Sustainability results 2024

Active climate work is ongoing across all operations, but there is still a long way to go before the university reaches its goal of halving carbon emissions. More powerful measures are required to achieve greater emission reductions, and during the next three-year period, the university needs to focus on measures to reach the climate target. During the year, work has therefore been underway to concretize the university's priorities and ambitions for the period 2025–2027, which are formulated in a direction for climate work.
The direction should clarify the priorities regarding joint efforts in four areas:

• Procurement and purchasing of goods
• Energy use, premises, and new and renovated buildings
• Business travel
• Climate footprint follow-up

The university collaborates nationally within the framework of the Climate Framework. The network of universities' climate network has been established to strengthen cooperation, learning, and exchange within the climate area, with a particular focus on influencing the entire higher education sector. 

The University of Gothenburg is involved in driving the focus group on Business Travel, which works, among other things, to improve and standardize measurement methods for the entire sector. The focus group also develops research-based recommendations and guidelines that should enable real change and be implementable by most universities.

A travel behavior survey was conducted in the autumn of 2024 among the university's students to get a better understanding of how they travel to and from their study locations and the resulting carbon emissions. The university's central location in the city is reflected in the results. Nearly all travel, 97%, is done using sustainable modes of transport, meaning walking, cycling, or public transport.

The Faculty of Science allocated SEK 500,000 in 2024 to implement projects that result in direct reductions in carbon emissions. Half of the funds went to leasing an electric car at the marine field station Tjärnö, where staff currently use the station's diesel bus and personal cars for field trips or other business-related travel. SEK 50,000 was allocated for fossil-free fuel for ships, and SEK 200,000 was proportionally distributed among the departments to be used for long-distance train travel.

In 2024, an AI-based investigation was initiated in which all course syllabi were analyzed for links to sustainable development. The AI tool compares the learning objectives of the syllabi with the ten criteria used to label courses and programs as sustainable, whether the courses are sustainability-labeled or not. This creates an automatic sustainability analysis of the university's courses. The tool also suggests how learning objectives can be rephrased to clarify the sustainability content.

• What does sustainability-labelled programmes mean?
• Sustainability labelled programmes

The Gothenburg University Sustainability Thesis Award, GUSTA, annually recognizes outstanding student theses on sustainable development. The winners are selected by a committee consisting of professors from the university's eight faculties. This year's five winners have written theses covering topics from how offshore wind farms can coexist with the fishing industry to a content analysis of environmental ethics in Swedish architectural education at the undergraduate level.

The University of Gothenburg strives to strengthen its role as a leading university in sustainable development. There is a need for increased competence and insight into how the transition to a sustainable society should take place, both nationally and globally. The university's research plays a key role in contributing scientifically built knowledge to this transition.

A total of 865 scientific publications on sustainable development were published in 2024, a 13% increase compared to 2023. The university's publications on sustainable development from 2020 to 2024 show a clear increase. The most prominent change concerns research review articles, which increased from 14 articles in 2020 to 55 articles in 2024. This sharp growth may reflect an increased complexity in sustainability challenges where interdisciplinary perspectives and knowledge syntheses are central to further research. The research is dominated by topics related to climate change, global challenges, health, and environmental pollution.

In this year's international QS Sustainability Rankings, the University of Gothenburg made a significant leap from 73rd place to 36th. The ranking is based on the UN's global sustainability goals and includes nearly 80 indicators that measure various aspects of sustainability. Among these indicators, the university stands out in research with an environmental focus, ranking 12th in the world.

In its first year of operation, the West Sweden Nexus for Sustainable Development, Wexsus, has made significant strides in establishing itself as a central actor, a nexus, for collaboration on sustainable development in West Sweden. Wexsus was formed on January 1, 2024, as a joint consortium between the University of Gothenburg, Chalmers, and University West, with the Västra Götaland Region as a founding partner. The focus during the start-up year has been on strengthening relationships with all sectors of society, creating effective internal processes, and developing new cross-cutting collaborations and partnerships. Formalized partnerships have been signed with the County Administrative Board of Västra Götaland and the City of Trollhättan, broadening networks and making more joint sustainability initiatives possible. Several other partnerships are in the works and are to be signed in early 2025. The knowledge portal launched on Wexsus' website gathers resources and creates new opportunities for collaboration between local and international actors. Wexsus has thus created a solid foundation for long-term development that will contribute to a sustainable societal transformation.

• WEXSUS: a new collaboration arena for sustainability

The marine allotment Flytevi, operated in collaboration between the University of Gothenburg and the City of Gothenburg, was awarded in the spring of 2024 at the sustainability festival New European Bauhaus in Brussels. In competition with urban development projects from across Europe, Flytevi was awarded second place in the category "Reconnecting with Nature." The marine allotment primarily functions as an educational platform where visitors can learn more about sea farming and sustainable food from the sea. 

Flytevi is Sweden's first urban sea farming project. One of the long-term goals of the project is to make it easier for individuals to grow their own food in the sea, similar to how allotments on land work. The allotment is open to school students, university students, researchers, and the general public. Among other things, lesson packages are offered where high school students can try being sea farmers for a day. 

Since the fall of 2024, a model of Flytevi has been displayed in the permanent exhibition at the Röhsska Museum, showcasing how water can be utilized in urban planning and how it can be part of the green transition.

To work with large-scale reuse, it is a prerequisite to have close collaboration with other actors, such as property owners and construction contractors, and for interior architects and project managers to provide support. In the procurement of Program and Interior Architects carried out during the year, the suppliers' knowledge of sustainable development and experience with reuse of equipment was evaluated, and the selected suppliers now have extensive experience in this area. This is an example of how sustainability requirements in procurement positively influence the university's sustainability work.

Collaboration with the largest property owners on sustainability issues has continued during the year. Regular meetings with both Akademiska Hus and Higab have focused on energy efficiency measures. As part of the sustainability collaboration agreement between the University of Gothenburg and Akademiska Hus, an open workshop was held at Medicinareberget in the spring. During the year, a locked bike garage was also completed at Medicinareberget, which is another result of collaboration with Akademiska Hus. The bike garage offers safe and weather-protected storage for bicycles, with the possibility of charging batteries for staff and students.

The university has implemented a four-step model for sustainability in local projects. The model serves as a basis for dialogue within the organization and is based on a report on the climate impact of premises created by SUHF. The four-step model involves first examining whether space needs can be reduced or intensified before a renovation or new construction becomes relevant. Guidelines for sustainable development in the premises supply process were also developed during the year.

During the year, the conditions for an internal recycling system for furniture were investigated. An internal recycling system allows furniture and interior furnishings to be used multiple times within the organization. Increasing reuse strengthens the University of Gothenburg’s sustainability efforts in several ways. Improved oversight of the existing furniture inventory helps prevent unnecessary purchases. Mapping out spaces currently used as furniture storage promotes better utilization of university facilities and highlights the possibility of co-locating storage needs. Measurable data make the climate impact of new furniture purchases visible while also encouraging recycling. In the fall, funding was requested to launch a university-wide internal reuse system in 2025.

To raise awareness of the university’s systematic sustainability efforts, several films have been produced as internal support material. These films illustrate different aspects of sustainability work and can be used for onboarding new employees or in preparation for environmental audits. A separate film has been created as an introduction to managers' responsibilities in sustainability efforts. Additionally, in-person leadership training is offered multiple times a year. Competence development has also included open forums for university faculty, presentations on the university’s climate work, training for environmental auditors, and training for procurement staff, all arranged by the Sustainability Section during the year.