UM & sustainability

News and stories about:

'A caring and sustainable university’ is the subtitle of our Strategic Programme 2022-2026. Sustainability has long been a core value of Maastricht University, and it will be increasingly important in the near future. UM wants to integrate sustainability in the DNA of the entire organisation and make a substantial contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. The programme Sustainable UM2030 facilitates the integration of sustainability into UM. 

On this page you can read news, stories, press releases, videos and background information on 'UM & Sustainability'. And here is more background to sustainability at UM.

  Read more: Stories & interviews
  Know more: News & press releases 
  See more: Videos 
  More UM: A sustainable university

UM Theme pages assemble relevant content on one important or topical theme within UM, from stories to news and from videos to background information.

Archive

Read more?

Stories & interviews

Here you will find a collection of interesting stories and interviews.  

  In response to the societal challenges surrounding climate change, Maastricht University is sharpening its partner agreements. Read the full statement here. 

2024

 Can You Sue Away Climate Change? 
 Kilograms of waste
 Kilograms of waste: Myrthe Eussen about sustainability in the operating room
 Sustainable Futures in the Making 
 Moving forward in circles
 Climate Adaptation, Location Choice, and Regulation 
 When Transitions Hit Home: Exploring the decarbonisation divide in domestic heating and cooling 
 How the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) influences the relationship between chocolate manufacturers and smallholder cocoa farmers
 Enhancing marine protection: The role of Prevention in addressing pollution from land-based sources starting from the European regional experience
  Tools for experimentation - Helping businesses become sustainable
 Empowering Smallholder Farmers in Data-Driven Agriculture Through Blockchain Technology
 Transformations: A complex and crucial topic for research and politics
 Reflections from the World Cocoa Conference 2024 in Brussels: A Call for Change
 Can Accountants Save the World?
 Maastricht Workshop on Applied Economics of the Environment (MAEE)
  The Regional Transition Platform
 Sustainable steaks and healthy hearts – synthetic meat and regenerative medicine 
 The UM Green Office: Global Pioneer & Evolving UM Sustainability Catalyst
 Climate change imposes a different way of doing scientific research
  What is there to gain from energy efficiency improvements? 
 Sustainable work in times of change: a Positive Health approach
 

2023

 Maastricht Sustainability Institute Hosts Presentation and Network Day to close of Integrated Sustainability Projects 
 Sustainability: priced or prized?
 "With our scale, we can really make a difference
 Climate Fresk at UM: join the conversation about climate change
 “Feeling” Global Sustainability Issues: Use AR and VR to dive into World-wide Value Networks in Agriculture
 Decoding the entanglement: what supply chain managers think about resilience and sustainability?
 Reflecting on Earth Day: Exploring Sustainability, Circular Economies, and Climate Change Solutions
 What are the green claims of companies based on?
 Breaking Down the Bias: Unpacking the Complexity of Sustainable Choices in Packaging
 Maastricht University joins The Erasmus+ ECOffee Project On Sustainable Coffee Consumption
 Sustainable Value Addition in the Global South – A Comparative Case Study of the Cocoa Value Chain in Ghana

2022

 Sponsorship of iGEM MSP-Maastricht
 Sustainable and Resilient Energy
 Citizens can do more for a better climate than they think
 Return on home insulation is so high that subsidies are largely unnecessary
 Maastricht University starts new research line on cellular agriculture
 Solving world issues through food
 Smallholders at the End of the Supply Chain: Fair Carbon Payments for Carbon Farmers in the Global South
 "Sustainability reporting: panacea or pacifier?"
 Companies do often not live up to their sustainable hallmark
 Sustainability courses are booming
 MSI looks back at another year of successful student sustainability projects with regional clients
 UM is taking steps to integrate sustainability into core course curricula
  Large-scale study of sustainable employability of firefighters
 The new old plastic will soon come from Geleen
 MSI: frontrunner in sustainability
 Sustainability goes beyond “the green stuff”
 Turning down the thermostat a few degrees: good for the climate, your body and your wallet

2021

 A more sustainable economy? Make way for challengers!
 A new life for eggshells
 Willem Overbosch and the ‘sweet jar’ called Australia
 Mark Post's mission: cultured meat
 “How sustainable is it? That is the question”

2020

 Working together to build new circular value chains
 Sustainability goes beyond “the green stuff”
  Science and the oil industry: an intimate relationship
 Small change, big impact
 Maastricht University invests in solar park. "We want to be a sustainable employer".
 Digital and sustainable supply chain innovation

2019

 Precious Plastic Maastricht – the potential of waste
 Saxifragelisticexpialidocious! Of gardens green and grey
 GECCO – not preaching but doing sustainability

Know more?

