Reporting Architecture
TU Dortmund University presents its first sustainability report in September 2024 that is updates on an ongoing basis. On behalf of the Rectorate, the Sustainability Office has worked closely with various members of TU Dortmund University to centrally record and prepare the university's sustainability indicators from its fields of activity. The report, published exclusively online, provides transparency regarding TU Dortmund University’s sustainability initiatives and, for the first time, systematically documents their current status and progress.
The interactive graphics in the report were created using Datawrapper and inkscape.
Alignment with Sustainability Standards and Rankings
The report is based on the German Sustainability Code for Higher Education (hDNK) (in German) developed by the BMBF-funded DG HochN project and takes into account its criteria and areas of action regarding sustainability at universities. However, to make the content clearer and more accessible, it deviates in some respects from the proposed structure and terminology. In addition, the indicators from the UI GreenMetric ranking were taken into account, though not adopted in their entirety. Launched in 2010 by “Universitas Indonesia,” the ranking tracks universities' commitment to and initiatives for sustainability worldwide.
Emission Factors
The emission factors shown in the following overview were used as the basis for calculating greenhouse gas emissions.
The emission factors are based on the calculations of the KliMax tool(CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) of the Magedeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences, which serves as a basis for other colleges and universities in Germany.
| Emitter | CO2-eq | Unit | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electricity Federal mix | 427 | kg CO2-eq/MWh | [1] |
| Electricity Combined Heat and Power Plant (Blockheizkraftwerk) | 672 | kg CO2-eq/MWh | [2] |
| Electricity Green electricity | 50 | kg CO2-eq/MWh | [3] |
| Heat Natural gas | 261 | kg CO2-eq/MWh | [4] |
| Heat Combined Heat and Power Plant (Blockheizkraftwerk) | 162 | kg CO2-eq/MWh | [2] |
| Heat wood pellets | 27 | kg CO2-eq/MWh | [4] |
| Car | 209 | g CO2-eq/km | [5] |
| Flights | 297 | g CO2-eq/km | [5] |
| Train | 49 | g CO2-eq/km | [5] |
| Overnight stay in 3-star hotel | 16,9 | g CO2-eq/km | [6] |
| Waste | 21 | g CO2-eq/t | [7] |
| Sources | |||
| [1] | German Environment Agency | ||
| [2] | Own calculation (Carnot method) | ||
| [3] | KliMax tool (via Institute for Energy and Environmental Research) | ||
| [4] | KliMax-Tool (via GEMIS V. 5.1) | ||
| [5] | German Environment Agency | ||
| [6] | DEHOGA Federal Association, Sustainable management in the hotel and catering industry, 2016, p. 7. | ||
| [7] | KliMax tool (via DEFRA) | ||
Keyword search in the chapter "Implementation of ESD"
The total number of courses was determined in the university portal LSF in the "Students" role according to course type and semester. Certain event types such as "exams" or "school internship" were not counted. The following were counted as sustainable courses:
1. All courses from the studium oecologicum in summer semester 25 (40) and winter semester 25/26 (46)
2. Courses in the university portal LSF were searched for keywords: summer semester 25 (134) and winter semester 25/26 (173) (Courses from the studium oecologicum modules have already been deducted; for some words, only parts of the word were used to cover multiple terms, such as "Mobilit" for the words "Mobilität" and "Mobility").
