GREEN OFFICE Report Card

In 2021, UvA published a White Paper on Sustainability, laying out five objectives for 2021-2025. Several of these objectives included specific tasks assigned to the Green Office. 

Now that the period covered by the White Paper has ended, we believe that it is important for members of the UvA community to understand what progress has been made towards these goals. Although UvA has not formally released any statements about whether it met the White Paper objectives, Folia has reported that many of the White Paper objectives were not yet.  

We are publishing an evaluation of progress towards the tasks that were assigned to the Green Office. Our assessment showed that while some of the tasks were completed, some were not. One challenge was that there was no clear feedback loop between the Green Office, supervisors, and the wider UvA sustainability governance structure, so the Green Office was not always aware of their assigned tasks from the White Paper. 

We recommend that going forward, UvA publishes annual updates on sustainability, including measured progress towards its next set of objectives and a reflection on challenges and opportunities. We also recommend a quarterly check-in between the UvA Sustainability Office and any team assigned tasks in the White Paper to ensure priorities do not slip through the cracks. 

Goal	Green Office Task	Status	Explanation
1. Towards a fair ecological footprint: 25% reduction in five years	Encourages users to behave sustainably through campaigns, challenges etc., for example, with regard to waste separation and making sustainable choices in the cafeteria	★★★★☆	➕GO was involved in the creation of De Nieuwe Mensa to encourage sustainable choices in the cafeteria and gave input on UvA Food Vision (2021-26)  ➕GO was involved in removing single-use cups from campus (2021-25) ➕GO leads the Green Commitment pledge to promote sustainable behavior in student organizations (2021-25) ➕Green Guide/Sustainability brochure has been released annually to promote sustainable shopping (2021-25) ➖GO tried to promote the switch to Ecosia as a sustainable browser, but ICT blocked (2021-22) ➖GO only ran one edition of e-Waste Guides (2021) ➖GO worked to create an eco-score for the cafeteria, but CirFood and Facility Services blocked (2022) ➖GO encouraged a switch to sustainable banking, but UvA chose ING instead of Triodos (2023-25) ➖GO tried to promote furniture recycling in student housing, but the pilot did not happen (2024-26) ➖GO tried to create a free(dge) to reduce food waste, but it was delayed (2025-26)
	Links operational management issues to courses in which these can serve as case studies/practical assignments	★★★☆☆	➕Computational Social Science (CSSci) course asked a team of students to make use of behavioural change theory in a plan to increase Green Office visibility.  ➕Placemaking course asked a team of students to look into attractive, healthy, and sustainable food alternatives to the food in the campus canteen ➖No continued collaboration with Facility Services on courses
2. The UvA has an active sustainability community	Programmes activities that are of interest to both staff and students and promotes these activities among both groups	★★★★☆	➕Green career days (2021-22), Green Talks interviews (2021-22), Alumni Interviews (2021-22), GO Podcast (2021-22), Green Weeks in collaboration with HvA GO (2022-23) ➕Critical Sustainability Lectures (2025-26) open to staff and students  ➖ There is still a diversity of events being planned but they are not well attended
	Provides a platform for all students who want to work towards sustainability, for example, by bringing them together, promoting initiatives, providing a platform and/or providing grassroots funding.	★★★☆☆	➕Instagram has ~3k followers and weekly posts ➕Averaging 25 GO volunteers a year  ➕As of 2026, the GO is the most recognized campus sustainability initiative among faculty and staff and is frequently referred to in UvA communications ➕GO is housed in a highly visible location  ➖Knowledge Hub - a GO initiative to connect all faculty and students with each other and with external partners - was launched in 2021 but not continued  ➖Participation from GO volunteers has not grown over 5 years, and drops off in the second semester  ➖Limited funding for grassroots projects given ➖Reach plateaued in 2022 (only small increases in subscriber numbers since then) ➖Barrier to entry to volunteering with the GO is high
3. All degree programmes pay appropriate attention to sustainability	Starts the Living Lab programme, possibly in collaboration with the Amsterdam Green Campus, linking sustainability issues from the city to UvA courses, based on the Green Office model of Utrecht University	☆☆☆☆☆	➖GO has not been involved with the Living Lab
	Develops initiatives to encourage the integration of sustainability in education, such as a sustainable thesis award and/or a best practice award for mainstreaming sustainability in a programme	★★☆☆☆	➕Served on the committee to establish a pilot IIS Sustainability Minor and Master’s (2022) ➖GO does not run any awards or other initiatives on integrating sustainability in education
4. At the UvA, all students can develop and specialise to become pioneers in sustainability	Brings the range of courses and minors relating to sustainability to the attention of students, for example through social media, the Green Office website and/or the organisation of information meetings.	★★★★☆	➕Sustainable course guides from 2021-2025 released online and social media; sustainable exchange guide released in 2022 ➖Sustainable course guide not released in 2026 ➖No regular or open information meetings
5. We contribute to a sustainable world through our research	No assigned tasks

If you are interested in contributing to the Green Office’s work to make UvA’s campuses more sustainable, join our mailing list to be notified of volunteer opportunities in the fall!