Erasmus University Rotterdam is organising 12 university-wide dialogues on sustainability this year: Sustainability at EUR: From words to action. With the acknowledging of the climate and ecological emergency early February, Erasmus University Rotterdam’s sustainability ambitions have been sharpened. The Executive Board considers it of utmost importance to include the entire EUR community in this process. A periodic update and the facilitation of an academic debate on all aspects surrounding this topic are naturally part of this.
“Our commitments made raise expectations, and rightly so. These ambitions have urgency and effects at all levels of the university, in both the short and long term. We think it is important to do this together, which is why we have asked a group of colleagues and students within the EUR, with support from the DIT platform and Erasmus Sustainability Hub, to organise a series of dialogues in which everyone has a say. In this way, we are laying the foundations for structural changes at our university on which a broad as possible group can agree,” the Executive Board says.
“We keep sight of the commitments made earlier, guided by the ambition to have a net positive impact on climate and ecosystems by 2030. All ambitions and commitments are now invested with EUR colleagues who have started working on them. We will share periodic updates on progress with our community,” the Executive Board says. Below is the progress in the various areas mentioned earlier.
University-wide dialogues on sustainability
In 2023, 12 sustainability dialogues will be organised at our university. These Sustainability Dialogues are intended for both students and (scientific and non-scientific) staff, and are therefore accessible to everyone in our academic community. The first dialogues will take place before the summer. Dates will be announced shortly.
The Sustainability Dialogues are organised by colleagues among the faculties. Per faculty, the dialogues are prepared, organised and followed up by staff and students. Content and organisational support comes from DIT, a EUR platform focusing on transformative education, research and engagement for impact, and the Erasmus Sustainability Hub, the university’s central student organisation for sustainability.
The faculty dialogues are designed to spark internal debate on sustainability in research, teaching, leadership/management and operations and the contribution of disciplines to sustainability (or lack thereof). In interdisciplinary dialogues between faculties, participants will focus on systematically addressing, exchanging and aligning on sustainability. In all of these dialogues, the ties with the fossil industry will be addressed.
Relationships with fossil industry
A project group has been formed which will research the links to the fossil industry. The aim is to produce a first report in the third quarter of this year on what relationships there are with organisations that have a major impact on climate and ecosystems. Where possible, outcomes of the project group on links with the fossil industry will already be included in the aforementioned Sustainability Dialogues. Outcomes of the research on links with the fossil industry and the dialogues will lead to guidelines for relationships with the industry.
Education and research
Insights into how sustainability is addressed in educational provision will be published via a publicly accessible dashboard after the summer. Next Summer, the new version of the SDG mapper will be launched. This will allow everyone to see how EUR’s research publications align with the Sustainable Development Goals. This tool can contribute to the broad dialogue on sustainability, provides substantiation and evaluation of our strategy and has a role in formulating our impact ambitions.
Operations
In line with the Rotterdam Climate Agreement, of which EUR has been a partner since 2022, a number of improvements have recently been made to our travel policy. These include expanding the bicycle scheme and further stimulating the use of public transport (by loosening the maximum reimbursement on public transport subscriptions and adding the OV-fiets to the travel options) and further discouraging car use. With measures such as these, the Executive Board hopes to stimulate and ultimately see the behavioural change necessary to fulfil our sustainability ambitions and realise CO2 emissions reduction.
Plant-based food
The ambition to make plant-based food the norm on campus is clear. One of the first steps is currently being taken towards fully vegetarian catering. A temporary concession in the price of vegan meals will also be introduced in May, for a period of up to three months.
Reporting
The Sustainability Report 2022 was published today. An updated version of the EUR Sustainability Programme will also be presented in the second half of 2023, which incorporates the recommendations of the midterm review of Strategy 2024.
The EUR Sustainability Monitor is a dashboard that provides information on the carbon footprint, showing where the most gains can be made in our efforts to be an ecopositive educational institution.
Broad-based priority
The Executive Board: “We are happy to see that not only steps are being taken within the university in terms of policy and operations, but also students are actively participating and taking initiatives. On 10, 11 and 12 May, the Erasmus Sustainability Days will take place, organised by the students of the Erasmus Sustainability Hub.
We aim to take steps together, as an academic community, and thus become a more sustainable university with every action.”
Would you like to share your vision on sustainability? Or would you like to represent your faculty in the Sustainability Dialogues? If so, please send an e-mail to dialoog@eur.nl.
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- Related content
- Related links
- Sustainability Report 2022
More about sustainability at EUR
Sustainability Dialogues webpage
