What we do

We are the hub in Leiden where students and staff members cooperate to make our University more sustainable!

Mission

LUGO (Leiden University Green Office) has two main objectives:  

1. Structurally integrate sustainability in Leiden University’s education, research, and facilities.
2. Foster a culture of sustainability in the community of staff and students at Leiden University.

Why?

As an international university, Leiden University is aware of the role of education and research in the transformation towards a sustainable society. Therefore, various departments of the university have worked together to develop the institution’s environmental policy: Milieubeleidsplan Universiteit Leiden 2016-2020. This document represented an important step towards a more active and visible action of the university towards more sustainable policies. This has now been built upon, with a sustainability vision and a yearly sustainability report published by the university. This can be found in the Sustainability dossier.

One of the key-aspects of sustainability is the involvement of the university community in the execution of the plan. This is why the Leiden University Green Office was started in 2016, with the task of raising awareness towards the goal of a more sustainable university through the involvement of students and staff.

How?

You might wonder “What is a Green Office?”. Let’s explain this shortly!

A Green Office is a physical platform on sustainability within a university, meant for both its students and staff. The team executes projects on sustainability and supports the realization of ideas on sustainability by the community or the university.

The Green Office model has been developed by RootAbility.  The organisation is student-led, where students’ knowledge and dynamic way of interacting can be used to realize projects on sustainability. Staff takes on a supportive role, to help navigate the Green Office to pave a sustainable way within the university. This is of importance, because students often perceive the university as an impenetrable organization.

The first Green Office was opened in 2010 in Maastricht. In 2016, six years later, almost every university has one or is starting one. And this is not only in the Netherlands but in Sweden, Italy, Germany, the UK and Belgium as well!

What?

As a Green Office, we communicate with different university parties about how they could make their department or the university in general more sustainable. We also support staff members and students to carry out their own green ideas. Last but not least, we organise different kinds of events to spread awareness of sustainability and to allow the university community to engage in sustainable activities. Follow our Facebook and Instagram, and sign up for our Newsletter to learn more about our current projects and to sign up for all the upcoming events!