New Associate Vice President for Sustainability

The Executive Board has appointed Sonia Seneviratne as the new Associate Vice President for Sustainability (see News from the Executive Board, 21.12.2022). The appointment underlines the high status of the position: sustainability is a strategic field of action at ETH Zurich that extends across the four core areas of research, teaching, campus life and dialogue with society – and with Seneviratne, the university has again gained an internationally renowned climate researcher who will take care of this core area over the next four years.

Her mission: Together with the ETH Sustainability team from the President's Office, she will steer the diverse sustainability activities at all levels of the university, launch new initiatives and communicate achievements both internally and externally.

A perfect match

Seneviratne brings ideal qualifications with her: The Lausanne native studied environmental physics at ETH Zurich and completed her doctorate at the Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science (IAC) in D-USYS. After a postdoc at NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, she returned to ETH as a senior scientist in 2005. In 2007 she was appointed assistant professor, and since 2016, she has been a full professor of land-climate dynamics at the IAC. In her research, she focuses on land processes and extreme events, in particular heat waves and droughts.

Seneviratne  has played a leading role in various reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (see Zukunftsblog) and has received several awards for her research, including two grants from the European Research Council (ERC). Today, she is one of the world's most influential researchers in her field and a sought-after expert in the media and politics.

From knowledge to action

In this sense, her election stands for continuity: Seneviratne will succeed Reto Knutti on 1 January 2023. The internationally renowned climate physicist from the Bernese Oberland is also a professor at the IAC and a passionate ambassador on sustainability and climate issues.

Knutti has been Delegate of the Executive Board since 2015 and has acted as a hub for strategic sustainability issues in close collaboration with ETH Sustainability. In this role, he identified potential for action, connected stakeholders and projects, and engaged with media and the public.

"I have always seen my role as finding allies and topics where something can be moved," Knutti looks back. And together they have succeeded in doing quite a bit: During his term of office, he accompanied projects such as sustainable gastronomy, air travel or progress in the building and heating sector. In a comparative study by WWF Switzerland on sustainability at Swiss universities, ETH Zurich achieved and maintained first place.

Finally, Knutti and the Sustainability Team defined the strategy for a climate-neutral ETH and officially launched the joint project Net Zero by 2030. This process from knowledge to action particularly fascinated the climate physicist: "It was an exciting time."

After eight years at the levers of ETH sustainability, Reto Knutti is now turning his attention back to his research and new projects – but his overarching goal remains the same: to find sustainable pathways to a climate-neutral society together with partners in the new large-scale project SPEED2ZERO .

Accurate data as a handover

In a few days, Seneviratne will take the helm. She will receive a series of solid datasets on ETH environmental and energy statistics from her predecessor. "This is important, because it is the only way we can track our development and constantly review the effectiveness of measures," confirms the designated associate vice-president for sustainability. She adds “I am thankful to the sustainability team, the many at ETH who are passionate about the topics, and Reto Knutti for all the work they have invested in this essential task in the past years”.

A climate-neutral ETH and the practical question of how decarbonisation can best be implemented at the university will be the central tasks. The ETH net-zero paper shows the planned reduction path, but concrete steps towards net-zero CO₂ will need to be worked out and will continue to require large efforts from all parts of the school.

"Achieving net-zero CO₂ credibly and permanently at ETH Zurich is a mammoth task, but this challenge strongly appeals to me because we can work out innovative solutions on a small scale," says Seneviratne. Accordingly, she wants to ensure that ETH Zurich will be a role model here for the whole of Switzerland. "Our net-zero target must be bulletproof, otherwise our credibility is at stake.