Sustainability
SDU’s first sustainability report has landed
This June, it’s been two years since the Board of SDU decided to work strategically with the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals, and the first sustainability report for SDU has just been published.
For almost two years, SDU has been making efforts towards sustainability based on the UN’s SDGs – but what has the University actually accomplished since 2019? A recently published sustainability report with a number of examples offers an insight into this.
The report provides a picture of the efforts at SDU in recent years to strengthen sustainable development. It identifies the major strategic efforts, but also looks at what is being done across the education programmes, in the research environments and in the day-to-day operations of the University.
A great diversity in the efforts
According to the Head of SDU’s SDG Hub, Flemming Bridal Rasmussen, the report shows the great diversity of the efforts, which is a pivotal reason why SDU has managed to get off to a good start with the work.
- It’s through our research and education programmes that we’re really making a difference. The sustainability report is full of examples of research projects in which our researchers contribute to sustainable development in very different ways. Similarly, a lot is also happening in the field of education.
We’ve also launched a number of initiatives in our day-to-day operations, including a focus on green procurement, green canteen operations and an ongoing replacement of the University’s petrol and diesel-powered vehicle fleet with electric vehicles.
It’s all part of the big picture, and recently the results were rewarded with an impressive ranking on the Times Higher Education magazine’s list of sustainable universities. SDU ranked 23rd out of more than 1,100 universities worldwide.
Follow-up due this summer
Flemming Bridal Rasmussen explains that the sustainability report will be followed up by SDU’s first climate accounts this summer. Prepared by Professor Henrik Wenzel from SDU Life Cycle Engineering, the accounts will be used by the University in its progress towards becoming even more sustainable.
- Our climate account work is an excellent example of the opportunities that exist to draw on the knowledge available in many research environments about different challenges in our sustainability efforts. Similarly, ‘SDU Moves’ is also an example of an initiative with roots in research environments – in this case, at the Department of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics.
- We are currently in dialogue with researchers at NAT about how we can draw on their knowledge in our biodiversity efforts in SDU’s outdoor areas.
Read the entire report in English here.