Sustainability at the University of Kassel - An interview with Georg Mösbauer

In 2014, the University of Kassel published its first sustainability report - reporting period 2011 to 2013; in 2020, this was published as the "Third report on sustainability in research, teaching and operations - reporting period 2017 - 2019". Universities "are therefore called upon to make a visible and measurable contribution to sustainable development and to set an example in fulfilling this task," says Prof. Dr. Reiner Finkeldey, President of the University of Kassel, in the foreword.

In line with this task, the university published a 40-page publication on "Sustainability management and energy efficiency at the University of Kassel" at the beginning of 2021. This presents sustainability management in the company and provides an interim assessment (years 2016 to 2020) and, building on this, formulates very specific perspectives (2030). The publication is intended to provide a concrete overview of the ongoing projects on sustainability and energy efficiency in operations and to evaluate the projects in terms of their savings potential with regard to energy consumption, energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions. It can be observed that the projects, as different as they are, are particularly effective due to the combination of structural, technical and organizational measures, which are interlinked in each case.

This observation is reason enough for HIS-HE to ask those responsible at the university; Georg Mösbauer has been Head of the Occupational Safety and Environmental Protection Group in the Department of Construction, Technology and Real Estate since 2008 and is therefore also responsible for coordinating sustainability development in the university:

HIS-HE: How do we have to differentiate between the challenges of sustainable development and climate protection in our questions?

Mösbauer: Sustainable development and climate protection are two aspects of sustainability management that must be considered equally in order to be successful. While climate protection is primarily aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, for me sustainable development encompasses more aspects and areas, in the sense of an ecological, social and economic dimension. Our sustainability mission statement envisages an equally balanced development of these three sub-areas, with the ecological dimension initially forming the focus. According to my observations, this also applies to most other universities. Social and economic aspects such as equal rights, improvement of the  organizational climate or accessibility are further developed at the University of Kassel under the responsibility of the specialist departments and staff units, but are not part of our work. With our interim assessment of the measures in place at the University of Kassel since 2017, we were able to show that the success of sustainable university operations lies in particular in the combination of structural, technical and organizational measures. The structural-technical measures primarily lead to less energy consumption (climate protection), while the organizational measures, such as the sustainability-related optimization of waste disposal and procurement or the consideration of green IT, lead to a change in awareness through appropriate information and awareness-raising among university members. This interaction is what makes sustainable development of the company possible in the first place.

HIS-HE: What motivates the university to be active in climate protection and where do you get the energy to be so persistent here
?

Mösbauer : As a university with a focus on environmental and sustainability issues, I believe that the University of Kassel must set a special example. According to our mission statement, it bears social responsibility for a future worth living in all its  fields of activity: in teaching, research, promoting young talent and knowledge transfer, but also as a social organization, as an environmentally friendly company and as an employer. As a place of teaching and science, it is particularly important for  to develop itself step by step in line with the goals it has set itself in order to be a pioneer and model for  social change. In this way, the university underlines its existing expertise in research and teaching, lends it credibility and presents itself as a contemporary and responsible organization. I am convinced that this will also be a criterion in the competition for researchers, students and employees in the future. However, the energy transition and the associated increases in energy costs also form the basis for our actions, which can be clearly seen in the development of electricity costs. Since 2001, electricity demand has risen by 44%, with electricity costs increasing from € 1.3 million per year to € 4.3 million per year, i.e. by 240%, over the same period. This  development alone is reason enough to counteract the trend of rising consumption and costs with targeted measures. My energy and persistence in committing to sustainability development is rooted in my personal conviction that we must all act to stop climate change and the waste of resources. When working on resources, structures and participation, frustration and joy often alternate. After a setback, you have to gather yourself briefly and then carry on anyway.

HIS-HE: What are the key successes to date and how do you define "impact"?

Mösbauer : We have been working on sustainability development at the University of Kassel for many years, initially with profile development in research and teaching and later also in operations. Many of the smaller successes, such as the determination of environmentally relevant basic data and key figures, which can be used to identify optimization potential and which also form the basis for sustainability reporting, cannot be measured directly. Unlike the "hard" consumption and emissions data, the "soft factors" cannot be calculated to the decimal point. However, they are  heart and soul, so to speak, create identity and are therefore essential in order to take people along on the path to sustainable  development. The operating processes have been and are being gradually changed towards more sustainability. This  includes the implementation of operational sustainability management, better visibility of the sustainability organization and contact persons, a central website that presents the topics of research, teaching and operations under one roof, and targeted campaigns to raise awareness of the topic among university members. The "Energy Concepts" funding line launched by the Hessian Ministry of Science and the Arts (HMWK) in 2016 as part of its innovation and structural development funding has supported several operational projects. This has provided a positive boost. These include the establishment of operational sustainability management and a pilot study on the introduction of EMAS at the Department of Organic Agricultural Sciences as well as energy contracting, an energy potential analysis of the building stock and the digitalization of the metering and measuring infrastructure. The initial interim results and a forecast derived from them show that if these measures are continued on an ongoing basis until 2030, considerable savings potential can be achieved in terms of energy consumption (by -33% per year), energy costs (by -34% per year) and CO2 emissions (by -43% per year).

HIS-HE: What are the key aspects of the internal organization?

Mösbauer: Sustainability development must be structurally anchored in the organization and requires central coordination structures that provide all university groups with central contact persons. A sustainability office implemented in this way can inform, connect and support university members in working on sustainability. In my efforts to establish suitable structures, I often hear concerns expressed that this would create a parallel structure or an additional body. However, it is important that the areas of research, teaching and operations are equally involved in this process and, above all, actively supported. This requires a joint service center that coordinates, maintains an overview of activities and projects and presents the successes achieved both internally and externally. In my opinion, a clear structure, anchoring and legitimization of the players in the sustainability process are fundamental prerequisites for acceptance and the ability to work. The university management must support those involved and define the environmental guidelines, principles of action and overall objectives in the sustainability mission statement. In a large and largely decentralized institution such as a university, it is precisely this commitment on the part of the management that is an important basis for persuading the decision-makers in the departments, facilities and divisions to cooperate. Otherwise it remains a battle against windmills and wears out intrinsically motivated people.

HIS-HE: What are the other goals?

Mösbauer: To pick up on the initial question about sustainable development and climate protection, we want both. The university wants to use structural and technical measures to establish a targeted energy management system and take measures to reduce CO2 emissions in building operations. The overall aim of sustainability management is to link operational processes with the various stakeholders and interest groups from research, teaching and student initiatives, to initiate important structural developments and to integrate the university's sustainability strategy as transparently as possible into all processes and fields of action. With the current sustainability report, we have once again set ourselves concrete goals for the end of 2022, which we naturally want to achieve. But we also want to continue to pursue the very ambitious long-term overall goal of the sustainability mission statement, according to which we strive for sustainable and equal development in ecological, economic and social dimensions.

HIS-HE: What are the main potential conflicts?

Mösbauer: As we have already made clear, there is a great potential for energy and financial savings in climate protection. This is easy to calculate and therefore easy to argue. Such a cost-benefit calculation is not possible for the sustainable development of other areas, such as social aspects. However, this does not come for free; it requires financial and human resources. Sustainability management therefore competes with all other equally justified demands, plans and ideas from the most diverse areas of a creative and innovative institution such as a university. It also requires change processes to familiar (operating) procedures, which initially involves additional effort. It therefore remains an ongoing task to promote sustainable development, to convince the various stakeholders and to take them along on this path. (jm)

The interview can also be found in the HIS-HE newsletter March/2021. As well as here the publication on "Sustainability management and energy efficiency at the University of Kassel".