301903 SE Science or Science fiction: How to make research more sustainable (2025W)

Sustainability at the University and at the workplace

After starting with the facts behind climate change we will look into the tools available to measure it and to which we can use to make changes. We will also have a quick rule into the European green deal and what new rules are into place that will affect research in the near future.

Next we will focus on how to calculate CO2 footprints. Explanation of the scopes and other methods how to calculate. Using the tool Climcalc we we calculate a university footprint and discuss how to acquire missing datasets or find approximations. Using the EN-Roads tool (MIT) we will test the impact of research on the global temperature goals (IPCC) and see how we can influence this. In addition, the big impact sectors will be discussed.

Using examples of the CO2 footprint from universities and research we will discuss the 4 big contributors. Mobility, energy, products and waste. Each of the four will be discussed in detail and examples from the research labs will be given. At the end we will do a stakeholder analysis and analyse how we can catalyse change and make research fit for the future.