Sustainability communication

As a university, we give sustainability a central place in our core teaching and research. We have also set ourselves the goal of having a CO2-neutral, zero waste operation by 2030 and increasing the biodiversity of the area under our own management. To make more impact with our sustainability ambitions, we are committed to an overarching communication strategy on sustainability university-wide, both internally and externally. In this way, we want to use communication as a powerful tool to contribute to Utrecht University's sustainability goals and collectively realise a greater positive impact.

For this purpose, we adopt the term "sustainability at the university". This emphasises how UU contributes to sustainability goals and is more comprehensive than the term climate. By doing so, we focus on sustainability within the university setting and emphasise the importance of sustainability within education, research and operational management. This makes our story more relevant to the target audience and encourages discussions about how our university can play a role in addressing sustainability issues. Want to know more about our sustainability ambitions? Then visit the website Sustainability at the University.

To boost the impact of our communication on sustainability, and ensure that all initiatives add up to a bigger picture, we have developed materials, guidelines and tools.

1. Photography
2. Illustration
3. Sustainability label
4. Templates

Photography

The UU Image Library contains a huge number of images with the tag 'sustainability'. You may use these images freely, provided you use them for sustainability at the university. All images comply with the GDPR conditions. At the moment, we are busy adding a large series of images to the library that are specifically intended for sustainability communication. These will soon be available in the Image Library if you search with the tag 'sustainability communication'. We ask that you especially use pictures with the tag 'sustainability communication' as soon as they are available. Below you can already see some photos to give you an impression.

Illustration

Our preference is to use photography. But where no suitable image can be found or a more overarching image is desired, this custom-made illustration can also be used. The illustration can be used freely, within the context of Utrecht University and its sustainability ambitions and initiatives.

From the illustration we also distilled three elements that symbolise:

• Carbon neutral in 2030
• Zero waste by 2030
• Increasing biodiversity

The illustrations can be downloaded from the UU Image Library:

Sustainability label

To more clearly unify all initiatives around sustainability, we are adding a 'Sustainability' label on all communications. In Dutch-language communications, the label is 'Duurzaamheid'.

• Font: Open Sans extra bold.
• The space around the text equals the capital height of the text (the height of an uppercase letter).
• Placement: stuck to a border, preferrably horizontally aligned with the header.
• Text colour white, background colour black.

Templates

Word

For greater ease of use, we have created report templates in Word that already have the illustration and label in the layout. There are several variations of the cover to choose from. These templates are based on the general UU Word template.

Powerpoint

There is also a PowerPoint template, derived from the general UU PowerPoint template.