The use of fossil fuels and polluting materials in the past and present have the potential to make our planet less habitable, and may reduce the quality of life of future generations. That is why governmental, economic and academic organisations across the globe are trying to come up with ways to ensure our generation can go on to live a sustainable lifestyle without compromising our ability to meet our own needs.

The University of Groningen has set sustainability as one of its key values, and has formed a Green Office to initiate and coordinate sustainable projects across the university and developed a Sustainability Roadmap with their focusses and goals for the upcoming years.

Our role as a study association in this worldwide problem is coming up with ways to make our association more sustainable for our members, while still keeping up traditions. Secondly, we should inspire and motivate our members to think, learn and do something with sustainability and improve their lifestyle.

Francken actively participates in the Green Label programme, which serves to inform associations on what they can do better in terms of sustainability and inclusivity. We also apppoint the role of sustainability officer to one of our board members. This board member is responsible for writing a sustainability plan in which they describe how we will make our association more sustainable. This sustainability plan is inspired by guidelines made by the Green Office.

The Green Office has a blog with regular posts on what the Green Office does and how to be greener.

If you have any questions or suggestions regarding sustainability, feel free to email the board at board@professorfrancken.nl