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Sustainability Week – Playing an active part in shaping the future

10 Oct 2025

An interview with geographer Ralf Ludwig on LMU’s first ever Sustainability Week

Prof. Dr. Ralf Ludwig

Covering everything from biology to the theater stage, from research to administration, the Munich Center for Sustainability (MZN) plans to bring together the many facets of and actors involved in this topic during LMU’s first ever Sustainability Week, from 3-7 November. Co-initiator Professor Ralf Ludwig of the Department of Geography at LMU talked to us about open-door auditoriums, major evening events, surprising aspects of sustainability – and why artificial intelligence is currently having an easier ride than sustainability.

What part does sustainability play at LMU? ?

Ralf Ludwig: A very important part. We are a full-spectrum university covering a very broad range of topics, and many of our disciplines address the major issues and challenges of our day. Biology concerns itself with preserving biodiversity, economics with sustainable business models, philosophy with our responsibility toward future generations. The university’s administrative apparatus, too, today has numerous positions whose job is to work out strategies and practical solutions around energy consumption, waste management and our greenhouse gas footprint. During Sustainability Week, the MZN will bring together all these different aspects and perspectives.

How will you do that?

On the one hand, we are inviting lecturers from all faculties to open the doors of their seminars to students of other disciplines during this week, but also to focus on aspects of sustainability. In some subjects, this is only logical: Meteorology, for example, studies atmospheric gases and the role they play in climate change. Medicine – or “planetary health” – looks at how human health depends on the health of ecosystems. As a geographer, I myself will hold lectures on sustainable resource management in arid regions and on modeling climate change scenarios and their consequences. At the same time, renowned guests will discuss sustainable development and transformative action around topics of relevance to society at large-scale evening events. Here, they will join with representatives of the university management to explore LMU’s role and responsibility in this context

Will there also be events rooted in the humanities and cultural studies?

Disciplines one might expect to have less to do with sustainability will also provide some fascinating contributions. The Faculty of Law will devote an entire event to international climate treaties and lawsuits. And a Catholic theology lecture will address the relationship between democracy and sustainability.

The issues are not only environmental ones: Sustainability is about recognizing ecological, societal and economic interdependencies, assessing all these aspects together and reconciling them to each other. We understand sustainability not as a sectoral challenge, but as an integrated, normative and transformative concept that transcends the lines between different disciplines. And we must learn to put up with the fact that there will be conflicting goals that cannot always be resolved. The ten to 20 events we expect to see every day during Sustainability Week will accordingly be very diverse. One event, for example, will discuss German didactics: what education aimed at sustainable development might look like in schools – with a view to the choice of literature for children and youngsters, for instance. The registration process is still ongoing, and our colleagues are organizing new events every week.

Is sustainability also an issue on the campus itself?

It is, yes. One example is the lecture on “Human genomics – sustainability aspects” from the biology corner. This lecture focuses on the green lab initiative: How can laboratories work more sustainably, use less plastic, reduce packaging waste and be more economical with resources? These are questions that are tremendously important in everyday academic life – especially at such a research-intensive university as LMU.

What is the biggest challenge when seeking to communicate sustainability?

The topic is complex and full of conflicting goals. You can’t just say “More environmental protection is always better” without considering the social and economic implications. When teaching this subject, we have to help students understand this complexity while also winning them over to active engagement in shaping the future. In the case of artificial intelligence, interest is aroused almost automatically by the very dynamic development of new possibilities. In contrast, the need for sustainability must be communicated again and again, even though it affects the very basis of life for literally every creature on Earth.

How do students themselves benefit from participating in Sustainability Week?

They will gain insights that go beyond their own subject area. Students of biology might learn something about climate communication, sustainable economics or ethical issues. Students of communication sciences could attend an event about statistical climate change models. And literature students could take part in a workshop on sustainable aquaculture systems, held by a hydrobiologist from the Agricultural University of Athens. It is important to get a glimpse of the world beyond your own backyard, which can open up new horizons.

At a meeting on Friday, 7 November 2025, there will be an opportunity for “sustainability actors” at LMU to get together. Who are these actors?

They are researchers, lecturers and administrative staff at the various LMU institutions that concern themselves with sustainability: People from the Occupational Safety and Sustainability Unit, for example, or from the new Sustainability Office, where they develop strategies to avoid greenhouse gas emissions, reduce energy consumption and manage waste. And then there are the Sustainability Officers whom we now have at all faculties, as well as researchers and lecturers at the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society and at the MZN, for example.

In addition, there is the certificate program “el mundo – Sustainable Development Education in Teacher Training”, which will in future provide aspiring teachers with knowledge about how to train people in sustainable development. Our aim is to put all these people in touch with each other during Sustainability Week.

What is the focus of the evening events in the Great Aula?

Each evening will have its own focus. Keynote speeches and panel discussions will sometimes home in on the economy – from supply chains to sustainable business models – and sometimes on new approaches to sustainable development education. Other events will center around the role of health in sustainability, the role of AI in climate science and how environmental risks are reflected in journalism and scientific communication. All these events tackle the major challenges surrounding essential transformation, so they also explore the role of universities. And all are open both to everyone at LMU and to a wider public audience.

Will there be any other events during Sustainability Week?

Anyone who is interested can watch the documentary “Purpose”, which calls for the economy to be realigned with the common good. You can also try your hand at the strategy game “Earth4All – Parliament of the Future”, in which players make political decisions about ecological, economic and social issues. Beyond that, we are planning an info day in the atrium at the main building, where LMU institutions, international cooperation projects and the new subsidiary subject “Sustainability” will introduce themselves. The new platform “Ludwig, Max + U” gives visibility to cutting-edge research and will invite one and all to an exhibition on the beauty of biodiversity.

What part will Sustainability Week play as we move toward a more sustainable LMU?

It will be a torchbearer for more sustainability – and will be the point of departure for more and closer collaboration between the numerous institutions and people at LMU who concern themselves with this topic. If new research projects are born, lecturers plan joint seminars and/or students forge links across faculty lines, then Sustainability Week will have marked a further important step along the path toward a forward-looking culture of higher education at LMU

Sustainability Week runs from 3-7 November. It is being organized by the Munich Center for Sustainability (MZN) under the auspices of the LMU Sustainability Committee. The closing date for lecturers to register events is 16 October.

The public evening events in the Great Aula are open to anyone who is interested. For more information or to sign up, please visit the Sustainability Week website.

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