Responsibility and sustainability
Energy, climate, food, future cities and the handling of complex risks are all topics of global importance in which ETH Zurich has established itself as an international centre of excellence.
Most ETH departments and a growing number of competence centres are researching and creating solutions to ensure the sustainable development of our society.
In the field of energy, ETH Zurich has contributed significantly to implementation of the Federal Council’s Energy Strategy 2050. ETH is leading three of the eight Swiss Competence Center for Energy Research (SCCER) centres: external pagepower supplycall_made, energy efficiency in industry and external pagemobilitycall_made. Under the umbrella of the Energy Science Center, researchers from engineering, the natural sciences and social sciences are working together on renewable energies and their integration into the energy infrastructure, and on sustainable business models for the energy sector.
In climate research, ETH Zurich is working with partners to set up the external pageSwiss Polar Institutecall_made; it also operates the external pageNational Centre for Climate Servicescall_made (NCCS). Competencies relating to climate simulation and the modelling of its future development are combined in the Center for Climate System Modelling (C2SM). Climate scientists and researchers from various departments are also investigating how climate change affects ecology, the economy and society. ETH climate experts are involved as authors in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports.
Research at the World Food System Center (WFSC) contributes to long-term food security. Agricultural, environmental and nutritional scientists are working with industry partners to develop innovative approaches to the question of how the world’s growing population can be sustainably and consistently supplied with high quality, healthy food. This requires environmentally friendly and robust production systems.
In the field of high density urban area development, ETH Zurich researchers at the Singapore ETH Centre are investigating the progress of sustainable urban development under different cultural, climate and economic conditions. The Future Cities Laboratory brings researchers from different disciplines together with designers and architects.
ETH takes a systematic and interdisciplinary approach to addressing the potentially enormous impact of global risks. The ETH Risk Center combines competencies from eight departments. The Future Resilient Systems project at the Singapore ETH Center examines how critical infrastructures can be better protected in modern, innovation-driven companies. The expanded Zurich Information Security & Privacy Center (ZISC) researches information security.
News on sustainability
This researcher reads rivers
Jessica Droujko’s start-up, Riverkin, measures the water quality of freshwater ecosystems and helps quantify and respond to risks such as floods and pollution. Thanks to an ETH Pioneer Fellowship, her work is now picking up speed.
CLIMADA scoops first prize at Venture Awards
Eighteen start-ups were awarded prizes at this year’s Venture Awards, including five ETH Zurich spin-offs. CLIMADA won first prize in the Finance & Insurance category.
Using radar to study glaciers
ETH researchers are using radar to scan the snow and ice on the Jungfraujoch. Sometimes, scaling an icy peak is the only way for scientists to fully understand satellite data.