News & press releases 

Here you will find news and press releases that were published earlier.

2024

 The Green Office Catalyses Circularity Projects’ Autonomy
 Student team wins gold for second time in prestigious iGEM competition
 Valentina Mazzucato awarded NWA-ORC grant 
 International research collaboration for a greener planet
 Maastricht University keeps leading position in 2024 Better World MBA ranking
 Maastricht University Opens Nick Bos Greenhouse in Venlo
 Rob Bauer wins prize with outstanding research on sustainable finance
 Maastricht University opens high-tech greenhouse in Venlo 
 Maastricht University, BDO and AFAS will conduct research into sustainability at family businesses 
 High-tech greenhouse for scientific research and development
 New research launched to make plastics circular
 Maastricht University School of Business and Economics rises in the Positive Impact Rating 2024  Maastricht Workshop on Applied Economics of the Environment (MAEE)
 The Regional Transition Platform 
 Elverding Conference 2023: Enhancing sustainable business and corporate regulation in the EU 
  Environmental Law Lecture series
  Christian Ernsten and Claartje Rasterhoff receive funding from CLICK NL for their REACCT research project on regenerative building practices 
  In-line monitoring for better quality of recycled plastics 
 Recap: First 3 Sustainability Days with UM Green Teams
 Three new SBE projects on Sustainable Urban Transformations 
 Research suggests: air pollution affects voting patterns 
 Radboud University and Maastricht University fund research into crop biotechnology and engineering 
 Tackling Fixophobia - NWO-KIC grant 
 Energy Evolution: The Sustainable Steps of Maastricht University
 A beacon for Rural Innovation Ecosystems begins its journey - InnovationGUIDE
 Navigating Climate Mitigation in Cocoa Supply Chains for Farmers' Empowerment 

2023

 SBE students at the second European Conference on the Economics of Transition and Resilience

2022

  9.6 million Euros boost to transition to a circular economy
  Sustainability Week

2021

  Pension fund more green thanks to participants
  Stock exchange companies must take more responsibility 
  Plasmalab takes step towards sustainable chemistry with EZK subsidy
  Urban Sustainability Transitions: Energy, Climate, & Circularity
  ABP pension fund stops investing in 'fossil' – an encouraging move 

2020

 Mask certification via new lab at UM institute AMIBM
 MaastrichtMBA among the world’s best sustainable MBAs
 The creation of a new innovation hub for supply chain in Venlo
 UM cooperates in development of sustainable heating network

2019 

  Design renovations Tapijn scores excellent sustainability certificate

Working at UM: “a life-changing experience”

Featured
Researchers

"I am proud that our new Circular Plastics group published its first completely in-house research," Kim Ragaert says.

Portrait photo of Kim Ragaert

The Regional Transition Platform

The recently launched Regional Transition Platform aims to help accelerate sustainability transitions in the region.

Regionaal Transitieplatform

Recap: First 3 Sustainability Days with UM Green Teams

The UM Green Office supported the FASoS, SBE, and Law Green Teams these past several weeks during their 3 Sustainability

FASOSFerment

Everyone has a voice. Including future generations.

Climate change, depletion of natural resources, environmental pollution...

Fons Coomans law faculty

Energy Evolution: The Sustainable Steps of Maastricht University

On 2 April 2022, the Dutch government launched the “Zet ook de knop om” campaign to encourage ho

Groen UM

See more?

Here you will find diverse video content about the theme.

More information?

A sustainable university

Maastricht University believes a sustainable world can be achieved by using research to accelerate innovation, by focusing on education to share knowledge and change mindsets, and especially by leading by example. Read more about sustainable research and education at UM below.

In addition, discover UM's Strategic Programme 2022-2026 for more information on sustainability and UM's ambitions and overarching vision for the coming five years. Read, among other things, which Sustainable Development Goals have our special attention, and how sustainability is reflected in our mission and policies.

 Watch the full strategic programme 2022-2026 here.

Student in common room

Sustainable education

The project Sustainable Education aims to involve the entire academic community in the process of becoming a truly sustainable university by 2030. Therefore, UM offers among others several courses and fulltime programmes on sustainable development and various project activities to further raise the profile of sustainability in education.

Students

Sustainable research

At UM, researchers not only focus on conducting research in a sustainable way, they also focus on sustainable themes as defined by the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. The project Sustainable UM2030 stimulates UM’s capacity to build a transition towards a more sustainable future. The knowledge that was gained can in turn be used for education and operations at UM. 

Students doing research on plants

Other theme pages

We also highlight other themes. Below you will find an overview.