The Erasmus+ Programme provides funding to support environmentally friendly travel, enabling University of Bonn students to demonstrate how they are combining climate action with gaining international experience.

Students from the University of Bonn had extended an invitation to their “Rainstorms and Flooding Innovation Space” as part of the StadtKlimaWandeln (“Transforming the Urban Climate”) project. The event had been organized and its content designed by students of different subjects at the University of Bonn with support from the Vice Rectorate for Sustainability and the Wissenschaftsladen Bonn (WILA Bonn).  

Much more than simple entertainment, cinematic films are a powerful medium that can arouse emotions, make a lasting impression and disseminate knowledge. The GreenScreen format harnesses this strength that cinema possesses to take sustainability issues out of the University’s lecture halls and hold them up for public debate. From retro arthouse pieces and pop-culture classics to the latest blockbusters, the variety of movies on show reflects the broad spectrum of sustainability research. 

Uniform separation systems, fewer waste bins and improved communications are making waste collection more efficient, reducing the University’s overall waste volume. Sven Linke, head of the University’s Cleaning and Pest Control unit, is spearheading development and rollout of the new system. With support from the Team N (N for “Nachhaltigkeit” or “sustainability”), Linke designed a practical waste separation concept after taking over the Indoor Waste Separation project, which is now being progressively implemented at the University of Bonn since 2023. In an interview, Sven Linke explains the special features of the system, the challenges faced and the most common mistakes made in waste separation

Having been certified for a third time in a row, the University of Bonn is entitled to call itself Fairtrade University for two more years. “Promoting fair trade is important to us at the University of Bonn. We are delighted that successes achieved and measures still in planning have been officially recognized and have become more visible through this award,” Professor Annette Scheersoi, Vice Rector for Sustainability, emphatically states. 

In the new Sustainability Rankings of ranking provider Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), the University of Bonn has emerged as one of the world’s top 100 universities. Climbing 43 slots, the institution now ranks 95th worldwide, showing very good results in many of the ranking categories.

With five action areas, several dozen objectives and measures, and well over 250 people involved in its creation, the new Strategy Paper on Sustainability is set to embed the issue even more firmly across the University of Bonn. Representatives from all status groups put it together in a collaborative process and will continue to adapt it in line with changing requirements going forward.

Trash separation systems with a uniform look, fewer waste bins in lecture halls and offices, better communication—2023 saw the University of Bonn launch a new waste management system. Professor Annette Scheersoi, Vice Rector for Sustainability, takes stock of developments after a year.