Joint Stockholm initiative for sustainable actions
Bringing together expertise, offering attractive training and providing a hub for collaboration. This is the vision for the Stockholm Trio for Sustainable Actions - a new initiative from Karolinska Institutet, KTH and Stockholm University to further contribute to sustainable societal development.
In May 2019, Karolinska Institutet, KTH and Stockholm University formed a university alliance known as the Stockholm Trio. This partnership is now being extended with a joint platform focused on collaboration and innovation for sustainable actions. The Stockholm Trio for Sustainable Actions is a multi-year initiative that starts today, 1 June 2022.
"This initiative will emphasize our work on sustainability. Together, we can achieve things that are impossible for our individual organisations alone. We are opening up new opportunities and increasing our visibility. The initiative also provides new arenas for students and researchers to learn about, discuss and eventually solve the great challenges of our time," says Karin Dahlman-Wright, Vice Chair of the Karolinska Institutet Council for Sustainable Development.
The Stockholm Trio for Sustainable Actions is being launched in connection with the UN conference Stockholm+50, currently being held in Stockholm, and where climate and environment are on the agenda. The universities' new initiative is based on the 17 global goals of the 2030 Agenda, with a particular focus on climate and global health. The hope is to realise visionary solutions at a greater pace in the area of sustainability.
"This initiative will allow academia to highlight its crucial role in solving complex environmental and social challenges and contributing to sustainable development. It is important to strengthen collaboration with other societal actors and ensure that the expertise of our universities can support decision- and policy-making with facts grounded in scholarship," says Johan Kuylenstierna, Senior Advisor for Sustainability at Stockholm University and Chair of the Climate Policy Council.
All three universities already carry out education, research and collaboration in the field of sustainability. Projects include reducing energy use in buildings and creating circular flows for university furniture. The Stockholm Trio for Sustainable Actions will strengthen ongoing sustainability work. In the coming year, the initiative will focus on communication as well as skills mapping. The universities will also develop a joint interdisciplinary course for students regarding the role of science in promoting sustainable and large-scale change.
"Together, we have a unique opportunity to contribute to sustainable development. Most crucially, the initiative will allow for joint activities that will lead us forward and provide concrete results and solutions," says Kristina von Oelreich, Head of Sustainability at KTH.