Sustainable Development

By producing this second sustainability report, RWTH is continuing its reporting on sustainable development at the University. A lot has happened since the first report was published. Formats and structures for sustainability at RWTH have been further consolidated and have now been established (see Governance chapter). With regard to the more sustainable positioning of RWTH Aachen University, we would like to draw your attention to the systematic process for the joint development of sustainability goals and the corresponding measures for the University.

Since the beginning of 2022, a participatory process has been underway at RWTH Aachen University to develop and adopt the so-called “Sustainability Roadmap”. The roadmap includes targets and measures to implement the vision of a climate-neutral and more sustainable RWTH by 2030. In the following chapter, you can find out more about the structural sustainability process at RWTH Aachen University.

The sustainability mission statement, which was adopted by the Senate in July 2021, formulates the joint commitment to a more sustainable RWTH and commits us to the goal of being climate-neutral by 2030.

RWTH’s first sustainability report was published in 2022 as a basis for presenting the status quo of RWTH in terms of sustainability. Based on this, a process was then initiated to develop and adopt a sustainability roadmap for RWTH in order to make the vision of a climate-neutral and more sustainable RWTH a reality by 2030.

At the heart of developing the roadmap was the design of a participatory process to involve the University as a whole, develop the goals together, and thus encourage all University members to commit to them. A total of 76 meetings were held in connection with the process, 44 of which focused on and ensured the participation of the campus community. 32 meetings were used to jointly develop targets, performance indicators, and measures. University members were also actively involved via a workshop and an online survey.

Smart Objectives for RWTH Aachen University

For a targeted, sustainable set-up, the University must agree on specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound objectives – so-called SMART objectives. In order to achieve the targets, appropriate measures must also be defined to operationalize the necessary activities. In order to monitor and control the process, corresponding performance indicators are also defined.

Roadmap Process in Detail

In the first phase (input) of the roadmap process, input was initially collected through various measures:

• Survey of the strategies/objectives and the measures already being pursued by the faculties, central institutions, administrative units, and the AStA Students’ Committee
• Open online survey in which all University members could participate and contribute their ideas and wishes
• Research and analysis of various sustainability standards and frameworks

In the subsequent second phase (sorting), the input collected was systematically processed by the Sustainability and University Governance Staff Unit and was reflected on with the respective experts at the University.

At the start of the third phase (prioritization), the second “Sustainability at RWTH” workshop took place on March 22, 2023. On this day, around 140 representatives from all across the University worked together in groups to discuss the areas of teaching and learning, research, governance, and operations. Goals for a sustainable RWTH were developed together. The video gives you a look at what happened at the workshop.

From Development to Implementation

The aim of the process, which involved the University community in all phases, was to ensure that the sustainability roadmap was accepted and implemented throughout the University.

The result of the two-year process was a sustainability roadmap with a total of 64 goals, 85 performance indicators, and 166 specific measures. RWTH has set concrete goals for itself in the areas of governance, teaching and learning, research, and operations.

The Sustainability Roadmap was adopted by the Senate of RWTH Aachen University on December 14, 2023. The roadmap and RWTH’s continuous progress in implementing specific steps are communicated clearly and can be viewed by anyone interested online.

Click here for the Sustainability Strategy of RWTH Aachen University.