Sus­taina­bi­li­ty

The HfMDK Frank­furt is com­mit­ted to a sus­tainable fu­ture. It acts in ac­cordance with the cli­ma­te tar­gets of the sta­te of Hes­se, the prin­ci­ples of cli­ma­te jus­ti­ce and the ob­jec­ti­ves of the Pa­ris Agree­ment on cli­ma­te ch­an­ge of the Cli­ma­te Ch­an­ge Con­fe­rence of the United Na­ti­ons. 

The Sus­taina­bi­li­ty De­part­ment at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Mu­sic and Per­forming Arts has been the cen­tral hub for stee­ring and coor­di­na­ti­on the uni­ver­si­ty­'s sus­tainable trans­for­ma­ti­on sin­ce June 2022. Our role is to fa­ci­li­ta­te a ho­listic and struc­tu­ral trans­for­ma­ti­on towards sus­taina­bi­li­ty, ac­cor­ding to the prin­ci­ples of Edu­ca­ti­on for Sus­tainable De­ve­lo­p­ment (ESD). We im­ple­ment this trans­for­ma­ti­on th­rough a Who­le In­sti­tu­ti­on Ap­proach (WIA) and to co-or­di­na­te the im­ple­men­ta­ti­on of the HfMDK’s sus­taina­bi­li­ty stra­tegy. The five key are­as that are out­lined in the ap­proach are Go­ver­nan­ce, Uni­ver­si­ty Ope­ra­ti­ons, Tea­ching, Re­se­arch and Trans­fer.

Just how ef­fec­ti­ve ar­tis­tic im­pul­ses can be is de­mons­tra­ted by one of the tur­ning points for the uni­ver­si­ty in its trans­for­ma­ti­on pro­cess: The ‘McE­arth’ con­cert in 2019 led to the foun­ding of the HfMDK’s Green Of­fice, led to the ye­ar­ly Earth Night, and con­se­quen­cly the Sus­taina­bi­li­ty De­part­ment, which coor­di­na­tes the im­ple­men­ta­ti­on of the sus­taina­bi­li­ty stra­tegy.
 

Get In­vol­ved

We can only succeed if ever­yo­ne gets in­vol­ved: This ven­ture is be­ing car­ri­ed out with trans­pa­ren­cy and re­qui­res the broad par­ti­ci­pa­ti­on of all uni­ver­si­ty mem­bers.

Whe­ther you are a stu­dent or an em­ployee, your con­tri­bu­ti­ons are es­sen­ti­al to sha­ping a path towards a sus­tainable uni­ver­si­ty.

Would you like to get in­vol­ved? Do you have an idea for your own pro­ject, or a ques­ti­on about the to­pic of sus­taina­bi­li­ty at the HfMDK? Then we would love to hear from you.

The first steps towards a CO₂-neu­tral HfMDK were al­re­a­dy ta­ken in 2016 with the in­tro­duc­tion of an en­er­gy ma­nage­ment of­fice. From op­ti­mi­zing buil­ding tech­no­lo­gy to mo­der­ni­zing room and hall light­ing, as well as cli­ma­te pro­tec­tion pro­jects and work­shops, the chal­lenges re­main di­ver­se and pro­mi­sing.

The Sus­taina­bi­li­ty De­part­ment is re­spon­si­ble for the fol­lo­wing tasks:

• De­ve­lo­ping and im­ple­men­ting a sus­taina­bi­li­ty stra­tegy in line with Edu­ca­ti­on for Sus­tainable De­ve­lo­p­ment (ESD)
• De­ve­lo­ping, sel­ec­ting, coor­di­na­ting and mo­ni­to­ring sel­ec­ted short, me­di­um and long-term me­a­su­res to re­du­ce green­house gas emis­si­ons in line with the prin­ci­ple of "avo­id, re­du­ce and com­pen­sa­te" and pro­mo­ting sus­taina­bi­li­ty struc­tures
• Sus­taina­bi­li­ty re­port­ing
  • Me­a­su­res to com­mu­ni­ca­te and per­pe­tua­te (eco­lo­gi­cal) sus­taina­bi­li­ty
  • Ac­qui­si­ti­on of fun­ding re­le­vant to the to­pic
  • Tar­ge­ted in­vol­vement of in­ter­nal and ex­ter­nal uni­ver­si­ty stake­hol­ders

In ad­di­ti­on, the Sus­taina­bi­li­ty de­part­ment sup­ports the tea­ching staff in their sus­taina­bi­li­ty pro­jects and the in­te­gra­ti­on of ESD.