Sustainability Report

The Sustainability Strategy 2030 regards sustainability as a responsibility of the entire university and assigns it to five fields of action: research, teaching and learning, societal impact (transfer), campus operations, and governance and culture. This report sets out the progress made in each of these fields in 2025.

Leuphana has been publishing sustainability reports on a voluntary basis since 2007. What is new is the alignment with the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), the European reporting standards under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). As a foundation under public law, the university is not subject to any reporting obligation under the CSRD. The report therefore does not contain a statement of full compliance with the standards.

The selection of content for the report follows the principle of double materiality. The following have been identified as material: the university’s own workforce (S1), students (consumers and end-users, S4), climate change (E1) and business conduct (G1). In addition, there are the three university-specific topics for which there is no direct counterpart in the ESRS: sustainability in research, teaching and knowledge transfer.

Download: Sustainability Report for the 2025 reporting year

The EMAS environmental statement remains the externally validated instrument for the environmental dimension and forms part of the University’s sustainability reporting. The Sustainability Report brings together its data with the social, economic and university-specific topics. The two publications will continue to appear side by side.

Selected results:

15 years School of Sustainability at Leuphana – and, at the time of its establishment, the first Faculty of Sustainability in Germany; the anniversary semester in winter 2025/26 featured numerous events organised by the institutes and the celebratory symposium ‘Future – Sustainability – Science’.

Research Portal of the Leuphana University Lüneburg

The new research portal shows how researchers’ work contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In 2025, around 26 per cent of the publications recorded were linked to one or more SDGs.

Selected research projects

Embracing Transformation through research, education and knowledge transfer in five interdisciplinary key areas and the Leuphana Transformation Lab:

• Climate Futures in Digital Cultures
• Companies as drivers of sustainability transformations
• Democratic Resilience
• Organizing in Times of Crisis
• Toward a Regenerative Society
• Psychology of Transformation 

Funded by the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture (MWK) and the Volkswagen Foundation under the ‘Strategic Development of Potential’ initiative, EUR 18.5 million, 2025-2030

• Leuphana receives EUR 4.63 million in European Union funding for the international Master’s programme ‘International Law of Security, Peace and Sustainable Development‘ (ILSPSD).
• GAIA Master Student Paper Award: awarded to a publication based on the Master’s thesis ‘School Forest Gardens and their Contribution to Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)‘.
• Student Sustainability Office: Since late 2025, the office has been collecting and structuring student knowledge on sustainability and university life from seminars, student initiatives and academic work. It also offers advice to students and their projects.
• Award for student voluntary work at Dies Academicus 2025: ‘Take Initiative!‘ creates low-threshold opportunities that make it much easier for people to get involved in voluntary work and make a difference for a good cause.
• Conference Week 2025 – conclusion of the Leuphana Semester: ‘War is a failure of humanity‘ – 33 project group sessions, 37 plenary sessions, including discussions, exchanges with conference guests, World Cafés, creative workshops and panels with guests, and 33 Gallery Walks. As an interactive meeting point, the Gallery Walk is open to anyone passing by and is also offered as guided tours. Using films, installations and posters, the young researchers present their findings and complete their oral examination.
• Opening Week 2025: ‘COOPERATING’: How can we live, act and solve problems together?
• 91 student initiatives; e.g. ‘GreenGlimpse’ – making science and sustainability tangible through videos, ‘VisionInklusion’ – creatively shaping shared living between people with and without disabilities, or ‘NaPsy’ – sustainability and psychology.

• Leuphana Innovation Communities: Together with regional and international institutions, businesses, and organisations, we develop solutions to key challenges of our time. The project was awarded the Transfer and Impact Prize at the 2025 Dies Academicus. Prof. Dr. Paul Drews, Faculty of Management and Technology, Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space, EUR 8.0 million, 2023–2027.
• Communicorn: With the Communicorn podcast we uncover the roles of social innovation in driving social change. And we ask: What can we learn from them in reshaping the economy beyond profit? The podcast is part of the Leuphana Social Innovation Community at Leuphana University of Lüneburg.
• Start-ups 2025: e.g. ‘Groupya‘ – a network to combat social isolation and promote real-life social interaction.
• Future Festival – young future shapers from Austria, Switzerland and Germany develop ideas for a democratic, liveable future. A place where ideas do not have to assert themselves – but are allowed to transform. 2025: ‘Defending and reinventing democracy‘.
• Energy Forum – annual conference on solutions for the regional energy transition. 2025: ‘The current state and future prospects of the energy transition: What have we achieved, and where does the path take us from here?‘.
• Leuphana Children's University 2025: ‘We understand the world and how to protect it!‘.
• University Society Tuesdays 2025: Science in dialogue with the public in Lüneburg; e.g. ‘Can we do it? Shaping the future in challenging times’, ‘Welding without melting: Sustainable lightweight construction solutions for the transport of tomorrow’, ‘More than just good intentions: How sustainable consumption becomes a habit’ or ‘Action First, Strategy Second – Managing sustainability in small and medium-sized enterprises’.

