Page 23 - TU Dresden Sustainability Strategy 2023-2030

TU Dresden’s Sustainability Strategy provides the framework for action. TU Dresden is
guided by a concept of sustainability that has become established in the scientific debate
1
as the concept of “strong sustainability" . Ecology forms the basis for the development
fields of economy, culture, and social affairs, also in terms of climate justice. The guiding
principle here is that natural capital cannot be substituted. The assimilation capacity of
emissions is also limited. The use of renewable resources exclusively within the limits of
their regenerability, and the use of exhaustible resources only to the extent that equivalent
natural renewable resources can be created, determine the objectives of the areas of
activity of this Sustainability Strategy.

Operations at TU Dresden are based on the conditions of the limited assimilation capacity of
emissions and the regenerability of natural resources. As a research institution, TU Dresden
also has great potential for action in its ability to reflect and provide impetus to support the
social transformation toward greater sustainability—both within and outside the university. We,
as members of TU Dresden, follow the recommendations of the German Rectors’ Conference
(HRK) and promote a culture of sustainability at our university, i.e., individual motivation,
personal commitment, and a reflective approach to research, as well as sustainability-oriented
skills and ways of thinking in teaching in line with education for sustainable development. In
doing so, we also seek to provide impetus for a policy of sustainable development in the state
capital of Dresden and in the Free State of Saxony, nationally and internationally.

The Sustainability Strategy comprises six areas of activity in which TU Dresden aims to
implement its claim of being an ecologically sustainable university:
I. Governance
II. Campus and operations
III. Research
IV. Teaching

V. Digitalization
VI. Dialog and transfer

1 Konrad Ott/Ralf Döring: Theorie und Praxis starker Nachhaltigkeit [Theory and Practice of Strong Sustainability,
Marburg 2008 (2nd ed.); Edeltraud Günther: Ökologieorientiertes Management: Um-(weltorientiert) Denken in der BWL
[Ecology-oriented Management: Rethinking with Environmental Awareness in Business Administration], Stuttgart 2008.

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