The concept was developed over several years through a cross-stakeholder participatory process involving students, teaching staff and other staff members. The starting point was the Sustainable Campus Working Group, which gave rise to the Rector’s Commission on Sustainable Campus. This commission had successfully applied to take part in the ‘Future Forum for Climate-Friendly Universities’ project, within the framework of which the concept was developed.
“The Senate’s decision shows that the importance of climate protection is widely supported across our university. I am particularly pleased with the commitment of our students, who not only contribute their perspectives but also take responsibility through concrete actions such as creating a wildflower meadow, thereby actively contributing to the sustainable development of our university,” said the Rector, Prof. Dr Ralph Sonntag.
The development process was led by Wencke Wendlandt, who took on the operational management of the participation and development process on behalf of the university and played a key role in drawing up the concept.
The Institute for Renewable Energy Systems (IRES) will in future take charge of coordinating climate protection activities and overseeing the implementation of the plan. The climate protection strategy is based on a university-wide analysis of the current situation, including a survey of the university community, as well as the greenhouse gas inventory for the year 2024. This shows annual emissions for HOST of around 1,607 tonnes of CO₂ equivalents. Based on the approximately 2,000 members of the university community, this corresponds to per capita emissions of 0.81 tonnes of CO₂ equivalents per year. The largest sources of emissions are energy consumption in buildings and emissions from transport. The plan sets out specific areas for action and measures. These include, amongst other things, further reductions in energy consumption, the expansion of renewable energy on campus, sustainable procurement, regular greenhouse gas accounting, and the stronger integration of sustainability into teaching, research and university operations. The implementation of individual measures proposed in the strategy, or alternative measures, is carried out on the basis of relevant resolutions passed by the Senate.
“The Climate Protection Strategy is not a finished document, but the starting point for a long-term transformation process,” explains Wencke Wendlandt. “Successful implementation will depend on permanently embedding climate protection and sustainability within the university’s structures, processes and culture. The active participation of all stakeholder groups remains crucial in this regard.”
With the adoption of the Climate Protection Concept, Stralsund University of Applied Sciences is committing to its responsibility as an educational and research institution and strengthening its role as a driving force for sustainable development in the region. The full climate protection strategy is available on Stralsund University of Applied Sciences’ sustainability page:
[Link to website: https://www.hochschule-stralsund.de/nachhaltigkeit/]
Facts and figures:
Stralsund University of Applied Sciences was founded in 1991. The campus comprises 20 buildings with a total floor area of around 32,000 square metres. These are used, amongst other things, for teaching, research, administration and guest accommodation. The buildings date from 1932 to 2001 and therefore vary considerably in terms of their energy efficiency.
How the university is supplied with energy
- The University sources green electricity from Rostock Municipal Utilities. According to the plan, 11 per cent of this comes from German biomass and 89 per cent from European hydropower. Heating is mainly supplied via district heating from Stralsund Municipal Utilities. In addition, the university operates a natural gas-fired combined heat and power plant.
Own wind and solar power systems
- On campus, the Institute for Renewable Energy Systems (IRES) operates a 30-kilowatt wind turbine. In addition, there is a 9 kWp photovoltaic system on the sports field, which serves as a pilot plant.
- The university’s electricity consumption has fallen by just under 20 per cent to around 1.36 million kilowatt-hours since its peak in 2022 through to 2024. The strategy cites the conversion of large buildings to LED lighting as a key reason for this.