• Greenhouse gas inventory under the GHG Protocol: Scope 1 and Scope 2 are fully covered. Scope 3 covers business travel, procurement (furniture, IT equipment, paper, toilet paper, paper towels), waste, water and, since 2025, commuting by students and staff.
• Modal Split 2025: For the first time, cycling has overtaken the car among staff. The results of the 2025 Modal Split survey are based on a representative survey of students and staff, supplemented by a traffic count on campus.
• Map ‘Climate-friendly travel by train to international conferences, research partners or for a semester abroad‘ published.
• STADTRADELN: A campaign in Germany to encourage people to cycle as much as possible. In May 2025, the university took part for the eighth time, with 142 staff and students covering a total of 15,871 km by bike.
• As part of Health Week on 3 June 2025, the police registered bicycles belonging to students and staff. This makes the bikes more secure against theft.
• The old oil-fired heating system on the ‘Rotes Feld’ campus has been removed and the site has been switched to district heating.
• The old windows, dating from the 1930s, in 6 buildings on campus were replaced with new energy-efficient windows.
• Start of unsealing paths and parking areas along streets.
• Sustainability on site: In December and January, student assistants from the Sustainability Office went through the buildings to advise staff on topics such as the holiday closure, passing on unused materials and sufficiency. In the process, they gathered ideas, suggestions and questions. The themes for the year 2024/25 were energy, mobility, waste and environmentally conscious behaviour.
• Electric cargo bike available for loan; members of the university can now borrow 8 service bikes, a cargo bike and an electric cargo bike.
• Watering the plants on campus with rainwater from 3 cisterns.
• Toilet paper and paper towels 2025: 81 per cent certified with the Blue Angel (German ecolabel).
• Furniture with the Blue Angel label (German ecolabel) purchased in 2025: 325 chairs, 113 office chairs, 333 height-adjustable desks, 11 tables, 8 folding seminar tables, 76 sideboards, 18 cupboards, 25 shelves, 64 mobile pedestals, 7 lockers.
• Paper: consumption in 2025 was again lower than in the previous year; since 2019 (before the pandemic) a 62% reduction in paper consumption; sustainability: 66 per cent recycled paper (Blue Angel) and 34 per cent paper (FSC and EU Ecolabel).
• ZWISCHENRAUM ‘used and good‘: Staff made used office supplies available for colleagues or students to take away. For this purpose, there was a central location in every building, which was managed by students from the Sustainability Office.

• Participation in the nationwide Diversity Day: In 2025, Leuphana took part for the ninth time, focusing on the theme ‘Against right-wing populism and anti-feminism’. In addition, further events were held addressing gender equality, equal opportunities and anti-discrimination: Equal Care Day, Equal Pay Day, 8 March, Pride Month and the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women*.
• Promotion of intersectional gender studies: Through the funding programme for visiting scholars specialising in intersectional gender studies, five visiting scholars taught and conducted research across faculties in 2025.
• Award: Leuphana has once again been awarded the North-East Lower Saxony Family Seal, making it one of the most family-friendly employers in North-East Lower Saxony for the fifth year running.
• New post of Academic Director of Gender Studies: In the winter semester 2025/26, the post of Academic Director of Gender Studies (Dr. Ben Trott), with a focus on gender-queer studies, was established. This strengthens the teaching content in the Complementary Programme (part of the Leuphana study model comprising modules from various disciplines), particularly in the ‘Gender Diversity’ certificate programme (BA and MA) and within the subject of Philosophy.
• Ment2Be – Mentoring for students with disabilities: In the winter semester 2025/26, a new pilot project, funded by the Study Quality Fund (SQM), was launched to support students with disabilities as they begin their studies through a structured mentoring programme. The project is being carried out in collaboration with students from ‘ARCHIPELS’ (the AStA student group for chronic illnesses, inclusion, mental health, empowerment and learning difficulties).
• Promoting effective collaboration within committees: In 2025, at the initiative of the student representatives on the Senate, the Senate Commission for Equality drew up ‘Recommendations on Collaboration within the Senate (Committee Code)’ as well as an induction programme specifically designed to ’familiarise new members with the Senate Commission for Equality’. Both documents are also intended to serve as guidelines for all other Senate commissions.
• The ‘Mental Health First Aid’ programme, which aims to train first aiders in the field of mental health, was launched with a pilot course (17 participants in December 2024) and continued in subsequent courses; by the end of 2025, 49 first aiders had been trained, and the first network meeting took place on 11 November 2025.
• First survey on experiences of discrimination during studies conducted: The survey, carried out as part of the diversity monitoring programme, is now to be conducted regularly as part of the interim survey of students on Bachelor’s and Master’s degree programmes.
• ‘Life in Motion’ from 2 to 6 June 2025: During the health week for staff and students, 13 events took place, attracting 182 registrations. The topics covered were: ‘A Healthy Back’ (e.g. ergonomic working, lifting and carrying), ‘Mind in Motion’ (e.g. resilience, stress management, mindfulness) and ‘Life in Flow’ (e.g. women’s health, healthy ageing, caring for relatives).
• In the 2025 academic year (winter term 2024/25 and summer term 2025), 56 subsidised sports courses were offered to staff, each of which counts as one hour of working time per week.
• Occupational psychology counselling provided by an external occupational psychologist.