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Universities as Learning Organizations for Sustainability? The Task of Climate Protection

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Universities and Climate Change

Part of the book series: Climate Change Management ((CCM))

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Abstract

For two decades the Leuphana University of Lüneburg has addressed socio-ecological issues in research, education and administration. Realizing projects such as “Agenda 21 and University of Lüneburg” (1999), “Sustainable University” (2004) and its mission statement of “Carbon-Neutral University” (2007) entails non-trivial organizational changes. Creating an authentic “Carbon Neutral University” induces multi-level learning and decision problems within the organization. Concepts of organizational learning are considered as most promising approaches to analysing and understanding sustainability-oriented projects. Past, present, and future sustainability projects are explored in this chapter. An organizational learning perspective is applied in order to identify specific phases and mechanisms of organizational developments towards realizing the university’s mission statements. Empirical facts are discussed against the theoretical background of organizational learning. A conceptual perspective is developed for organizational learning in complex fields such as sustainable development.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    http://www.leuphana.de/nachhaltigkeitsportal/klimaneutral.html.

  2. 2.

    The university’s main campus was already carbon neutral in 2007 (http://www.leuphana.de/nachhaltigkeitsportal/klimaneutral/konzept.html).

  3. 3.

    http://www.leuphana.de/institute/forschungsgruppe-vaust/vaust.html.

  4. 4.

    The “COPERNICUS University Charta for Sustainable Development”, set up in 1993, defined the role and principles of university action in the context of sustainable development (http://www.iisd.org/educate/declarat/coper.htm).

  5. 5.

    Available online, http://www.leuphana.de/fileadmin/user_upload/uniprojekte/Umweltmanagement/files/Umwelterklaerung/ue_2000.pdf.

  6. 6.

    The learning hypotheses of single-loop and double-loop learning play a significant role in the field of organizational learning. Due to limited space this discussion has to be rescheduled; a contribution worthy of consideration is Kim 1993.

  7. 7.

    http://www.solarprojekt.uni-lueneburg.de.

  8. 8.

    http://www.unisolar-lueneburg.de.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Lüneburg, Germany

    Florian Lüdeke-Freund & Simon Burandt

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  1. Florian Lüdeke-Freund
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  2. Simon Burandt
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Correspondence to Florian Lüdeke-Freund .

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  1. Wissenschaften Hamburg, Forschungs- und Transferzentrum,, Hochschule für Angewandte, Lohbruegger Kirchstr. 65, Hamburg, 21033, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

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Lüdeke-Freund, F., Burandt, S. (2010). Universities as Learning Organizations for Sustainability? The Task of Climate Protection. In: Leal Filho, W. (eds) Universities and Climate Change. Climate Change Management. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-10751-1_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-10751-1_15

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