The  2021-2024 Environmental Sustainability Plan, which was approved by the University’s board of governors on 21 July, aims to systematize and pool all the actions that UPF carries out in this area in its daily activity.

With this new plan, the desire of the institution, within the framework of UPF Sostenible (Sustainable UPF), is to progress with best practices for sustainability on the campuses in terms of new investments, waste reduction and management, and awareness-raising activities.

With this new plan, UPF wishes to progress with best practices for sustainability on the campuses in terms of new investments, waste reduction and management, and awareness-raising activities

According to Ester Oliveras, vice-rector for Social Commitment and Sustainability, “the Environmental Sustainability Plan (2021-2024) translates the Planetary Wellbeing initiative and the Climate Emergency Declaration into actions and activities on the campuses themselves. The goal is to participate in the global race towards zero carbon emissions, promoting changes from within the university community”.

To respond to this challenge, the Plan hinges around ten thematic areas, for each of which an analysis of the current status at UPF is made and a relevant proposal for action is put forward. The areas are: climate change, energy, water, healthy, sustainable infrastructure, mobility, waste, food, investments, sustainable procedures and procurement, communication and awareness-raising, and alliances with society.

Moreover, following the same organizational structure by areas, the Plan is accompanied by an operational document, which specifies the various actions set out, in addition to providing a schedule and a budget for each one.

The process of drafting the 2021-2024 Environmental Sustainability Plan, under the Planetary Wellbeing initiative, has been driven by the UPF Climate Emergency Table, a high-level working group made up of expert academic staff and researchers in the field, technical officers and managers, and students involved in associations related to sustainability and the environment. This board will periodically monitor the Plan.

Following the study on the carbon footprint generated by the University, an action plan was established to reduce its environmental impact and speed up related initiatives. In addition, during the last phase of the drafting of the Plan, a participation period was opened up to the entire university community to receive proposals and suggestions, which closed last June.

Environmental sustainability, a UPF priority and commitment

In line with its mission of governance and its commitment to the environment, in 2014 UPF approved the document “UPF Ethical Sustainability Policy”, as a starting point for implementing sustainability policies. In early 2016, the University presented its Strategic Plan for 2016-2025, which outlines its desire to become a “socially responsible and sustainable university”.

In 2017, the rector announced the deployment of the Planetary Wellbeing initiative, which includes UPF’s commitment to finding solutions to the challenges of the 21^st century facing humanity and the planet. Two years later, in 2019, the Board of Management made a Climate Emergency Declaration, which outlines the University’s commitment to the current environmental crisis.

In this line, the University incorporated sustainability as one of the ethical principles of the UPF Code of Ethics, approved in 2020. The document makes explicit mention of the need to drive policies in the field of sustainability, promoting the fight to overcome the climate emergency and the pursuit of planetary wellbeing.