Sustainability Week: “To change the world, we need small initiatives that we can all commit to”

The first Sustainability Week at the Universidade Católica Portuguesa began, an initiative that runs from November 24 to 28 simultaneously on the four campuses – Lisbon, Porto, Braga, and Viseu – offering more than 80 activities.

In her opening speech for the Week, at the Católica's headquarters in Lisbon, the President began by emphasizing that Sustainability “is not a passing fad, but part of our university's strategy and mission, which understands that there is no plan B for either the planet or people.”

In this context, Isabel Capeloa Gil recalled the importance of caring for the environment and of having a vision and management and governance models that place the human person at the center. She also mentioned some of Católica's commitments in different areas of sustainability. For example, the use of renewable energies, monitoring and reducing its carbon footprint, but also respect for others, social involvement, and valuing diversity.

“We are a catolic university, and ‘catolic’ means ‘universal’ in the sense of being a university without walls, which embraces everyone and is welcoming. This is also part of our sustainability strategy. We focus mainly on environmental and management issues, but this cultural aspect is also part of it,” she emphasized.

Isabel Capeloa Gil also argued that “it is the role of institutions such as universities to lead awareness-raising, but also to produce concrete solutions” that can truly transform the way societies organize themselves and deal with environmental issues, without forgetting that our impacts as individuals and our daily activities can harm the planet and the future.

“To change the world, you don't need big plans, you need small initiatives that we can all commit to, so that we can all make a difference,” concluded the rector, inviting the academic community to enjoy a sustainable coffee, in partnership with Delta.

Over the next few days, various activities will take place on Católica's four campuses. At the headquarters in Lisbon, for example, there will be an electronic waste collection campaign, lectures on food waste and on the relationship between sustainability and psychology, education, law, and leadership, as well as debates on urban mobility and dating violence. Today, there will be a workshop on how to organize sustainable festivals.

With Sustainability Week, Católica reinforces its commitment to promoting care for the environment, social justice, economic equity, and responsible governance, contributing to a more just and equitable future and developing sustainable actions in all its dimensions—teaching, research, social and environmental responsibility—with the involvement of everyone.