Additional Tips for Employees

Complementary to our general sustainability tips, this page provides specific  information for staff members.

If you have questions regarding sustainability in teaching that are not answered by the following information resources, please contact the Sustainability Team (contact: info@sustainability.uzh.ch).

• Resources for integrating sustainability into teaching. The following generally available resources can be helpful for integrating sustainability aspects into teaching (the list is not exhaustive): 
  Sustainability and Teaching
• Make classes related to sustainability visible. If sustainability aspects play a role in your teaching module, we would appreciate if you mention them explicitly in the description of the module in the course catalogue. Then the module will be included in the Green VVZ automatically. The Green VVZ is based on a keyword search on sustainable development.
• Green VVZ

The following tips are intended to help ease the conflict of goals between climate mitigation on the one hand and international cooperation in teaching and research on the other, with the overall aim of attaining sustainability. It is advisable to consider the greenhouse gas emissions incurred by guests in addition to your own travel. Air travel by UZH staff members accounted for approx. 36% of greenhouse gas emissions in 2018; this is the largest amount compared with other source categories. Therefore, reducing air travel has the greatest potential for lowering greenhouse gas emissions. 

• Review whether the business trip is necessary. The subjective benefit of a business trip should be put in relation to its “true costs,” in particular the long-term consequences of its greenhouse gas emissions for the global climate. The following considerations can be helpful here:
  • Can virtual participation in the event make the trip unnecessary? This saves time and money, besides emissions.
  • Is there an alternative goal that fulfills the same purpose (e.g. an equally interesting conference that can be reached by bus or train)?
  • How important is the trip really for advancing science or your own career?
  • Is it possible to reduce the number of people from your own setting who will make the trip?
  • Can you plan a longer trip that fulfills multiple purposes at the same time?
• Strengthen and develop a virtual conference and cooperation culture internationally. As you work in scientific bodies and networks, promote teleconferencing for scientific exchange.
• Switch to virtual or decentralized events. Switching to virtual or hybrid events (taking place at multiple sites to reduce travel) provides the greatest potential to reduce emissions caused by international events.
• Arrange for external speakers’ virtual presence at events. It is important to find creative solutions for discussions and informal exchange apart from the presentations themselves, for example giving participants the opportunity to book time slots to talk with speakers one-on-one.
• For a comparison of various modes of transportation with respect to emissions, and further information, please refer to the Factsheet Business Travel (PDF, 364 KB) 

Building, heating, and cooling buildings are some of the most carbon-rich processes of all. Therefore, everything that reduces the amount of space per person is helpful. In addition, every degree by which the ambient temperature is lowered during the heating period counts.

• Promote shared space. Reduce your own office space; in particular, review whether part-time staff can share desks. Senior staff can promote a culture of shared space, transparency, and fairness with respect to office space so that staff members do not hoard rooms they do not actually need.
• Furnish your office economically/ Give away unneeded items. Using less furniture reduces the environmental impacts of producing and disposing of it. For example, use just a single wastebasket per office—which also cuts back on the number of liners.
• Heat space economically. Lower the temperature, especially if an office is not used for multiple days. The “Betriebsdienst” can provide support for economical heating.                                                                                              ServiceCenter Betriebsdienst Zentrum (also responsible for the Oerlikon Campus) (website in German only)                                                                      ServiceCenter Betriebsdienst Irchel(website in German only)

Typical IT end-user devices such as laptops, monitors, tablets, and smartphones cause significantly higher environmental impacts during production than during operation. The impacts of devices in continuous operation (e.g. servers), however, may be higher during operation. The following principles can help reduce the environmental impacts of IT devices in everyday office use.

• Borrow devices or use used ones instead of buying new equipment. Before you buy a new device, review whether you can obtain a used one from the Equipment Exchange of UZH. If you no longer need devices that are still operational, you can make them available for other people to use, e.g. through the Equipment Exchange. In addition, you can borrow equipment from the Geräteausleihe (website in German only) of the Multimedia & E-Learning Services Department, for example video conferencing equipment, projectors, and microphones. You can also borrow equipment or make it available through the Shared equipment platform.
• Have landline telephones removed if they are not actually used. This will enable others to use them and will avoid the purchase of new ones.
• Reduce the number of devices in continuous operation. This includes, for example, information screens, your own servers, but also vending machines, coffee makers with cup heaters, or water dispensers.
• Enable devices in continuous operation to be switched to a very low-energy standby or sleep mode, or to be switched off entirely, when not in use. If possible, do not purchase devices without such an option (which should be the default setting).

Further information with regard to sustainable procurement

When purchasing office supplies, you can make a contribution by selecting sustainable products. If you are not responsible for purchasing, please make the responsible person aware of these tips.

• On the P4U purchasing platform, select products with the rectangular green symbol with a white leaf and the word "nachhaltig" (sustainable). Suppliers themselves decide about using the symbol for some of their products.
• Before purchasing a new product, review whether it is available through the Büromaterialbörse (office supplies exchange). You can offer office supplies you no longer need there as well. The materials are delivered free of charge: either pick them up yourself or use the internal mail service.                      
• Office Supplies Exchange
• Order UZH printed media according to demand. You can adjust the number of copies of the UZH Journal and the UZH Magazin to the actual number needed, for example at a department or chair.                                                               Change subscription to the UZH Journal or the UZH Magazin                            To change your department’s subscription to the UZH Journal, please write to Fabiola Thomann: Email                                                                                      To change your subscription to the UZH Annual Report, please write to Marita Fuchs: Email

Further information with regard to sustainable procurement