Sustainability

Sustainability is one of our strategic focus areas, and we’re committed to incorporating it into our operations – across all our campuses – as we pursue our missions of education, research and innovation.

Campus © EPFL Niels Ackermann / Lundi13 (2021)

The climate and sustainability challenges we face are urgent, global and complex, and EPFL can help meet them by acting at the crossroads of education, research and innovation. We’re committed to providing a sustainability-oriented education to our entire community, to finding sustainable solutions through research, and to transforming these solutions into useful tools for society through innovation. We also intend to make our campuses more resilient to climate change by taking concrete steps in all areas of our operations.

To move us towards our goals, we developed a Climate & Sustainability Strategy that provides a 360° view of the measures we’re implementing to make EPFL a more climate-responsible, sustainable School.

Our efforts have also included setting up a Sustainability Team within the Vice Presidency for Responsible Transformation, and working with partner networks both inside and outside EPFL to help us achieve our sustainability goals.

Climate & Sustainability Strategy

EPFL carbon footprint

What actions are possible on an individual level?

Focus areas

Our three missions

Education

Research

Innovation

Campus operations

Energy and Buildings

Sustainable IT Systems

Procurement and Waste Management

Sustainable finances and third-party funding

Academic Travel

Commuting

Food Services

Resilient Campus

Outreach and Awareness Building

Sustainability-related news

Michaël Aklin & Nicolas Tétreault © Alain Herzog 2023 EPFL

The Sustainability Portal reveals the breadth of the local network

EPFL

Under a joint UNIL-EPFL-IMD initiative coordinated by the Enterprise for Society (E4S) and CLIMACT centers, a new online directory shows over 330 experts performing innovative, sustainability-oriented R&D within the three schools.

Plantation d'arbres sur le campus © Niels Ackermann 2022 EPFL

Campus trees: a growing population to protect

EPFL community

There are over a thousand trees on the EPFL campus, and they are constantly increasing every year. The aim is to double this tree population. How do we go about achieving this? And what are the challenges?

Students demonstrating during Fridays for Future climate strikes.© Istock

The first climate strikes had an influence on Swiss residents

Research

A study by EPFL researchers found that Greta Thunberg’s Fridays for Future climate strikes have influenced the environmental behavior of Swiss residents.

All news

Sustainability-related events

Opening of the Maison de la mobilité

The Maison de la mobilité celebrates its opening. It brings together the services of the Lausanne Region public transportation company (tl) and Kuoni Business Travel, the school's future central travel agency. The Maison de…

02-10-202302-10-2023

Place and room: BI A0 432
Category: Conferences – Seminars

Capitalism and the planet: an impossible marriage? (Campus Lecture)

27-09-202327-09-2023

With: Martin Vetterli, Jean-Pierre Danthine, Thomas Jordan, Isabelle Moret, Nollaig Forrest, David Bach
Place and room: RLC E1 240
Category: Inaugural lectures – Honorary Lecture

Learn more & apply

Changemakers Fall 2023

01-09-202303-10-2023

Online: https://futureleaders.tools/changemakers
Category: Deadline

See all events

Contact

[email protected]

Sustainability Unit
EPFL
BCH 4103
Av. François Alphonse Forel 3
1015 Lausanne

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