Sustainability as a strategic task: New Chief Sustainability Officer at the KU
Addressing sustainability as a comprehensive cross-cutting issue for the entire institution – that has been the declared goal of the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt's self-image for more than 13 years. For example, it is the only University in Germany to subject its sustainability measures to the complex EMASplus audit procedure. The new "Bavarian Network for Sustainability in Higher Education" (BayZeN) recently emerged from a network initiated by the KU – with the KU as a founding member. Now, the KU is taking a further step and underlines the importance of sustainability as a strategic task for the University by creating a full-time position as Chief Sustainability Officer.
In Bavaria, the KU is the first University to implement such a position. The previous sustainability officers at the KU have each been responsible for the field in addition to their main professional research and teaching activities. The new position has been taken over by Annette Kümmel (56), who worked for the ProSiebenSat.1 group for almost 30 years. Most recently, she built up the media group's sustainability department as Chief Sustainability Officer.
The new position at the KU reports to the Vice President for International Affairs and Profile Development, Prof. Dr. Klaus Stüwe, who is responsible for sustainability issues within the Presidium. "Our goal is to further deepen a KU-wide understanding of sustainability throughout the University and to network the skills that have been built up in research, teaching, transfer and campus management at the KU over the years even more strongly and to communicate them to the outside world", explains Stüwe.
Annette Kümmel adds: "I see the KU at the forefront of sustainability – in research, teaching and campus management! Other universities are very interested in us because we are already very far along in our development and can serve as a role model. My goal is to intensify the University's internal network further and to link it to the strategic goals that are already set down in the University's long-term Overall Sustainability Concept." In addition, she continued, a comprehensive overall strategy must be developed further, the KU's commitment and initiatives must be communicated to the outside world more strongly, and the transfer to society must be expanded. Currently, for example, the KU’s goal to become climate neutral by 2025 has priority. To this end, the potential for action in relevant areas – such as the mobility of University employees – will be investigated further. "In a comprehensive ecological and social understanding of sustainability, issues of diversity and inclusion are also very important to me personally", says Kümmel. In her position as Chief Sustainability Officer of ProSiebenSat.1, she was also responsible not only for ecological issues – such as construction measures, fleet management, travel management or production conditions on the set – but also for issues of diversity and inclusion within the group structure and with regard to program contents. The KU also pursues a sustainability strategy that takes into account not only ecological but also economic and social factors.
Annette Kümmel is a trained bank clerk and studied journalism as well as political science and law at the University of Mainz after her apprenticeship. From 1991, she worked as a legal assistant to the chief legal officer and as a media policy officer at Sat.1. She became Managing Director at the Swiss station subsidiary in 1998 and was responsible for ProSiebenSat.1 group’s media policy until 2019. Annette Kümmel represented the company in leading positions in numerous associations, e.g. the Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle Fernsehen (Voluntary Self-Regulation of Television) or as a member of the supervisory board of FilmFernsehFonds Bayern. In the Association of Private Media (VAUNET), she has held various board positions since 2007, and was its CEO from 2020 to 2022.
Further information on the University’s commitment to sustainability is available at www.ku.de/en/campus-life/sustainability.
Die semantisch ähnlichsten Pressemitteilungen im idw
