Sustainability
Maastricht University (UM) wants to be a sustainable university by 2030. We will contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations (SDGs) by further limiting the ecological and social footprint of our operations.
UM's sustainability programme focuses on three pillars:
The ambition is to lead the way with our education and research and to follow the usual standards with our operations. In order to involve the entire academic community in sustainable education and sustainable research, we have set up the Sustainable UM 2030 agenda. At the kick-off event on 7 December, the ways to shape and implement the Education and Research pillars were explored and the next steps in our joint sustainability vision were shaped.
What can you do?
- Participate in Green Impact
- Get involved with the Green Office
- For employees: join the intranetgroup Sustainable UM2030
Within the three pillars there will be a focus on the following SDGs:
- Good health and well-being (SDG 3)
- Quality education (SDG 4)
- Climate action (SDG 13)
- Peace, justice and strong institutions (SDG 16)
Keep reading in the Sustainability Vision 2030
Green Office
The Maastricht University Green Office (UMGO) was the first of a model that has now spread to 27 higher education institutions across six countries! Green Office consists of students that work together with the Taskforce Sustainable UM2030 and other students and UM staff to make UM more sustainable.
Green Impact
Green Impact provides staff and students at UM with a toolkit in which sustainability ‘actions’ can be ticked off. On top of that, teams consisting of staff and students compete with each other on which team completes most of the actions.
In 2018-2019 13 teams made it to the finish line. In 2019-2020 there will be another round of Green Impact. More information will follow soon.
Here's what we've been working on during Green Impact 2018-2019.
Working towards a sustainable UM
Precious Plastic Maastricht – the potential of waste
Plastic is everywhere – just ask environmentalists. Or fish. Or any respectable landfill. Precious Plastic Maastricht is currently setting up a local recycling workspace that turns plastic waste into entirely new goods, such as bins, beams, 3D printer filaments, and much more.
Impact over Image
“We wanted to scientifically substantiate all our sustainability actions,” explains Mariette Wennekers, FSE’s Coordinator Marketing and Communications, “and it would be great if Green Impact did the same next time around, along with measuring the actual impact.” In the brainstorm, they discussed things like blackle.com, a darker, energy-saving edition of google, and how much ink could be saved by changing fonts to e.g. Century Gothic.
Students for Climate – building a community
Students marching against climate change? Not really news, is it now? That’s the sort of thing students do anyways. Aware of the stereotype, Students for Climate chose to prick the student bubble for their latest march.
Library of Things: Out of the attic, into the commonweal
UM students Elisa Etrari, Anna Reyneri and Becca Bowers are running Library of Things. It’s exactly what you think it is: you sign up, choose something from their online catalogue or just browse – then you borrow whatever you need and bring it back once you are done using it.
Sustainable development as a research theme
"As academics, we need to cooperate with peers in other disciplines, governments, NGOs and private companies to carry out research that contributes to achieving the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals." - Rob Bauer, leader of the Sustainable Development research theme.
MUSTANGH Foundation
MUSTANGH is a humanitarian student organisation that tries to create a win-win situation for the West Gonja Hospital in Ghana and Dutch students, with the aim of supporting and improving healthcare in Ghana.
Sustainable notebooks by Enactus and Athos
How student organisation Enactus created sustainable notebooks together with social organisation Athos.
Children's rights research Marieke Hopman
Legal philosopher Marieke Hopman is investigating the violation of child rights and children's rights to education in several countries, including the Central African Republic. As part of her research, she has documented the level of physical violence taking place at schools in the strife-torn country.
Match – Connecting Students and City
Match offers students opportunities to contribute to Maastricht's community. By facilitating volunteering, Match enables students to put to use and develop their skills and talents in real-life practice.
MACCH
The Maastricht Centre for Arts and Culture, Conservation and Heritage (MACCH) is an interdisciplinary research centre that brings together economic, legal, (art) historical, philosophical, sociological and practical expertise to the context of arts and heritage.
Garden of Eden in Maastricht
The study association of the master's programme in Sustainability, Science and Policy, ASAP, has kept a community garden for about four years in Maastricht on the Mergelweg. Under the inspiring leadership of Colin Laviolette, around eight students maintain the garden.
News
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Read more
Four sustainable plans for the coming year
Thursday, September 12, 2019 -
Survey BA students: interest in UM-wide minor Sustainable Development
Monday, September 9, 2019Read moreBetween April and July 2019, a survey took place investigating whether bachelor students were interested in having a UM-wide Minor on Sustainable Development. The results of the survey were quite positive towards having such a minor. The taskforce Sustainable UM2030 (met link) has presented a project plan as to make such a minor possible as of the academic year 2020-2021.
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From waste cooking oil to protective coating
Friday, June 28, 2019Read moreStudents of the Biobased Materials master’s programme took third prize in the Biobased Innovation Student Challenge Europe with their idea to convert waste cooking oil into vinyl ester resins.