About us

The Green Office at FAU

The Green Office is the platform that students and staff at FAU can use to form sustainable ideas, draw up and implement plans and launch projects, all with the aim of making the University more sustainable.

History

Submission of climate action and sustainability concept

Coordinated by the Students’ Representatives Working Group for Ecology and Sustainability (Stuve) at FAU, more than 40 student groups drew up a Climate action and sustainability concept and submitted it to President Prof. Dr. Ing. Joachim Hornegger in November 2019. In this concept, the students gave the impulse for establishing a Green Office aimed at introducing measures for climate action in the areas of Executive Board and administration, teaching and research, infrastructure, operations and mobility. The Green Office was established in summer semester 2020.
The Green Office model was first designed by the Green Office Movement, a global network of and for students and staff at universities. It is a source of inspiration and motivation for students and staff, encouraging them to establish similar sustainability centers at their own institutions. The movement’s vision is to make universities catalysts for sustainability.

Institution

The Green Office acts as a point of contact for all students, university groups and university staff, passing on information and providing support concerning the topic of sustainability and on how to establish an effective network. As a central coordinating body, it creates an opportunity for continually developing sustainability concepts and projects before implementing them in teaching, research and in university operations.

  • January 2023 Climate action manager appointed

    On January 1, 2023, David Brenner joined our team as a climate action manager.  In 2023 and 2024, the climate action team is drawing up a climate action plan for Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg as part of a funded project. With our climate action plan, we can continue to reduce our own greenhouse gas emissions consistently in the future.

  • Fall 2022 FAU saves energy

    In response to the uncertainty surrounding the energy supply in Europe, the #FAUspartEnergie (FAU is saving energy) campaign was launched in the winter of 2022/23 During this campaign, the Green Office led workshops for employees and tried to raise awareness of saving energy. We would be pleased if you would like to help us. Send us your suggestions for energy-saving measures through our web form, distribute FAU energy-saving stickers as reminders or complete our energy-saving course on StudOn.

  • Summer 2022 New team member and climate conference

    Student Anne-Cathrine Löhr joined our team in June 2022. We are also pleased that we have received the funds for a full-time position and will receive further reinforcement from November. The deadline for applications is August 29, 2022. In July, the 2nd Erlangen Climate Conference was held in partnership with Climate Connect. During the conference ideas and solutions for climate action were developed.

  • Spring 2022 New team members and panel discussion

    In mid-March, two more students Jara Birkholz and Sophia Thomas joined our team. They helped to organize the spring forum on the topic of the mobility transition in cooperation with forum1.5 Mittelfranken and the second Erlangen Climate Conference in cooperation with Climate Connect. The Green Office also helped to organize the panel discussion on the second IPCC report.

  • Winter 2021 H4F Idea Conference and Climate Action Concept

    In November, with the support of the Green Office, an idea conference was held by the H4F on the topic of climate crisis in the emergency room with many bright ideas. An application for a climate action plan was drawn up to give FAU a clear path to climate neutrality.

  • Fall 2021 Relocation and growth

    In order for the Green Office to become a central point of contact, we moved into an office in the Erlangen Schloss (room 2.012) at the beginning of September. In addition, our team was strengthened by Kathrin Fuhrmann and Manfred Kirschhock as permanent employees. This makes us four permanent employees and two students. In addition, the Fall Forum on Shaping the Energy Transition in the Region was organized in cooperation with Forum1.5-Middle Franconia.

  • June 2021 Award Ceremony of the ESD Competition

    During the ESD ideas competition, students submitted 63 ideas on how education for sustainable development can be implemented at FAU. The best ideas received an award at an online award ceremony that received a lot of positive feedback. In parallel workshops with all faculties, more than 100 FAU students and lecturers discussed concrete implementation possibilities in teaching.

  • Spring 2021 Green Office Anniversary

    The FAU Green Office (GO) was founded a year ago. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, our work has unfortunately shifted from the office to working from home. Since the Green Office was established, we have published articles and content on sustainability issues related to FAU on our website. We also share current and public events via our calendar, such as the energy consultation between the Green Office, the FAU Energy Management team and the students, which will take place regularly from now on. We also coordinated a competition on education for sustainable development with the Center for Teacher Education (ZFL) this year. The Green Office is now also a coordinating body on our status as a Fairtrade University and re-certification was successfully approved this year.

  • April 2020

    The Green Office opened its doors with two employees of the university and was assigned to the President’s staff. In June, two student assistants joined the team. In September, the team moved into an office at Wöhrmühle which fits perfectly, as it is surrounded by water, trees and meadows.

  • 2019 – how it all began

    On November 25, 2019, FAU students presented the climate action and sustainability concept, which included a request for establishing a Green Office.