Sustainability@Buas

BUas is committed to helping to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to tackle the biggest problems facing our planet. The SDGs provide a very useful framework for coordinating sustainability across our university of applied sciences.

Sustainable Development Goals

The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and improve the lives and prospects of everyone, everywhere. The 17 Goals were adopted by all UN Member States in 2015, as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development which set out a 15-year plan to achieve the Goals. Today, progress is being made in many places, but, overall, action to meet the Goals is not yet advancing at the speed or scale required. A decade of ambitious action is needed to deliver the Goals by 2030. 

Commitment and contribution

In 2019 BUas signed an SDG Charter, committing itself to contributing towards a sustainable, just and inclusive society. BUas is also a member of the SDG Nederland community, meaning we endorse their vision and adhere to their terms. Whilst membership to show our support is important, we can do much more to really bring the SDGs to life at BUas. We have a responsibility to our students and to the wider society to educate future professionals who are ready to meet our global social, economic and environmental challenges, in line with BUas’ mission to empower young professionals on their journey to shape a better world. But our responsibility to contribute to the SDGs goes beyond what we teach our students. It's about the contribution of our research, the way we run our campus and how we behave towards each other.

SDG Support Hub

During 2021, a BUas ‘SDG task force’, with help from students and staff, carried out an inventory to identify our institute’s focus on and contribution to the Global Goals (SDGs) across all areas of our activity: education, research, operations and community engagement. The aim of this inventory was to facilitate meaningful discussions across the organisation and to inform our collective thinking on this topic. We now have an overview of how we are contributing to the Goals and a clear idea of opportunities we want to explore for increasing our contribution to the Goals going forward. Our ‘SDG Action Plan 2022’, coordinated by the SDG Support Hub, helped to put us on the right path to optimising BUas’ role in contributing to the Goals, and facilitate transparency and accountability in terms of our societal contribution in all our areas of activity.

On 10th February 2023, we will hold a day-long ‘theory of change’ workshop to help us to, amongst other things, identify our priority activities for 2023. More information to follow shortly! 
 

Get in touch 

Please contact us via Anna Koens: sustainability@buas.nl 

Interested? Please read more about the BUas SDG inventory.

SDG Support Hub Team

  • Anna Koens-Waddilove - Project Leader, SDG Support Hub - Strategy, Education and Research
  • Frans Melissen - Professor of Sustainable Experience Design & Professor of Management Education for Sustainability
  • Tim Geelen - Business Partner - Accommodation, Facilities and Planning
  • Harald Buijtendijk - Senior lecturer and researcher - Academy for Tourism - Centre for Sustainability, Tourism and Transport (CSTT) 

Green office

The Green Office is a student-led community project at BUas that focuses on sustainability. By using the Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations as a framework, students organise events and activities to address social and environmental issues across our campus. The Green Office can be contacted via: greenoffice@buas.nl

Focus areas