Community and Awareness building

At EPFL, we’re committed to creating an inclusive, respectful, diverse and supportive environment for our community.

Meeting the EPFL community © EPFL Niels Ackermann / Lundi13

Social responsibility is a key pillar of our holistic, long-term approach to sustainability. We want our community to be involved in sustainability-related issues and we aim to instill a respect-based culture at our School. This entails rolling out initiatives designed to improve individual and collective well-being, along with efforts to address climate and sustainability issues by making the necessary changes to our habits and practices.

Get informed

Fresque du climat © 2020 EPFL
Climate Fresk © 2020 EPFL

The fresks are fun, collaborative and creative workshops meant to raise awareness about environmental issues. They are based on collective intelligence and scientific data, like the ones from the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Registration form with dates

What changes can we make to our lifestyles on a daily basis in order to reduce our environmental impact? One way to answer this question is to consider the 6Rs of sustainability, which prompt us to question our habits and make choices for the good of the environment. The 6Rs are: Rethink, Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Repair.

This website, built by students (Mehdi El Bouari & Ke Li, 2023), aims to provide a comprehensive list of these resources, and to make them easily accessible to all.

Commit

Unipoly: Semaine de la durabilité © Alain Herzog / EPFL
Unipoly Sustainability Week © EPFL Alain Herzog

Every EPFL community member can make a difference by making more sustainable choices. In connection with our Climate and Sustainability Strategy, we have put together a list of actions you can take in each of our focus areas (food services, energy, green labs, etc.) to contribute to our sustainability efforts.

The Vice Presidency for Responsible Transformation can provide small amounts of funding to student organizations wishing to carry out innovative projects related to sustainability, equality, and/or diversity. Requests for proposals are issued at the beginning of each semester.

Go to the page “Community Involvement”

The “U Change – Student Initiatives for Sustainable Development” program supports the implementation of project ideas for sustainable development and is aimed at students at Swiss universities (Federal Institutes of Technology, Universities of Teacher Education, Universities of Applied Sciences and Universities). The 2023 call for projects runs until April 30.

Focus Sustainability is the national centre for student engagement with sustainability. The centre is a co-creation by the Swiss Association of Student Organisations for Sustainability and the Swiss Student Union. It is a project by students, for students, helping students in the realization and advancement of their sustainability ideas through a variety of offers such as information, training, and support services.

If you’re holding an event on an EPFL campus, there are ways you can do so sustainably. Mediacom Events, in association with the EPFL Sustainability Unit and the Catering and Shops Unit (RESCO), has developed  a checklist for a sustainable EPFL event. This checklist describes steps you can take to minimize the environmental impact of your event and to encourage diversity and social and cultural inclusion.

Thanks to nearly a hundred student associations active on the EPFL campus, we offer a dynamic place to study. Many of these associations focus specifically on an issue related to social or environmental responsibility, and form part of an umbrella collective called La Convergence.

Well-being and inclusion

Fresque "Colore ta vie" - Semaine de la santé mentale 2022 © EPFL Adrien Buttier
“Add color to your life” Climate Fresk – 2022 Mental Health Week © EPFL Adrien Buttier

Ensuring the well-being of our entire community and creating an inclusive environment where everyone feels a sense of belonging are essential elements of a responsible, sustainable campus.