Operations

Both construction and building management cause high levels of carbon emissions. This makes transparent communication in campus development projects particularly important. We therefore aim to provide information about construction projects at an early stage and to involve users and interest groups in our planning process.

• B.1.1.1 Creating a committee comprising all status groups to offer the University advice on its campus development plans
• B.1.1.2 Preparing a public development plan to deliver a transparent overview of construction projects on our campus
• B.1.1.3 Continuing and intensifying close collaborations with our regional partners regarding the sustainable operation of our estate

Our existing estate must be used more efficiently to maximize our use of space. This includes both used and unused building units as well as vacant buildings. Regular reviews of use and demand can prevent the construction of new buildings.

New constructions often have a higher impact on the environment and produce more emissions. This is why retrofitting existing buildings must be prioritized if they are suitable. Where new builds are strictly necessary, constructions must comply with the highest sustainability standards as stipulated in the Assessment System for Sustainable Building (BNB). This involves life cycle assessments right from the early planning stages of our building projects.

• B.1.2.1 Creating and managing a medium and long-term overview of existing buildings that are potentially suitable for refurbishment, taking into account available results from our campus development plans
• B.1.2.2 Striving for certificated silver standard according to the Assessment System for Sustainable Building (BNB) as a minimum standard for new build and complete refurbishment projects (this must involve applying the standards accordingly, focussing on specific areas and using selected BNB criteria to implement project-specific measures)
• B.1.2.3 Considering the use of building materials that are regional, renewable, recyclable, highly durable and have the lowest possible impact on the environment, when it comes to new build and refurbishment projects, while complying with public procurement law
• B.1.2.4 Reviewing to what extent existing municipal or privately-owned buildings can be used for university purposes in cooperation with the city and state governments

Our rooms should not only be a pleasant place to be, they must also provide a modern and attractive working, teaching and learning environment. Currently, our central lecture theatre management is not fully optimized to allow available rooms to be booked at short notice.

Rooms managed at a decentralized level are currently not covered by this service either which means that the responsible institutes must be contacted directly to make room booking enquiries. On top of this, the utilization of these rooms is often limited as they tend to be equipped for few purposes.

We therefore aim to enable all University members to book available rooms via a centralized system and to equip our rooms for flexible and multiple purposes. The system will also include an equipment filter for an improved room booking experience.

• B.1.1.1 Adding all lecture theatres and seminar rooms to a centralized system (central lecture theatre management)
• B.1.1.2 Providing a room booking system that allows all members to freely book and use rooms that are not needed for courses
• B.1.1.3 Developing and running a pilot project on the flexible use of rooms (e.g. desk sharing, flexible and shared office spaces)

In order to achieve carbon neutrality, our buildings need to become more sustainable in terms of their energy supply and use (electricity and heat). Most of the required heat must be obtained from a local district heating supplier. Since 2014, the University has been purchasing its entire electricity supply from renewable energy sources.

Generating our own renewable energy on campus will help to further reduce our carbon emissions and allow any excess energy produced to be used across the region. We therefore aim to become more energy efficient and expand the on-site generation of renewable energy.

• B.2.1.1 Reviewing if our campus is suitable for generating renewable energy (solar and geothermal energy, photovoltaics, wind energy or waste heat recovery) and if adequate systems can be installed
• B.2.1.2 Reviewing the current energy efficiency of our buildings and determining requirements for sustainable refurbishment
• B.2.1.3 Developing and delivering sustainable energy concepts for our buildings
• B.2.1.4 Striving for energy sharing between multiple buildings
• B.2.1.5 Enhancing meter management
• B.2.1.6 Enhancing and standardizing monitoring to identify optimization potentials and achieve comparability
• B.2.1.7 Engaging with local heat suppliers to explore improved and low-carbon heating options

Water shortages in our region and beyond will continue to increase as a result of climate change. This means that it is our responsibility to conserve drinking water and to facilitate the use of rainwater and grey water.

