A Holistic Approach for Integration of Sustainable Development in Education, Research, Collaboration and Operations

Abstract

In 2011 KTH Royal Institute of Technology started several new sustainable development initiatives. This paper will report on the journey. An Environmental Management System for the entire university has been established and KTH became ISO 14001 certified during 2015. The system includes operations but also education, research and collaboration. In this way we ensure that sustainability goals are integrated in the management system and that improvements are required continuously. For education an aim is that all educational programs should be able to report how they have integrated sustainability. The activities are focused on two complementary approaches: evaluation of the program’s work and providing tools and support for teaching staff and program directors. Preliminary results from the on-going evaluation indicate that progress has been made in several programs, but there is still room for improvements. For research, several bibliometric and external funding indicators show progress. During the winter of 2015 an evaluation was conducted and based on this it was decided that the activities should continue. A new policy for sustainable development as well as new sustainable development goals were decided during 2015.