The Sustainability Fund

Promoting Creative Ideas for Sustainable Operations

The management of RWTH Aachen University launched the Sustainability Fund in 2022. The award comes with total of 450,000 euros for the pilot phase until 2025 and the fund is intended to help shape operations in such a way that ecological resource consumption is reduced in terms of climate neutrality and responsible, inclusive cooperation is promoted and carried out even more intensively. The project therefore contributes to the implementation of the University’s sustainability mission statement.

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By acting as individuals and together as a community we can make a difference and succeed in making RWTH more sustainable. Only by joining forces can we make the best possible contribution to developing science and preparing society for the future. We are committed to this goal, and we must demonstrate that we can achieve a great deal with dedication and determination, even with limited resources.

Rector Professor Ulrich Rüdiger during the awarding of the first grants

The fund supports investments that contribute to sustainable operations, such as

  • the reduction of energy, material or water/waste water consumption,
  • exhaust air and waste reduction,
  • nature conservation measures,
  • projects that encourage University members to change their behavior to promote sustainability.

With the fund, the University is sending a signal to all its members as well as the public that sustainable ideas for the operation of RWTH are being promoted in concrete terms and that new approaches, for example from research, can be tested in practice.

Three people put the upper part of the rectangular metal construction onto the lower part.
The BauGrünKit for the co-productive greening of university buildings
Christian Mirow
17 people, including Rector Rüdiger and the representatives of the funded projects, smile into the camera. Aachen's city center with the cathedral and town hall are in the background.
The first funding round of the Sustainability Fund 2022
Heike Lachmann
A person holds up a petri dish with green growth. A pane of glass with a green bubbling liquid behind it can be seen in the background.
Innovative living algae facade from the LIVEWIN project
Kalle Hüser
Mobile measuring device for recording energy consumption on test benches on a table in a factory hall.
Mobile measuring device for recording energy consumption on test benches
Johannes Sprink
Photo of Aachen with the old town in the background. A model of the vertical wind turbine is photomounted on a roof in the foreground.
3D model of the first prototype of the Vertigy small wind turbine
Daniel Alboldt

A total of 100,000 euros was made available in the first funding round in 2022. These benefited six award-winning projects with sums of between 5,000 and 25,000 euros. These include the development of sustainable electricity production with modular vertical wind turbines on RWTH buildings, sustainable support with the help of digital media, guidelines for the planning of circular and energy-optimized research buildings, the BauGrünKit, real-time performance recording of large-scale equipment test benches and an innovative living algae facade.  

Further information
Sustainability Fund webpages