• B.2.2.1 Developing and running a water conservation campaign
• B.2.2.2 Developing a concept to harvest rainwater and grey water (e.g. for watering green areas)
• B.2.2.3 Reducing water consumption by installing drinking water fountains and water saving solutions (i.e. flow regulators and restrictors for taps and toilets)

At present, the operation of our University requires a lot of paper, especially in administration. Paper production is not only very resource hungry, analogue processes also make it harder to establish flexible working practices. By advancing the digitalization of administration processes, we aim to reduce our paper use.

• B.2.3.1 Reducing paper use by advancing the digitalization of administrative processes
• B.2.3.2 Reusing one-sided and faulty prints as scratch paper
• B.2.3.3 Making the use of paper with the highest possible proportion of recycled fibres a standard for all printing and copying devices, provided that this does not significantly shorten the life cycle of the hardware used
• B.2.3.4 Designing and delivering a sustainable printing strategy

The University of Jena produces a substantial amount of waste. It is important that we reduce this amount and increase our recycling rate of unavoidable waste. This requires us to adopt an efficient and holistic waste management concept that promotes the separation of waste by providing recycling bins and obliging service providers to separate waste.

• B.2.4.1 Devising and implementing a waste avoidance concept
• B.2.4.2 Implementing and optimizing waste separation and disposal across the entire University
• B.2.4.3 Reviewing potential approaches to promote the recycling of construction materials
• B.2.4.4 Promoting and prioritizing the use of reusable over single-use materials for work
• B.2.4.5 Creating incentives for using recyclable products and materials
• B.2.4.6 Monitoring our waste volumes and provide a breakdown of recyclable materials in a consumables report
• B.2.4.7 Obliging cleaning service providers to ensure separate waste collections and disposals

With its many buildings, the University’s estate stretches across the entire city. Our members do not only travel to and from their principal place of study and work on a daily basis, they also travel between the buildings on our campus. A safe and sustainable mobility concept must therefore include this aspect.

• B.3.1.1 Expanding our infrastructure, including parking spaces as well as safe pedestrian and cycle routes (e.g. clear marking of pedestrian and cycle paths, accessibility and, where possible, covered bike parking spaces)
• B.3.1.2 Conducting regular mobility surveys to determine the needs of our members
• B.3.1.3 Renewing and upgrading our fleet with lower emission vehicles
• B.3.1.4 Contributing to the city of Jena’s transport planning by articulating the mobility interests of our members to the city and transport companies
• B.3.1.5 Expanding and promoting the self-help bike workshop on Jahnstraße in collaboration with the Thuringian Student Services Organization (Studierendenwerk Thüringen)
• B.3.1.6 Expanding our e-mobility infrastructure (e.g. charging stations)
• B.3.1.7 Demanding that transport companies expand the validity area of the semester ticket in collaboration with the Thuringian Student Services Organization (especially for travels to our partner universities in Halle and Leipzig)
• B.3.1.8 Demanding improved job ticket terms and the provision of bikes for work from the Collective Bargaining Association of the German Federal States (Tarifgemeinschaft deutscher Länder, TdL)

Many members are required to cover great distances when travelling to our University. The University can therefore not always be reached on foot or by bike. Apart from daily commutes, business travel, field trips, as well as inward and outward journeys of international students or visiting professors cause significant carbon emission. These cannot be fully avoided as face-to-face interactions are essential for good research and education.

However, we have not yet fully exploited the potential to cut travel-related carbon emissions. A safe and sustainable mobility concept needs to cover this aspect. Air travel should follow the principle 'avoid, reduce, compensate'. We will also provide incentives to make travelling by train more attractive than travelling by plane or car.

