SustainCase: How ETH Zurich cultivates sustainability-related competencies in students and staff

Case study: How ETH Zurich cultivates sustainability-related competencies in students and staff

As one of the world’s top technology and natural science universities, with over 18,500 students from more than 110 countries, ETH Zurich strives to ensure that sustainability is firmly embedded into campus life and teaching, and to familiarize students and staff with sustainable development issues.


Abstract


Committed to providing students and staff with skills and opportunities to approach and effectively address complex sustainable development issues, ETH Zurich has made sustainability a central priority. In order to cultivate sustainability-related competencies in students and staff ETH Zurich took action to:

• integrate sustainability across departments and degree programs

• encourage students and staff to learn about sustainability through innovative activities and events

• offer summer and winter schools on sustainability

• bring faculty and students working on sustainability-related theses into contact with private and public sector partners


Using the GRI Standards in order to maintain and increase the value of your company


With each publication in this series the FBRH team will highlight one key impact identified by a company reporting in accordance with the GRI Standards and show how it has taken a structured, systematic approach to improving performance. With such positive action companies build trust, by dealing responsibly and conscientiously with their impact on the environment and on their stakeholders (e.g. clients, suppliers, shareholders, local communities, NGOs or local government). Stakeholders that can hold it back or stop it from reaching its objectives


By building trust your company creates loyalty and long-term commitment to its services and brands