Moving towards greater sustainability

Movetia is looking at the contribution it makes to sustainable development. On the surface, this is something of a contradictory task: the mission of Movetia is to promote exchange and mobility, but travel generates CO2 which is damaging to the climate. On the other hand, a good education also contributes to sustainable development and there are ways of making mobility more environmentally friendly. Quite a challenging balance to strike!

The current reason for this focus is the bachelor thesis by Jeannine Bugnon from the communications department, who is grappling with the issue on her continuing education course and drafting recommendations for Movetia. Besides this, a working group is tackling the issue of ‘green mobility’. Not that these initiatives are new for Movetia: two years ago, the team already began to examine its ecological footprint and took sustainable measures to reduce it.

Sustainable development involves not only ecological aspects, but also economic and social factors. The UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), provide guidance on how to address this complex issue. Some of the major challenges are climate change, equal opportunities and a quality education for all. The Federal Council also stresses the social responsibility of national companies. In a position paper and action plan, companies are called upon to act responsibly towards present and future generations to ensure that sustainable economic activity will remain possible in the long term.

With its exchange and mobility programmes, Movetia already makes an active contribution to sustainable development by supporting comprehensive education. Anyone who dares to take the bold step that an exchange represents, acquires valuable knowledge and competences such as creativity, flexibility or entrepreneurship. An exchange experience supports young adults on their way to becoming open and responsible citizens. But Switzerland as an educational and economic area also benefits: the new experiences and the networking that take place result in innovative ideas for Switzerland.

All the more important, then, to make exchange and mobility even more sustainable. The agency for exchange and mobility seeks to take its social responsibility more seriously, examining its activities from a social, economic and ecological perspective and weighing up various measures to better exercise this responsibility. The focus is on equal opportunities, inclusion and green mobility. In addition, Movetia uses an online evaluation to determine the needs of the stakeholder groups. The results are being incorporated into the recommendations for Movetia. Stay tuned!