Chalmers and the University of Gothenburg Intensifying Sustainable Development Cooperation

Chalmers University of Technology and the University of Gothenburg have signed a renewed collaboration agreement for sustainable development, which also implies a new plan for the joint organisation named the Centre for Environment and Sustainability. The new agreement encompasses a broader approach that covers all aspects of sustainable development with a clearer focus on the United Nation´s 17 global sustainable development goals. The organisation will also be renamed Gothenburg Centre for Sustainable Development.

The collaboration that has evolved into today’s joint organisation was initiated already in the early 1990s by 20 professors at Chalmers and the University of Gothenburg’s Faculty of Science, when the Section for Environmental Science was formed. The operations were gradually expanded, and in the year 2000, the organisation was renamed the Centre for Environment and Sustainability.

Since then, the organisation’s environmental focus has been complemented with additional aspects of sustainable development. The new agreement gives the joint organisation a clear instruction to focus its work around the implementation of the global sustainable development goals, and also to host the regional SDSN Northern Europe network, which is part of the global Sustainable Development Solutions Network, SDSN.

‘A lot has happened since environmental considerations were seen as something foreign at a technological university. Since then, the environmental perspectives have been integrated into the economic and social dimensions of sustainable development. Research and education with a sustainability focus are obvious, important and necessary components of everything we do. Cooperation with subjects and disciplines at the University of Gothenburg has reinforced this development. The new agreement will enable us to keep developing our cooperation further and also to connect with other actors locally and globally even better,’ says Stefan Bengtsson, president and CEO of Chalmers University of Technology.

‘The University of Gothenburg sees the focus on sustainable development as a key aspect of our future and has decided that it should permeate all parts of our operations. As part of our ambition to help solve the global challenges, it is also important that our sustainability efforts are connected to the UN’s 17 global sustainability goals, Agenda 2030. The renewed collaboration agreement will strengthen our joint focus on sustainable development,’ says Eva Wiberg, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Gothenburg.

Gothenburg Centre for Sustainable Development is organised directly under the two university heads and is tasked to inspire the sustainable development work at Chalmers and the University of Gothenburg and create strategic cooperation both internally and with various external actors. The organisation will continue to serve as a forum for various areas of expertise and a platform for projects, initiatives and networks. Another important task is to contribute and disseminate knowledge in the area of sustainable development and to arrange trainings, seminars and other events for various target groups.

‘As a result of the renewed collaboration agreement, we will be able to continue our core assignment with full force: to promote cooperation with an aim to generate and implement knowledge about sustainable development. The collaboration between Chalmers and the University of Gothenburg implies a huge potential to help find solutions to global challenges together with external actors,’ says Anders Ekbom, acting director of Gothenburg Centre for Sustainable Development.