Student leadership in sustainability

Maastricht University Green Office

Maiko Schaffrath | Student Coordinator maiko.schaffrath@maastrichtuniversity.nl

Video

https://vimeo.com/51759044

Maastricht University Green Office

Outline

1. Introducing Green Office 2. Projects 3. Outlook 4. Strengths and Limitations 5. Questions

Maastricht University Green Office

1.Introducing Green Office

Maastricht University Green Office

What is the Green Office?

Student-run university department Initiates & coordinates sustainability projects Empowers students & staff
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From student initiative to department

Started as a student initiative in Spring 2010

Officially part of UM since Sept 2010

Nine students & environmental advisor & many student volunteers Mission: Coordinate & initiate sustainability projects
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Before establishing Green Office

STUDENTS
Obstacles of entry to advance change towards sustainable development

MANAGEMENT/STAFF
Struggle to create a dynamic sustainability process
(lack of money, knowledge, people and structure to coordinate efforts across department boundaries)

Sustainability

sustainable
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was not

Characteristics of the Green Office

9 student employees 20- 25 volunteers Environmental Advisor

MANDATE:
Manage UMs Sustainability portfolio

135.000 Budget

High profile supervisory board providing advice & support

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Maastricht University Green Office

Involving the Community

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Before - After
Before Students not involved in the change process No coherent sustainability coordination across departments After Students responsible for the change process Green Office responsible for managing the sustainability portfolio High output with comparably small budget Green Office as facilitator of cross-department collaboration
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Lack of money Lack of collaboration

Maastricht University Green Office

Our portfolios
Making Maastricht University sustainable EDUCATION
Advance Education for Sustainable Development

RESEARCH
Promote Research on Sustainable Development

OPERATIONS
Decrease ecological, economic, and social footprint

COMMUNITY
Empower students & staff

ORGANIZATION Administration | Strategy | Public Relations

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Jacqueline Cramer Former Dutch Minister of the Environment

Andr Postema Vice President Maastricht University

Harm Hospers Dean FHS & University College Maastricht

Supervisory Board
Annemarie van Zeijl Sustainability Researcher at ICIS
Edward de Vries Former Mill Director at Sappi Limburg

Jos Kleinjans Professor of Environmental Health Science at UM

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Michiel Ritzen Researcher at Ribuilt and advisor of Hogeschool Zuyd

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2. Projects

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Sustainabiltiy Vision 2030

Sustainability Goals until Involvement of more than 200 students in the drafting process Adopted by management as official

university policy
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Sustainabiltiy Vision 2030

Setting long-term sustainability goals Streamlining the universitys sustainability efforts Aligning universitys efforts with

ambitions of the City of Maastricht

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Sustainabiltiy Vision 2030

Involvement of more than 200 students in the drafting process

Adopted by management as official

university policy
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Our goal

Maastricht University will be a sustainable university by 2030

-Sustainability Vision 2030-

Education & Research Operations Community & Culture

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How can we reach this target?

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by tackling the challenges with real projects.

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Example: Energy use of university computers

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How much energy do UMs computers use within a year?

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Before

Energy use: 1.240.000,00 kwH ~350 Dutch households 3500 kwH 374.323,44 kg of CO2 / 300 flights

Energy costs: 185.900,00

Source: Green Office / http://www.carbonneutralcalculator.com Maastricht University Green Office 22

Computer Usage

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What we did...

Business Case on Green ICT PC-Powermanagement on all University Computers Work on the issue on national level
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Result
TOTAL energy consumption (kWh), per year (projections)
1 400 000,00 1 239 481,60 1 200 000,00

- 28%
897 722,97

1 000 000,00

800 000,00

600 000,00

400 000,00

200 000,00

0,00 before PCPM after PCPM

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a few more examples

Green Office Sustainability Journal Student-run course: Green Academy Careers in Sustainability Day

Green Energy Transition Project (GET)

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3. Outlook

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Outlook: 2013

Creating a Sustainability Hub

Facilitating student/staff projects Provide space and resources Increasing impact
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Outlook: 2013

PhD position on institutional change

How can HEI manage the transition to sustainability in the best way? Comparative study between Green Office and selected Best practices
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Outlook: 2013

Large scale interdisciplinary research project

Facilitating Research cooperation across faculty boundaries Establishing innovative sustainability research at Maastricht University
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3. Strengths and Limitations of Green Office

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Strengths and limitations

- High output with comparably small budget - Drives the change process - Coordinates & consolidates various disparate efforts throughout UM - Participatory governance model creates dynamic process and legitimacy for institutional change

- Students engaged for only one or two years - Students need to gain knowledge & experience - Limited budget & decision making power

- Provides informal learning opportunities for students

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Awards

Sustainabul
Most transparent and sustainable university of the Netherlands

ISCN Student Leadership Award

Excellence in Student projects

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Thank you for your attention!

More insight: RootAbility Workshop Today, 12.30 14.00, Finlandia room

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4. Questions

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Questions
Staff & faculty
Students

Maiko Schaffrath
maiko.schaffrath@maastrichtuniversity.nl www.greenofficemaastricht.nl

Sustainability at Maastricht University

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