Sustainable responsibility

The Sustainability Day of the Bern universities is a joint project set up by Bern University of Teacher Education (PHBern), the University of Bern and Bern University of Applied Sciences and is supported by the student associations of the three universities. The aim of the day is to identify current sustainability issues relating to the teaching, research and operation of the Bern universities and to promote dialogue on sustainability within and between these universities. This event, which takes place every two years, is also aimed at facilitating exchange on sustainability issues between the universities and the social, political, administrative and business communities. 

In February 2020, BFH approved a mobility concept. This creates a basis for developing measures to increase usage of more efficient forms of mobility that use less energy and resources, produce fewer CO2 emissions and cause less environmental damage. As a first step, guidelines for long-distance and plane travel are scheduled to be developed and a university-wide mobility survey conducted by spring 2021. 

BFH was the first Swiss university to sign a Climate Emergency Letter to the UN at the end of August 2019. In this letter, it makes the following pledges: firstly, to become a carbon-neutral university by 2040 at the latest; secondly, to use more resources to actively contribute towards the fight against climate change; and thirdly, to equip its students with the tools to help shape a sustainable future, in order to counteract human-induced climate change.