Dear Reader,

 

I am delighted to present RWTH’s first Sustainability Report to you.
We all have a duty and a responsibility to shape our world, our region, and also RWTH so that we can hand them over to the next generation in a state that ensures good quality of life and allows them the freedom to mold society as appropriate. As a technical university, we have a particular responsibility toward sustainable development, both in terms of our research and also the education that we provide:

We generate knowledge, enabling sustainable economic activity.
In our institutions, we carry out research, teach students, and reflect on and further develop existing knowledge on an ongoing basis. Students learn and are empowered to take action, and this requires lively discussions and not just simply generating knowledge.

We are a living laboratory for social innovations.
We are part of society and are connected to this society in a number of ways. As a university, we share and discuss our knowledge, but we are also responsible for applying this knowledge in our organization.

We want to be an institution that leads by example.
This report aims to show how we have already achieved this objective. It also sets out the University’s areas of development and is transparent about how the University’s energy consumption and number of business trips have developed over the past few years, for example. It is the first time that the data have been compiled in a publication. Our intention is to use this information as a basis for discussing the future development of RWTH and to make the University a more sustainable organization.
This endeavor is something we want all members of the University to be able to participate in:

Join the initiative, give us your input and ideas, and show us where we can improve even more. Let’s work together for a sustainable RWTH and society!

I hope you’ll enjoy reading this report and find it interesting and insightful.
Sincerely,

 

Univ.-Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Dr. h. c. mult. Ulrich Rüdiger

Rector