• B.3.2.1 Optimizing and encouraging remote working (e.g. mobile working, online cooperation/conferences and video conferences)
• B.3.2.2 Committing to making compensation payments (carbon offsetting) to a sustainability fund for our faculties and departments when travelling by air
• B.3.2.3 Establishing agreements with partner universities to financially secure climate-friendly travel to and from universities for international students (offsetting carbon emissions resulting from unavoidable air travel)
• B.3.2.4 Developing a sustainability concept for field trips and providing funding for field trips that incorporate this strategy
• B.3.2.5 Reviewing options for offering more online programmes to enable (possibly partial) distance learning and exchange programmes or blended learning
• B.3.2.6 Demanding that the state of Thuringia incorporates climate-friendly and sustainable mobility concepts into its travel policy (e.g. allowing expenses for 1st class train travel or sleeping cars to be claimed)

Our centralized and decentralized units continuously procure a substantial amount of goods and services. However, many of these procurement measures lack clear sustainability standards and a central point of contact and advice. We therefore aim to introduce sustainability standards for all products and materials purchased.

• B.4.1.1 Developing a procurement policy that defines sustainability standards for all products while ensuring they are produced and supplied under fair conditions
• B.4.1.2 Creating a central advisory service for staff training on sustainable procurement
• B.4.1.3 Providing health-promoting and ergonomic equipment for our workplaces
• B.4.1.4 Increasing the proportion of certified sustainable products in our University Shop
• B.4.1.5 Developing a sustainable event management policy
• B.4.1.6 Becoming a certified Fairtrade university

To date, there has been no standardized concept for managing our equipment in a sustainable manner. Existing and still functional items are sometimes replaced by new ones long before they reach the end of their life cycle. Unwanted items are often disposed of as there are no structures in place to reuse or store them. We want to put these structures in place to increase the life cycle of our equipment.

• B.4.2.1 Creating a digital sharing platform with a central storage facility
• B.4.2.2 Reviewing options for reusing functional items in a setting outside the University to avoid unnecessary waste

Many areas on our campus are sealed or feature little biodiversity. Green spaces are few and far between. We must therefore increase our efforts to enhance biodiversity on our campus. Many open areas such as the Ernst-Abbe-Platz can heat up immensely during the summer months making them an uninviting place to stay. Promoting biodiversity can help to mitigate the rising heat on our campus.

• B.5.1.1 Developing a strategy to increase biodiversity on our campus
• B.5.1.2 Desealing open areas and creating green spaces to improve the urban climate in our city (e.g. using climate-resilient plants)

We recognize our members’ need for social and cultural encounters and strive to be a place where people like to meet and interact, even outside of their university duties. Offering improved working and learning environments also promotes physical and mental health.

• B.5.2.1 Creating spaces to meet, teach and learn within our buildings and the space around them (e.g. seating areas in corridors, green seminar rooms, outdoor terraces)
• B.5.2.2 Making our campus more accessible
• B.5.2.3 Providing spaces for urban gardening
• B.5.2.4 Providing spaces for creativity (e.g. workshops, workrooms or creative spaces)

Burn-out, exhaustion and excessive strain result from unsustainable working conditions and poor mental health. Women in particular often have to bear the double burden of family and career (e.g. childcare, caring for relatives). The University seeks to reduce sources of psychological and physical stress in everyday university life and to identify and advance health-promoting resources.

• B.5.3.1 Developing a holistic and integrative University Health Management strategy (Student Health Management, Occupational Health Management) that defines our strategic focus and management of health-related topics, including key contacts within and outside of the University
• B.5.3.2 Establishing a range of workshops in cooperation with existing services and partners (e.g. Kubis, University Sports) that enable our students and staff to improve their own physical and mental health
• B.5.3.3 Developing a pilot project on sustainable and health-promoting working environments and architectures (including laboratories)
• B.5.3.4 Developing a space management policy that promotes health (e.g. ergonomic furniture and equipment, ventilation, and lighting)
• B.5.3.5 Offering relaxation rooms to provide a space for self-care, mindfulness and prayers
• B.5.3.6 Regular offers of events and workshops on balancing work and family life — for both staff and students
• B.5.3.7 Training staff in leadership positions in areas such as staff management, diversity management and dealing with psychological stress in the workplace
• B.5.3.8 Establishing a smoke-free campus with designated smoking areas to protect non-smokers and reduce pollution