Climate, environment, and sustainability

UiO's Green Office run by students

SUM coordinates UiO's student-run Green Office, which is located in the Fredrikke Building at Blindern university campus. Photo: Anne-Line Sandåker/UiO.

The Center for Development and Environment (SUM) was established in 1990 as a response to the Brundtland Commission's report "Our common future" and is one of the few institutions in Scandinavia that conducts interdisciplinary research on development, the environment and sustainability.

SUM was also the academic home of Professor Arne Næss, the founder of deep ecology, in the last decades of his career.

See how SUM works with climate, environment and sustainability:

Education

Master's programme

SUM's master's program Development, Environment and Cultural Change has been taught for over 20 years. The program explores and analyzes what are the most important systemic causes of our age, the anthropocene ("the age of man"), where human influence overrides the development of nature. How are different lives lived under this new planetary condition, and what are the main challenges to creating more sustainable futures?

Sustainability certificate

SUM leads UiO's interdisciplinary certificate in sustainability, starting in autumn 2023. The certificate consists of a compulsory subject of 10 credits for which SUM is responsible (see below), and two optional subjects offered by a number of other units at UiO's faculties.

The students receive a separate certificate when they finish, and the offer applies to all students taking a bachelor's or five-year professional program at UiO, as well as incoming exchange students.

SUM is also responsible for the interdisciplinary, compulsory subject SUS2000 - Sustainability: Perspectives, Challenges and Solutions in the sustainability certificate, together with the Department of Technology Systems (ITS) at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. The course is radically interdisciplinary and available to all UiO program students at bachelor's level.

Research training

SUM offers PhD courses and an interdisciplinary research school.

Continuing education and training

SUM offers postgraduate and further education in sustainable change management (from autumn 2022).

Green office

SUM coordinates UiO's student-run Green Office, which gives students the opportunity to work on their climate, environmental and sustainability initiatives in everyday life (from spring 2023).

Research

Research groups

SUM's research is organized in the research groups that all deal with sustainability:

See also the overview of SUM's research projects.

Green operation

Traveling

SUMs has a trust-based travel policy based on UiO's guidelines with the following content:

  • Before a trip is undertaken, it must be carefully considered whether the trip can be replaced by telephone meetings, video conferences, or something else.
  • If it is considered that a journey must be made, priority must be given to environmentally friendly means of travel. As far as it is practically possible, train journeys in southern Scandinavia and northern Europe shall be used.
  • SUM covers additional costs for choosing a climate-friendly mode of travel.
  • All travel activities are registered so that the center can measure the development of travel activity and climate emissions.

Other purchases

  • Participates in working groups for sustainable procurement at UiO and coordinates the work with sustainable meeting food. 
  • Request environmentally friendly products and choose this within UiO's agreements regardless of price.
  • Climate and environment as decisive requirements for purchasing.
  • Food/serving: No meat, scampi, tuna (follows WWF's recommendations). We demand organic and short-traveled raw materials.
  • Own cleaning agents: Nordic Ecolabelled or higher standard.

Read more

UiO's climate and environmental strategy
This is how the University of Oslo works for sustainable development

 

Published Nov. 29, 2023 11:47 AM - Last modified Nov. 29, 2023 11:51 AM