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Over the past years, the issues of sustainability and climate change have received ever more attention. Like other institutions, the UvA has seen a wide range of developments relating to sustainability. For example, sustainability is integrated into education, research is conducted into sustainability and climate change and there is attention for making the university's business operations more sustainable: we are building an energy-neutral building on the Science Park, we have saved more than 145 households in gas on the Roeterseiland Campus in the past year with innovative solutions and solar panels have been installed on the JK building. With the publication of this road map, we now present a clear, feasible and affordable ambition.

Focus on real estate

The measures in the road map strongly relate to real estate. This includes the physical buildings, the energy supply to these buildings and the built environment. We have chosen this focus because making our real estate sustainable will be a major factor in reducing the CO2 emission of our university as a whole. The road map forms part of a broader approach to making our buildings sustainable, which also includes issues such as circularity and climate adaption.

Steps in the Road Map

The road map sets out the steps we will be taking to make all UvA buildings more sustainable, intended to bring the university into line with the UN’s Paris Agreement by 2040. In other words, our aim is to make the university ‘Paris-proof’. The most important goals are to reduce our CO2 emissions by 95% with respect to 2005, to end the use of natural gas and to achieve a maximum energy consumption of 70 kWh/m2 gross floor area per year.

More opportunities to save energy

There are of course more measures that contribute to a sustainable university. The measures with the greatest impact are not necessarily the most visible ones, such as the measures from the roadmap. In the coming year, we will work together with the faculties to begin assessing possibilities for reducing energy consumed by electric appliances and also examine other ways of lowering energy demand. These are measures that must be explored and addressed on the basis of a shared responsibility.

If you’d like to know more about the complete plan, you can read the UvA Energy Transition Road Map here (in Dutch).

From November onwards, we will be providing a monthly update on the Energy Transition Road Map and other sustainability themes. If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact us at duurzaamheid@uva.nl.