Abfall | Accountability | Agriculture | Air | Armut | Artenvielfalt | Barrierefreiheit | Behinderung | Bildung für nachhaltige Entwicklung | Bio | BNE | Boden | Change | Circularity | Climate | Consumption | Earth | Eco | Emission | Energie | Energy | environment | Erde | Ernährung | erneuerbare | Fair | Forestry | Forstwirtschaft | Frieden | Future | Geo | gerecht | Geschlecht | green | grün | Heat | hochwertige Bildung | Hunger | Infrastruktur | Inklusi | justice | Klima | Konsum | Kreislauf | Landwirtschaft | Luft | Mitigation | Mobilit | Nachhaltig | Natur | Nutrition | öko | Photovoltai | Planet | Plastik | Plastic | Protection | Recycling | renewable | Resources | Responsibility | Ressourcen | Schutz | Soil | Solar | sustain | Traffic | Transform | Transition | Transport | Umwelt | Verantwortung | Verbrauch | Verkehr | Vermeidung | warm | Wärme | Wasser | Waste | Water | Wende | Zukunft
Publications
Selection of Databases for SDG Queries on Publications
Scopus is currently not available as a data source for querying the SDG assignments of TU Dortmund University publications. Searches in Scopus are limited to individual SDGs, and Scopus advises against using this approach (as of 09/2025). SciVal, a web-based analysis tool based on the Scopus database, can provide this evaluation. However, TU Dortmund University has not held a license for SciVal since 2025. OpenAlex was used as an alternative for the query. The data from OpenAlex is available under a CCO license and may therefore be used freely. Unlike Scopus, however, OpenAlex does not curate its data, and virtually any work can be included in OpenAlex, mostly via DOIs from Crossref. Additionally, the data in OpenAlex is sometimes incomplete, particularly regarding affiliation information. Therefore, not all publications in OpenAlex can be assigned to an affiliation such as TU Dortmund University. A publication in OpenAlex can potentially be assigned to multiple SDGs. The following publication categories were included in the count: "article", "book", "book chapter", "dissertation", "editorial", "preprint", "report", and "review".
Inclusion of Affiliated Institutes in the Publication Search
OpenAlex uses information from ROR (labels and aliases) in particular to map affiliation data to organizations. The Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors (IfADo) at TU Dortmund University is included in the data because TU Dortmund Unibversity is frequently mentioned in its affiliation information. This is not necessarily expected for the ISAS (Leibniz-Institut für Analytische Wissenschaften) and other affiliated institutes, which is why they are not explicitly included.
Determining the Open Access Proportion:
The “is_oa” field is used in the data to indicate the OA proportion.
Research Projects
Most of the projects in the database are only valid as of 01 January 2024.
| Abfall | Energy | Luft | Ressourcen |
| Accountability | Environment | Mitigation | Schutz |
| Agriculture | Erde | Mobilität | Soil |
| Air | Ernährung | Mobility | Solar |
| Armut | erneuerbare | Nachhaltig | sustain |
| Artenvielfalt | Fairness | Natur | Sustainability |
| Barrierefreiheit | Forestry | Natur | sustainable |
| Behinderung | Forstwirtschaft | Nature | Traffic |
| Bildung für nachhaltige Entwicklung | Frieden | Nutrition | Transform |
| Bio | Future | öko | Transition |
| Biodiversität | Geo | Ökologie | Transport |
| Biodiversity | gerecht | ökologisch | Umwelt |
| BNE | Gerechtigkeit | Ökonomie | Verantwortung |
| Boden | Geschlecht | Ökosystem | Verantwortung |
| Change | Gesundheit | Photovoltaics | Verbrauch |
| Circularity | Heat | Photovoltaik | Verkehr |
| Climate | hochwertige Bildung | Planet | Vermeidung |
| Consumption | Hunger | Plastic | warm |
| Earth | Infrastruktur | Plastik | Wärme |
| Ecology | justice | Protection | Wasser |
| Economy | Klima | Recycling | Waste |
| Ecosystem | Klimaschutz | Recycling | Water |
| Emissionen | Konsum | renewable | Wende |
| Emissions | Kreislauf | Resources | Zukunft |
| Energie | Landwirtschaft | Responsibility |
Disclaimer
This sustainability report does not claim to be exhaustive and will be updated regularly. The selected projects are intended to show examples of how sustainability at TU Dortmund University is embedded and considered in research, teaching and transfer, in government, management and operations. Quantitative data was obtained from different time periods, depending on the criterion dealt with, which are marked in each case. Qualitative data was collected for the first time in 2022 and updated in 2025/2026. The Sustainability Office is continuously working on making the Sustainability Report barrier-free. Suggestions and additions to the report are very welcome.