The role of the University of Vienna

As the largest German-speaking university with 90,000 students and 10,000 employees, the University of Vienna takes its ecological, economic and social responsibility for a sustainable present and future seriously. As a university, we can and want to make our contribution to society's major global issues in research, education, outreach and our own university management.

 In 2021, the Sustainability Advisory Board was established and an initial sustainability strategy was adopted, which also includes the goal of climate neutrality at the University of Vienna by 2030. To achieve this goal, a greenhouse gas balance was created for 2019, which serves as a starting point for our efforts.

 You can find the roadmap here.

Sustainability Strategy Symbol Icon

The 'Strategy' working group is currently working on the further development of the sustainability strategy. The aim is to expand the scope of the strategy and integrate additional strategic priorities.

Information on the Sustainability Council's working groups can be found here.

Sustainability goals of the University of Vienna

  • The University of Vienna contributes its share to achieving the climate targets of the Republic of Austria and the European Union and aims to achieve climate neutrality by 2030.
  • The University of Vienna contributes to sustainability in all its areas of activity: Research, teaching, studies and administration contribute their share to achieving the SDGs of the UN by the end of 2030.
  • The University of Vienna cooperates in networks with other institutions at the regional, national and international level to promote sustainability and to achieve the climate targets.
  • The University of Vienna contributes to raising public awareness through activities in the field of knowledge transfer and through target group-oriented communication.

Sustainability achievements timeline

Would you like to find out more about the sustainability milestones? Click here to go to the details page.