Sustainability and Equal Conditions
A sustainable university is about more than the environment. It is also about gender equality, equal conditions, and a good working and study environment. Here you can read about how the faculty works to ensure equal opportunities, reduce its climate footprint, and promote sustainable development — today and for future generations.
Sustainable development
Sustainable development has three dimensions: social sustainability, environmental sustainability and economic sustainability. At the Faculty level, work on sustainable development involves governance, support and follow-up of the departments’ work with equal treatment, gender equality, and the environment.
Governance takes the form of University-level and Faculty-level governing documents such as the University’s equal treatment policy (social sustainability), the Faculty’s premises policy (environmental sustainability) and the Policy for co-financing research projects and research infrastructures (economic sustainability).
Support takes the form of supporting documents, such as Guidance for gender mainstreaming in the content of courses and study programmes, and in the form of the Faculty providing a number of forums and networks for sharing experience and information across departmental boundaries. These include the Equal Treatment Network, the Environment Council and the Finance Network.
Follow-up is systematic throughout the year in the form of dialogues in local Health and Safety Committees, environmental audits, operations dialogues, and in the University-wide annual follow-up coordinated by the Faculty Office.
Equal treatment
The Faculty of Social Sciences is committed to combating discrimination and promoting equal rights and opportunities for both students and staff. This work is governed by the Discrimination Act and is known as active measures. It includes, for example, identifying risks or obstacles in the workplace and study environment that may undermine the conditions for certain groups to enjoy a good working and/or study environment.
Every department is required to work with active measures. Further information and support materials are available on the university's page on active measures. Specific information for students can be found on the Student Portal.
Each department has a representative who serves as a point of contact for matters relating to gender equality and equal conditions. The equal conditions representative also supports the head of department, or equivalent, in planning, implementing, and following up on gender equality and equal conditions work.
Contact
Environmental work
Work with the environment within the Faculty is governed by the University’s action plan. The main work at the concrete level is done within the departments.
The Faculty level is primarily responsible for following up these efforts.
The Faculty Office also coordinates the Environment Council, which consists of representatives from the different parts of the Faculty. The Council aims primarily to foster the sharing of experiences between departments and units.
In 2022, the Faculty’s work in this space has a big focus on the Climate Framework, with working groups reviewing travel policy, purchasing, the use of online meetings and how we can reduce the climate impact in our premises. Positive climate impacts are also included in this review. In 2022, the focus will also be on reviewing the sorting of waste in the Faculty’s premises, with the aim of reducing the amount of unsorted waste.
This work is followed up via the University’s annual reports, the departments’ annual action plans, and through the internal and external environmental audits that are carried out regularly.
Climate Framework
The University of Gothenburg has endorsed the Climate Framework initiated by Chalmers University of Technology and KTH Royal Institute of Technology. The University has thus undertaken to:
• Continue to assist the community to be able to achieve set climate targets through education, research and partnership
• Reduce our own climate impact
• Set ambitious goals for our climate efforts and also earmark resources so that we can achieve these goals and conduct follow-ups
• Communicate our climate efforts clearly in order to inspire others and spread knowledge to other actors and citizens.