Sustainability

Start of the application phase for the sustainability award 2026

The Sustainability Award honors outstanding final theses (Bachelor's or Master's theses) whose research subject deals theoretically or practically with the study of sustainable development and/or climate impact (adaptation). The call for proposals explicitly includes theses that deal not only with ecological but also with economic and social aspects of sustainable development and climate change.

The call is explicitly addressed to students of all faculties. The prize will be awarded during the faculty ceremony on graduation day.

The application deadline is on 30th September 2026.

The prize is endowed with 400 €.

Further information are available here.

In April 2026, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published a draft report for the seventh phase of its Assessment Report. The surprising news? The report proposed revising downwards the worst-case scenario for global warming by the year 2100. Instead of the Earth warming by 4.8 degrees in the absence of climate action, the ‘worst-case’ scenario now considers a 3.5-degree rise to be realistic.

This new scientific assessment has given certain media outlets the opportunity to downplay the man-made climate crisis, as posts on the social media platform X or in the BILD newspaper demonstrate. It has been argued that science has been wrong all these years and has created a problem that need not have existed.

But what this assessment really highlights is the fact that climate action is working! Thanks to these measures – such as the expansion of renewable energy and the associated phase-out of fossil fuels – the former ‘worst-case scenario’ has become increasingly unlikely. However, this by no means implies that further measures are no longer necessary: current developments also pose numerous threats to humanity. Even the ‘best-case scenario’ has deteriorated. Whilst the Paris Agreement stuck to the 1.5-degree target, this too must now, unfortunately, be regarded as unrealistic. Given the climate protection measures currently being implemented by governments worldwide, experts are assuming a ‘medium-case’ scenario, under which the Earth is expected to warm by approximately 2.7 degrees by 2100 – the effects of the climate crisis are already severe and, if this trend continues, will only increase in intensity and frequency. However, this severe warming can still be counteracted through effective climate action.

Sustainability newsletter

With the Sustainability Newsletter, the Sustainability Office informs you at irregular intervals about current developments in the field of sustainability at Bielefeld University. You will also receive information on internal and external events, funding (e.g. teaching and research funding) and exciting projects from the universities community relating to the topic of sustainability.

Subscribe to the sustainability mailing list to receive the newsletter.

Did you know ...

...that there are Ricoh toner collection boxes and non-Ricoh toner collection boxes in most of the university's copy rooms? In both cases, the collected cartridges are reconditioned and reused after an inspection and only disposed of if they cannot be reconditioned. The respective departments / secretary's offices are responsible for purchasing the Ricoh boxes themselves.

The collection box for the Collection Dragon campaign can be requested by sending an email to abfallwirtschaft@uni-bielefeld.de.