Sustainability Reporting
Sustainability Reporting
Sustainability reports are increasingly used by universities to report both on their contribution to sustainable development and on their own sustainable university development, as well as to sharpen their institutional sustainability profile in the long term. They are a suitable means of communicating the assumption of social responsibility and demonstrating how the challenges of sustainable development are being addressed by the university. Nationally and internationally, a trend is emerging that is prompting universities to report on their sustainability activities and publicise their offerings.
Organisationally, sustainability reporting is anchored at the university's Centre for Environmental and Sustainability Research (COAST). The project was led by Prof. Dr. Bernd Siebenhüner.
Course of sustainability reporting at the University of Oldenburg
The University of Oldenburg was one of the first German universities to set out on this path and published a sustainability profile as early as 2007. The guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI Standards) and the university-specific Sustainability Code of the German Council for Sustainable Development formed the basis for the preparation and determination of the report content.
The first comprehensive sustainability report was published in December 2013. Followed by thesecond sustainability report in December 2017. In 2020/21, the university prepared the third report, which was delayed due to the Corona pandemic. This report provides information on the environmental, economic and social performance of the university. It focuses on the university-specific implementation at the University of Oldenburg.
Practical Project: Sustainability Reporting at the University of Oldenburg
Experience from past reports has shown that working with students as part of a practical project is extremely effective in advancing sustainability reporting at the University of Oldenburg.
This is why the practical seminar "Sustainability Reporting at the University of Oldenburg" was also offered to students in the summer semester of 2020. Around 20 students from the Master's Cluster Environment and Sustainability took part in this practice-oriented teaching. In the seminar, the basic features of sustainability reporting were discussed before the students themselves compiled the contents of this report. This practice-oriented procedure gave the seminar participants insights into otherwise closed areas of the university as well as experiences that are helpful in later professional fields.
Sustainability Reporting Working Group
For the first time, the preparation of the report was accompanied by a working group, in which representatives from administration and research as well as student representatives from the AStA and the Students for Future Wissenschaft group participated. From the beginning, the preparation of the sustainability report was accompanied by the working group and procedures as well as progress were critically reflected and discussed. The final report was written by the editorial team, consisting of Prof. Dr. Siebenhüner and Lina-Luise Hölter from the university-wide Centre for Environmental and Sustainability Research COAST.
Special thanks therefore go to the members of the WG who contributed and worked on it over the course of time.
