Lund University strategy for sustainable development

Lund University’s strategy for sustainable development 2019–2026 (entire document)

Lund University is to understand, explain and improve our world and the human condition and by doing so act as a driving force for sustainable development. The University works actively to integrate an overall approach to sustainable development in all its activities: education, research, external engagement and organisational development.

Background

In a sustainable world, people’s needs are met without compromising future generations’ possibilities to meet their needs. This requires that society addresses a number of major challenges so that economic development is within the framework for social and environmental sustainability, and the Earth’s resources are not depleted. Such a global vision for sustainable development is expressed in the UN’s 17 sustainable development goals from 2015. The UN’s Agenda 2030 states how these goals are to be achieved. The sustainable development goals form an integrated and indivisible whole in which the different goals address all dimensions of sustainability: economic, social and environmental. As the goals by their very nature are linked, there is a need for solutions that create synergies and lead development forwards, while there is also a need for knowledge on how to identify and manage goal conflicts.

The issues relating to sustainable development are not new, but have become increasingly topical  due to the fact that the striving for social sustainability with basic human rights such as the right to  a satisfactory standard of living, health, work and education and gender equality for present and future generations is being made more difficult by ongoing climate change, overexploitation of the Earth’s resources, depletion of biodiversity, other environmental pollution and conflicts. In many cases there is little time to identify and implement solutions to meet these challenges, as delays in working towards sustainable development successively lead to a desirable future being increasingly difficult to realise. Meeting these challenges requires knowledge about how sustainable development can be achieved and how knowledge can be converted into action. This is supported by knowledge from many different areas that are also integrated into a holistic perspective.

Lund University’s strategy for sustainable development complements the University’s strategic plan and observes the Higher Education Act¹. The strategy covers the University’s entire organisation and all employees. Implementation of the strategy is to be carried out in harmony with other relevant strategies, policy documents, the policy for sustainable development, regulations and statements, and be adapted to the affected organisations’ conditions, opportunities and needs. The aim of the strategy is consequently to provide a direction and establish a number of visions, not to regulate how the implementation is to be carried out. The visions concern management and further development of ongoing activities, as well as new aspects of activities.

With its comprehensive range of disciplines, Lund University can follow the holistic approach of Agenda 2030 by creating and conveying knowledge with a scientific and artistic basis. 

¹ The requirement for Sweden’s higher education institutions to promote all dimensions of sustainable development is stated in the Higher Education Act (1992:1434 Chapter 1, Section 5). 

Visions for sustainable development

Implementation and follow up