Sustainability Course Catalogue

This catalog makes it easy to find sustainability related lectures.

ETH Zurich aims to empower students to contribute to sustainable development. Below is a selection of our courses that will provide you with relevant knowledge, methods and skills to promote sustainability, regardless of the program of study you are pursuing.
The framework consists of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations 2030 Agenda.

How to read this course catalogue

HS next to the course title indicates that the course is taking place in the autumn semester (Herbstsemester), FS indicates spring semester (Frühjahrssemester). Please note that courses marked with * are only accessible for specific target groups.

A description of the methods used for this overview can be found at the end of the page.

General courses on Sustainable Development (selected)

HS - The Sustainable Development Goals in Context
HS - ETH Week : Circular Realities
HS - Sustainable Development - Bridging Art and Science

FS - Complexity and Global Systems Science
FS - Transdisciplinary Case Study
FS - KNUST-ETH Global Development Summer School

Courses by SDG (selected)

FS - Entwicklungsökonomik (DE)
FS - Contemporary Development Debate*

HS - Introduction to Nutritional Science
HS - Startup for Smart Sustainable Farming

FS - Sustainable Agroecosystems I
FS - History of Food and Agriculture
FS - Advanced Topics in Nutritional Science
FS - Sustainable Food Processing

HS - Cross-Disciplinary R&D in Medicine and Engineering*
HS - Digital Health in Practice (UZH)
HS - Public Health Concepts

FS - Drug, Society and Public Health
FS - The Role of Food and Nutrition for Disease Prevention
FS - Nutrition Case Studies

HS - Coaching Students
HS - VET between Poverty Alleviation and Economic Development*

HS - Particular Questions in Architectural Theory: Parity in History?

FS - Gender and Economics*
FS - Gender Issues In Education and STEM*

HS - Water Resources Seminars

FS - Water Supply, Sanitation, Waste Infrastructure and Services in Developing Countries
FS - Participatory and Integrated Water Resources Planning
FS - Sustainability and Water Resources*
FS - Water Governance: Challenges and Solutions*

HS - Governing the Energy Transition
HS - Projektentwicklung im Bereich erneuerbarer Energien (DE)
HS - Energy and Environment in the 21st Century (Part I)

FS - Energy Innovation and Management*
FS - Technology and Policy of Electrical Energy Storage
FS - Energy and Sustainability in the 21st Century (Part II)

HS - Resource and Environmental Economics
HS - The Economics of Climate Change

FS - Business Models for a Circular Economy
FS - Economic Growth and Resource Use
FS - Sustainability Start-Up Seminar
FS - Ökologische Ökonomik: Grundlagen & Wachstumskritik (DE)

HS - Law & Tech
FS & HS - Ethics Workshop: Impact of Digital Life on Society

FS - Technological Innovations and Sustainability Transitions
FS - Diffusion of Clean Technologies
FS - Digital Transformation for Circular Construction
FS - Sustainable Supply Chain Management

HS - The Politics & Policies of International Migration
HS - Rehabilitation and Inclusion
HS - Economics of Inequality

FS - Machine Learning for Global Development
FS - International Development Engineering
FS - Humanitarian Operations and Supply Chain Management

HS - Spatial Planning and Development
HS - Introduction to Sust. Dev. in the Built Environment
HS - Public Transport Design and Operations

FS - Managing the Transition to Sustainable Mobility
FS - Re-/Source the Built Environment
FS - Urban Planning and Policy

HS - Corporate Sustainability
HS - Sustainable Materials: Concepts, Methods, Principles
HS - Sustainable Materials Management

FS - Waste Management and Circular Economy
FS - Strategies for Sustainable Business
FS - Concepts and Tools for Sustainable Chemicals Manufacture

HS - Climate Policy
HS - Climate Change Mitigation: CDR
HS - Environmental Governance

FS - Climate Change Uncertainty and Risk
FS - CCS & the Industry of Carbon-Based Resources
FS - Climate Economics and Finance

FS - Hydrosphäre (DE)
FS - Modelling Aquatic Ecosystems

HS - The Economics of Climate Change
HS - Foundations of Ecosystem Management
HS - International Environmental Politics
HS - Ecosystem Conservation and Restoration

FS - Energy, Resources, Environment: Risks and Prospects
FS - Policy and Economics of Ecosystem Services

HS - Konfliktforschung I: Politische Gewalt (DE)
HS - Ungleichheit und Ungerechtigkeit (DE)
HS - Umweltpolitik der Schweiz (DE)

FS - Konfliktforschung II: Bürgerkriege (DE)*

HS - International Environmental Politics
HS - International Development Cooperation
HS - International Engineering: from Hubris to Hope

FS - International Economics: Theory of New Trade and Multinational Firms
FS - Internationale Politik: Theorie und Analysemethoden (DE)

Methods

The ETH Sustainability team determined 575 keywords on the basis of the SDG subtargets and related indicators. With the help of ETH Zurich’s Institutional Research team, the keywords were applied to the comprehensive course catalogue, searching within the title, description and learning objectives of a course. From the resulting over 800 courses, up to five courses per SDG were selected to be presented on this website. Please let us know if there is any course related to the SDGs and sustainability in general that is missing from our list.

Additionally, another search was conducted based on the keywords of external pageTimes Higher Education Impact Ranking. external pageHere you may find more information about their keyword selections and Downloadhere (XLSX, 343 KB) you find our resulting course list.