Independent University Newspaper
Copenhagen Business School

Popular searches:

Independent University Newspaper

Copenhagen Business School

Universities Denmark is firing up for a cross-university initiative to reduce the Danish universities’ CO2 emissions

(Illustration: Shutterstock)

The university directors of the eight Danish universities are joining forces to share best practices and discuss potential joint initiatives, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions on campus. The University Director of CBS believes the collaboration will accelerate change.  

News |   01. Nov 2019

Anne Thora Lykkegaard

Journalist

The eight Danish universities are running individual initiatives and have plans for identifying how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and generally manage campuses more sustainably.

For example, the University of Copenhagen has had its own framework for reducing CO2 emissions and goals for waste sorting for years, while CBS recently began drawing up a sustainability action plan

But now, the university directors of the eight Danish universities are joining forces through the Universities Denmark organization to share best practices on how to become more sustainable and find common, cross-university solutions, explains Jesper Langergaard, Director of Universities Denmark.

“I believe sharing ideas and solutions can really push the university sector in a greener direction, and we will explore this with the university directors in the months ahead. Our aim is for others to see the Danish universities as leaders of a green league,” he says.

Jesper Olesen, University Director of the University of Copenhagen and chairperson of the newly established task force, is confident that working together will bring many benefits.

“Becoming more sustainable isn’t a competition between the eight of us. Instead, we should learn from each other. There’s no need for other universities to make the same mistakes we did, and we can share best practices, so that no one has to reinvent the wheel,” he says and continues:

“I’m also sure that we are struggling with the same challenges, and we must investigate overlaps further. For example, which benchmark figures are best when setting goals, and what are the best and most efficient parameters to investigate. I think collaborating in these areas will be very beneficial.”

Kirsten Winther Jørgensen, the University Director of CBS, is also looking forward to the cross-university collaboration. She believes that working together will speed up progress.

“At CBS, we are really excited that the sustainability collaboration between the eight universities is being strengthened. It’s an important agenda, and by working together, we can move forward faster by sharing experiences, for example, and together develop common standards for measuring progress,” she says.

Politicians might also be involved in the work

Jesper Olesen explains that the task force, which has representatives from four of the eight Danish universities – the University of Southern Denmark, University of Copenhagen, IT University and Aalborg University – but covers all the universities, will also want to consider whether legal barriers are preventing the universities from becoming more sustainable.

“Travel and purchasing policies could be interesting areas to explore. For example, we currently have to choose the cheapest options when traveling, but that might not coincide with a sustainable agenda. So, we must identify potential legal barriers, and, if necessary, ask the politicians to review them,” he says.

Although Kirsten Winther Jørgensen is not on the task force, her colleagues will draw on knowledge from all the universities.

“At CBS, we have several staff members who are working specifically with sustainability in one way or another, and naturally they will be contributing to the collaboration,” she says.

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Universities Denmark is firing up for a cross-university initiative to reduce the Danish universities’ CO2 emissionsby

  • News

    Staff layoffs: What happens if you’re fired

    The clock is ticking. On Thursday morning (5 October), CBS employees will know if they are up for dismissal or not. But what will happen on the day? What emotional stages are you likely to encounter? And who will be there to pick you up when you are feeling the blow of being laid off? CBS WIRE has talked to HR and the consulting agency Actief Hartmanns to provide you with answers.

  • News

    Network, network, network – CBS graduates advise on getting your first job

    There are many approaches to finding your first job. Three recent CBS graduates talk about how they landed theirs. Their approaches were quite different, yet they all highlight networking as a key element.

  • News

    A-Z of the dismissals

    In these final days of September, the fate of a number of CBS employees is being decided. The final amount of money saved on salaries via voluntary severance agreements (aka redundancy packages, Ed.) and senior agreements will be known.  After this, the actual number of employees up for dismissal will be decided by management – and then the individuals will be selected.

  • News

    Layoffs break the crucial trust between organisation and employee

    CBS is laying off a number of employees soon, which will affect our university in different ways. When employees are fired without having done anything wrong, it shatters the trust between the organisation and employees, while also taking a toll on productivity, according to a CBS expert. Layoffs also affect the ‘survivors’, who are forced to adapt to a changed workload and the loss of cherished colleagues.

  • News

    Here to help – at the touch of a button and at Campus Desk

    Exam anxiety? Lost student card? I’ve wedged my car between a Fiat 500 and a lamp post, can you help? You never know what you’ll be asked next. But that’s just how the Campus Desk team like it. And if they can’t fix your problem, they’ll know someone who can. CBS WIRE asked the team about the whole range of topics they advice on every day.

  • Gif of the week
  • News

    CBS Quiz Time: Unraveling the success story

    A successful university environment such as CBS is often associated with academic pursuits, but campus life extends far beyond the classroom. At CBS Quiz Time, a student society motivated by creative thinking and social engagement, students join in a refreshing range of creativity, excitement, and social interaction. CBS WIRE talked to Celine Møller-Andersen to find out about the society’s vision, strategies and the factors that are driving its rapid expansion.

  • News

    Why so sudden? The CBS financial crisis explained

    Employees and union representatives have posed many questions in the wake of the 17 August announcement of a firing round. In this interview, University Director Arnold Boon explains how Senior Management has been working with the budget and a change of financial strategy since the fall of 2022, and why layoffs are now necessary.

Follow CBS students studying abroad

CBS WIRE collaborates with Videnskab.dk

Stay connected

Close