Curbing climate change is a key part of LUT's strategy. We've listed our concrete climate actions related to education, research, campus activities and outlook.
- Education
- Research
- Campus activities
- Outlook
1. Education
LUT graduates act responsibly and promote sustainable development in their professional fields. Sustainability skills acquired at LUT exceed the national average (page 9 of the sustainability report).
- All students are initiated into LUT's environmentally responsible way of thinking and conducting research.
- A total of 80 per cent of our degree programmes take sustainability into account in their learning outcomes.
- All degree programmes at the LUT School of Business and Management include the sustainable business viewpoint.
- We help local schools introduce sustainability into their curricula through the LUT Junior University.
2. Research
Clean energy, water and air are life-giving resources for which we seek solutions with our expertise in technology and business. LUT is an important actor on the European research arena and promotes the renewal of businesses and society.
- Energy: a cleaner world with lower emissions requires fossil-free fuels and more ecological technologies. In collaboration with businesses, we aim to utilise industrial CO2 emissions in the production of carbon-neutral fuels.
- Water: LUT is known as Finland's most wide-ranging research cluster in water treatment and a leading education and research community in the field of separation technology. We want to stop chemical flows to nature by cleaning wastewater better.
- Air: LUT is part of the Academy of Finland's Centre of Excellence in Inverse Modelling and Imaging. We utilise applied mathematics and uncertainty modelling to understand climate change.
- Business: We develop sustainable solutions and business models that e.g. reduce plastic waste from food packaging.
3. Campus activities
We monitor and develop LUT University's sustainability continuously. We enhance our community's ability to promote sustainable development.
- Our carbon footprint in 2020 was 1 593 tons of carbon dioxide equivalents. We calculate our footprint in accordance with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.
- We also help our partners to calculate their carbon footprints. For example, our researchers and students helped calculate the carbon footprint of the Kannaksen lukio upper secondary school in Lahti.
- Our Climate Action Plan guides us in cutting our emissions.
- All of the electricity we purchase comes from renewable sources.
- We invited a social psychologist to help our students deal with environmental emotions, such as climate anxiety.
- In 2020, 0% of LUT's 181 tons of waste was landfilled.
- Solar panels produced 5% of the electricity LUT consumed in 2020.
- To reduce food waste, campus restaurants have started selling leftover food to students and staff to take home.
4. Outlook
LUT is a trailblazer. We fight climate change instead of adapting to it.
- LUT University aims to be carbon negative in 2024. We utilise our own scientific expertise to achieve this goal.
- We are committed to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.
- Our staff members have volunteered for charity during working hours, and we have planted a tree for each new student.
- Taking environmental issues systematically into account has been part of LUT's strategic management since the early 2010s.
Background:
LUT University's most recent sustainability report (released on 22 April 2021) relates the main points of LUT's sustainability promotion in research, education, societal interaction and other activities.
For instance, the highly regarded international Times Higher Education (THE) panel has assessed the university's sustainability report and impacts on sustainable development. In the 2021 THE Impact Rankings, LUT was one of the world's top 300 universities out of 1115. At a national level, LUT shares first place with Aalto University.
LUT is in the global top 10 for climate action (Sustainable Development Goal 13).
In the 2022 THE Impact Rankings LUT University ranks ninth in the world in climate action.
