Network meeting of sustainability practitioners at Lower Saxony universities

On 2 and 3 April 2025, the HochNiNa annual meeting 2025 took place at Technische Universität Braunschweig. In a two-day programme, 26 sustainability actors from the universities participating in the network exchanged ideas on current sustainability developments in the higher education landscape of Lower Saxony. The participants presented current topics and projects from their respective universities. In addition, the network's working groups reported on their work.

The agenda also included the election of the network's coordination team, whose task is to support the work of the working groups within the network. The coordination team is elected at the annual network meeting for a term of two years. The members of the network's coordination team are:

· Anna Krämer, University of Oldenburg

· Katalin Kuse, University of Hildesheim

· Dr Asja Mrotzek-Blöß, Technische Universität Clausthal

The meeting was organised by a team from the Green Office at TU Braunschweig and the Lower Saxony Centre for Climate Research, which is a member of HochNiNa through its managing director Katharina Zickwolf. The next annual conference will take place in Clausthal in 2026, hosted by the Green Office at Technische Universität Clausthal.

About HochNiNa:

The network Sustainability at Universities in Lower Saxony (HochNiNa) has been in existence since 2018 and aims to promote exchange and cooperation between those responsible for sustainability at universities in Lower Saxony. It aims to give them a common voice to expand sustainability at the state's universities.

In addition to operational issues such as energy saving, mobility and waste, sustainability at universities also encompasses teaching, research, transfer and cooperation, as well as the structures and processes necessary for sustainability at a university and reporting.

Due in part to their different structures and resources, universities in Lower Saxony have set very different priorities and developed different approaches to ‘sustainability and higher education’ in recent years. The network aims to benefit from this diversity of expertise and ideas and to provide a platform for exchange, including on specific issues. It also serves as a source of new inspiration and opportunities to reflect on one's own work.

The network works in various working groups, currently on the following topics:

· Biodiversity management

· ESD

· Energy

· Fair IT procurement

· Marketing

· Moor projects

· Sustainable procurement

· Sustainability reporting

The participating universities are currently:

• Technische Universität Carolo-Wilhelmina zu Braunschweig
• Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig
• Hochschule Emden/Leer
• Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
• Leibniz Universität Hannover
• Hochschule Hannover
• HAWK Hildesheim/Holzminden/Göttingen
• Medizinische Hochschule Hannover
• Tierärztliche Hochschule Hannover
• Universität Hildesheim
• Leuphana Universität Lüneburg
• Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg
• Universität Osnabrück
• Hochschule Osnabrück
• Universität Vechta
• Ostfalia Hochschule für angewandte Wissenschaften
• Technische Universität Clausthal
• Jade Hochschule

Third-party funded project COUNTS

Since August 2023, the HochNiNa network has been implementing the project ‘COUNTS – Standardisation, further development and communication of greenhouse gases at universities in Lower Saxony’. The aim of the three-year project, which is funded by the Lower Saxony Ministry of the Environment, is to enable, simplify and standardise greenhouse gas accounting for universities in Lower Saxony.