University of Graz receives the City of Graz's Ökoprofit seal of approval

Thomas Gindl, Sustainability Coordinator at the University of Graz, and Nicole Spannring, Waste Management Officer at the University of Graz, were presented with the Ökoprofit seal of approval for the University of Graz by Deputy Mayor Judith Schwentner and the Head of the Environmental Office, Werner Prutsch. Photo Fischer/City of Graz

This year, the University of Graz was once again awarded the Ökoprofit seal of approval by the City of Graz for its successful environmental and climate protection measures. The university has been taking part in this programme since 2005 in order to continuously improve its environmental performance. Deputy Mayor Judith Schwentner presented the award at a ceremony at the University of Music and Performing Arts on 26 November 2024.

"Preserving our living space for future generations – the University of Graz has been working on this for many years. One important task here is to continuously improve our own environmental performance. When the University took part in the City of Graz's Ökoprofit programme for the first time in 2005, an important step was taken in this direction," says Rector Peter Riedler, underlining the importance of this two-decade-long network at the site.
As part of the Ökoprofit programme, the University of Graz receives support in the form of environmental advice, further training courses on various sustainability topics and the opportunity to exchange best practice examples with other companies that carry this seal of approval. The award requires an annual report documenting the success of the environmental management system, which is reviewed by a committee of experts.

On the way to climate neutrality
In 2016, the University of Graz implemented the EMAS and ISO 14001 environmental management systems in order to be as environmentally friendly as possible in all areas - from energy consumption to waste and emissions. The annual Environmental Statement provides an overview of activities and measures taken. The statement for 2023 has just been published. It shows that the university is moving in the right direction.
>> Environmental Statement 2023 (German)

By 2040, the University of Graz aims to achieve genuine climate neutrality. Since 2019, this has been supported by Institutional Carbon Management with transparent greenhouse gas accounting, which was installed by a team led by climate researcher Gottfried Kirchengast.
The Human Resources Department developed CarbonTracer, a digital tool to promote sustainable mobility. The greenhouse gas calculator, which is based on scientific standards, is available free of charge to organisations, institutions and individuals. In 2024, 5000 business trips made by employees of the University of Graz could be automatically balanced with it. The university recently received the HR Excellence Award in the sustainability management category for the CarbonTracer in Berlin.

Climate-neutral University of Graz

Gudrun Pichler

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