Sustainability Managers Project (SUMAP)

GO Green Office

The GO Green Office is the central hub for sustainability on the TU/e campus. Together with the Green Student Community, we raise awareness and build on sustainable operations, education, and governance. Our goal? Making sure the TU/e becomes the most sustainable university in the Netherlands.

Current struggle

Two years ago, we started the Sustainability Managers Project (SUMAP). We noticed that different associations ran into similar challenges surrounding sustainability and came to the GO Green Office for help. Many boards were willing to make their association more sustainable but did not know where to start. Thus, to better support the associations, we set up this project. Central to SUMAP is knowledge sharing between associations and supporting each other in making sustainable impact. Moreover, the project provides assistance to the association in setting and achieving their own sustainability-related goals.

Solution and structure of SUMAP

The solution is to create relationships with associations. And that’s why in 2022 we are proud to announce that almost all study associations participate in SUMAP.

Participating associations all appoint one or two Sustainability Managers (SUMAs) within their association. These SUMAs are the main contact person between the GO Green Office and the participating association. Within their association, the Sustainability Managers have a position in which they have a broad reach and can encourage and motivate their members to engage in sustainable activities and behavior. They have the resources (physical meeting space) and the platform (events and activities) to set an example.

Throughout the year, there will be SUMAP meetings:

3 Cluster Meetings: in the Cluster Meetings you will sit together with the rest of your cluster (i.e. Study, Building, or Sports/Culture) to promote more specific and relevant knowledge sharing.

2 Collective Meetings: in the Collective Meetings, we will focus on general sustainable operations within an association which should be relevant for everyone, hence all associations taking part in SUMAP will be present. Largely, the content of these meetings is up to the associations. There is room to discuss the specific challenges you are facing and to share your sustainable initiatives.

Attached to SUMAP is a small competition between the associations within your cluster. All activities that are undertaken to create sustainable impact can be submitted and depending on their effort, originality and impact, points are assigned. The associations with the most points at the end of the academic year can win some nice prizes. Moreover, seeing what challenges other associations have submitted can provide inspiration

Responsibilities of Sustainability Managers

The Sustainability Managers are responsible for processing the input from the SUMAP network and contributing to the SUMAP network with their own experiences. Moreover, they can introduce a sustainability policy for their association and guide the implementation of sustainable solutions, including operational activities and structural changes within their associations. Lastly, we do encourage motivated associations to set up green committees focused on achieving sustainability goals, but the committee members are not (necessarily) part of SUMAP. Concluding they are our gateway into deeper-level-operations throughout the campus

Subsidies

If a participating association needs some monetary support to achieve sustainable impact, they can send a request and motivate what significant impact a purchase can do. The GO Green Office will look at these requests and if proven to be sustainable and worthwhile the GO Green Office can fund such undertakings.