. Dr.-Ing. Stefan Körner).
The projects will start in the first quarter of 2022 and will help to strengthen the operational sustainability of the University of Kassel and make the overall organization more sustainable. In line with the major social challenge facing universities.
Contact:
Nadine Chrubasik
Sustainability Manager
Integrated Sustainability Management in Operations
Phone: +49 561 804-2519
Email: chrubasik[at]uni-kassel[dot]de
Georg Mösbauer
Head of Occupational Safety and Environmental Protection Group
Representative for Occupational Safety, Health, Environmental Protection and Sustainability in the Company (AGUN)
Phone: +49 561 804-3811
Email: moesbauer[at]uni-kassel[dot]de