Lund University is behind on their environmental work. They have neither environmental objectives nor an environmental policy. Claes Nilén is the environmental manager who works with meagre resources.
What are the greatest environmental culprits at Lund University?
“From a climate perspective, we use a lot of energy, MAX-lab uses the most. They spend a lot of energy. We also fly a lot, that’s a considerable environmental aspect.”
What can be done about that?
“We need to consume less energy, both on the large and the small scale, for example by turning the lights off when we go out. We’ve suggested a carbon offset to compensate for the air travel. But there are rules within the university, regulating what money can be used for, and we are not allowed to compensate for what we do in other countries. So we’ll have to do something else. Video conferences are a way of reducing travel.”
How can you get staff to use video conferences instead of travelling?
“We need to make the technology visible by informing more clearly about it, on the web for instance. It would be very positive if we were able to get information about this out to people, to make it a natural alternative. There are rooms at the university that the staff can use, maybe we need more. Of course it’s important that we have international meetings as well.”
You want a new environmental programme, and to get an environmental certification* for all of Lund University, why has that not come to pass?
“I really wanted it when I got here, and I still do. But I’ve realised how difficult it is. It would have been a great benefit, but we need money. To get an environmental certification, external accountants and a certifying authority need to be called in, and that’s expensive. Instead, we can work to get an environmental diploma – that takes more internal work with concrete measures.”
In the report, it says that the wish for an environmental diploma** is there, but not the means, what do you mean by that?
“The departments want to work on this, but there just isn’t time. If we’d had resources, we would have been able to offer more support, but we’re doing as much as we can at the moment. One way to reach success is having clear goals, that this should be achieved by a certain time. Then it’s easier to know what resources will be needed and what we want to achieve.”
Lund University doesn’t have any formal environmental objectives. Why?
“That’s not good at all. There hasn’t been time to squeeze it into the schedule, the daily questions take so much time. My hope was to attain environmental objectives by 2012. Right now they are under consideration. Once they are finished I hope that it will become clear what we want to achieve.”
What would have been needed to finish the environmental objectives?
“We need more staff. But the resources should be used out at the departments, not to build a bureaucracy.”
Does Lund University make environmental questions a priority?
“We have many demands that need to be complied with at the university. Many things have a high priority, and environmental questions are certainly prioritised in many ways. We need to bear in mind all the nice things and all the will that can be found within the university, and then we need resources. It’s a very important question.”
So, Lund University does not have any environmental objectives, no environmental policy, and no environmental certification. How do you feel about that?
“We have a great responsibility to work as an inspiring example and living the way we learn. We need to become part of society, like all others who are working towards an environmental certification. Of course a policy is important, but the most important things is that it functions in our daily work. And the environmental objectives have taken rather a long time, but they will be finished this spring. In a big organisation like Lund University, resources and priorities are needed. I can’t do the environmental work alone, it should permeate the whole enterprise. Following up and looking at results is up to both me and the organisation.”
When you started, some of your goals were that Lund University should have completely renewable energy, and that the cars should be driven on environmentally friendly fuel by 2016. Will you manage to achieve these goals?
“Absolutely, the numbers show that we are headed in the right direction. The steps are small, but I think that we will succeed because most people in society are working for the same goal.”
Compared to many other universities, Lund is lagging behind. Why?
“I want us to get to the top and become a leading university. For that, we need to gather strength. Exactly how we are going to do that I can’t really answer until later this year. I have ideas that I’m hoping to get through. At the University of Gothenburg they think differently, they have connected the sustainability work and the environmental courses to the internal environmental questions. They are connecting academia and environment, it would have been positive to find such a way.”
Do you think that Lund University are doing good environmental work, are you challenging?
“In some aspects. I think that the potential is great, but I wouldn’t say that we are challenging. We need to take new, smart environmental solutions from the education and implement them in the enterprise. If we succeed in that, and get nice numbers in our environment results, then we can become challenging.”
*Environmental certification ISO 14 001 is an international standard for environmental management work with 55 different requirements that need to be filled. For example, there has to be a plan to prevent accidents that can affect the environment. To get an environmental certification, external certifiers need to be called in. **Environmental diplomas have the same basics as environmental certifications, but with more focus on practical aspects and less paperwork. Here it is not necessary to call in external accountants.Text: Nina Rosengren
Translation: Matilda Lundborg
Photo: Max Jedeur-Palmgren
