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Institutes meeting sustainability

Working Together Towards a Sustainable Future

Last week, representatives from several institutes came together for a joint sustainability meeting – a chance to exchange ideas, align strategies, and take concrete next steps.

Aligning for Impact

In february this year, representatives of AMOLF, Astron, Differ, Nikhef, NIOZ and SRON came together for the first time to discuss the progress of sustainable practices within all of our institutes. We concluded that a lot of the focus and challenges we face could benefit from joint effort solutions.

In may we had our second meeting, where CWI joined as well. We have been in contact with NSCR, and they will also join moving forward, in regard to specific topics. We aligned on Scope 1 and 2 and part of scope 3 emission collection for our CO2 footprint of 2024, which will be finalized in Q3.

This time NWO joined in, so we could focus even more on aligning our joint effort regarding our footprint for this year. The goal is to optimize/automate the data collection of Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions and do a full scope 3 emission as well.

Introduction

We started the day informally over coffee, welcoming Caroline, who will officially join NWO on September 1st. Caroline will play a key role in connecting our institutes’ efforts and helping us streamline our sustainability ambitions.

Update NWO policy

Anne Marie then guided us through the latest updates on NWO’s sustainability policy. She clarified roles and responsibilities, shared findings from Maarten on what institutes are already doing, and invited us to think about where we can move forward together.

Key areas discussed included: Quick wins (“low hanging fruit”) and larger dossiers that need structural change such as data gathering about travel (in Unit4/UBW) Joint files where collaboration adds real value, such as mobility, procurement, behavioural change, digitisation & energy efficiency (as part of an international project).

The institute session that followed gave everyone space to share progress, challenges, and input for their institute ambitions, and add to the collective agenda. These contributions will directly shape the way forward.

After lunch, we had an inspiring session with Sow Sustainability, exploring how we can make our ambitions practical and impactful.

What’s next?

  • Caroline will connect with all of us in the coming months to identify opportunities for alignment.
  • The input gathered in the meeting will be taken forward into concrete plans around the joint files: starting with data gathering for our yearly CO2 footprint analysis.
  • Further updates will be shared through our regular channel: mail, and new channel: Signal, so everyone can stay engaged and contribute.

This meeting showed again that sustainability is not just about individual actions, but about what we can achieve together.

Top: Dörte Poszig (NIOZ) Bottom, left to right: Anne Marie (NWO), Catharina Vaendel (Nikhef), Rob Detmers (SRON), Christian Niederauer (AMOLF), Caroline Santamaria (NWO), Hans (Differ), Pragya Chawla (Astron), Joost Ketelaars (Differ)