Sustainability Council

The Sustainability Council advises the Rectorate on the further development of the sustainability strategy and the associated implementation planning and makes corresponding recommendations.

The Council is made up of 12 voting members who have been selected on the basis of their particular relevance to sustainability issues: one professor from each faculty, two academic staff members, two members from the technological and administrative staff, and two students. In addition, members and representatives of the Rectorate are entitled to attend meetings as guests. The Vice-Rector for Sustainability, Prof. Dr. Kirk W. Junker, chairs the meetings in an advisory capacity.

The Sustainability Council ordinarily convenes twice a year, once per semester, to discuss sustainability issues and develop statements and recommendations.

Professor Dr. Marc Oliver Bettzüge holds the Chair of Economics, Energy, and Sustainability at the Faculty Management, Economics, and Social Sciences and is Director of the Institute of Energy Economics (affiliate institute). In addition to his management duties, Professor Bettzüge is primarily concerned with institutional, economic, and strategic fundamental issues of the energy industry and energy policy. In August 2020, he was appointed by the German government as a member of the Council of Experts on Climate Change in accordance with the German Federal Climate Change Act (Bundes-Klimaschutzgesetz).

Christiane Biehl is Head of Department 93 International Mobility and Deputy Head of Division 9 International Affairs as well as Senator of Employees in Technology and Administration. One strategic topic in her area of responsibility is the question of how mobility can be made more sustainable. She also strives to take the Sustainable Development Goals into consideration in international projects, event, and exchange formats.

Professor Dr. Christiane Bruns is Director of the Clinic and Polyclinic of General, Visceral, Cancer and Transplant Surgery at University Hospital Cologne. She is also a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.

Dr. Thomas Fischer is akademischer Rat at the Chair of Inorganic and Materials Chemistry of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences and coordinates its Sustainability Initiative. He conducts research on sustainable materials and is committed to the development of new courses and green labs. He was a member of the Sustainability Working Group at the UoC since 2020.

Professor Dr. Joachim Hennrichs is Vice Dean for Planning and Finances at the Faculty of Law, Chair of Civil Law, Accounting, and Tax Law, Director of the Institute for Corporation Law, and member of the board of directors of the affiliate Institute for Sustainability, Business Law and Reporting (INUR).

Marc Kühner is a student at the University of Cologne. As the AStA's Policy, Ecology and Infrastructure Officer, he has been a member of the Sustainability Council since 2025.

Paula Linstädter is a student of the International Master Environmental Sciences (IMES) at the University of Cologne and an active member of the Students For Future. She has been a member of the Sustainability Council as the representative of the student parliament since June 2025.

Professor Dr Ulrich Löhnert is an Adjunct Professor of Meteorology at the Institute of Geophysics and Meteorology of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. His research focuses on the regional observation of the Earth system and the use of this data for sustainable applications. He is head of the JOYCE cloud observatory at Forschungszentrum Jülich, which is part of the European Research Infrastructure for Aerosols, Clouds and Trace Gases (ACTRIS).

Professor Dr. Kate Rigby is Head of the Department ‘Multidisciplinary Environmental Studies in the Humanities’ (MESH) and has held an Alexander von Humboldt Professorship at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities since February 2022. She conducts research in the interdisciplinary field of Environmental Humanities, with particular expertise in ecological literary studies and religious studies.

Maria Schrempp is Director of the Staff Unit Marketing, Press, and Public Relations of the University and City Library of Cologne (USB). She coordinates the creation of a Green Team and Green Spaces at the library.

Dr. Jan Springob is Head of the School Network & International Team at the Centre for Teacher Education (Zentrum für Lehrer*innenbildung, ZfL). One focus of the Centre’s work will be the integration of sustainable development into teacher training.

Professor Dr. Ursula Stenger holds the Chair of Educational Science with a focus on Early Childhood and Family at the Faculty of Human Sciences. Her research focuses on epistemological questions in the face of planetary boundaries and ethical-ecological transformations of learning cultures in early childhood. She is committed to activities around sustainability in the Faculty of Human Sciences.

Professor Dr. Kirk W. Junker is Vice-Rector for Sustainability and, in coordination with the Rectorate, is responsible for the integration of sustainable development in all areas of the University of Cologne. He is chairman of the Sustainability Council and is supported in his tasks by the Sustainability Office. He is Chair of U.S. Law at the Faculty of Law and Director of the Environmental Law Center.

Ella Bent is a student at the UoC and was a member of the Council as the AStA's 2023 ecology and infrastructure officer.

Professor Dr. Susanne Crewell holds the Chair of Meteorology at the Department of Geosciences of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. She is also a recipient of the Alfred Wegener Medal and a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. She conducts research on the atmospheric water cycle using remote sensing methods.

Hessel Eek is a student at the University of Cologne and was the representative of the student parliament in the sustainability council from 2024 to June 2025.

Lukas Giesbert is a student of Law and member of Students for Future Cologne  (in 2019, together with SFF, he presented demands for climate protection at a student general assembly with 1.670 participants and brought them to the Senate together with the student union AStA in 2020). As a representative of the student parliament, he was part of the Sustainability Council.

Marina Knust was a student at the University of Cologne. She worked as a project manager for the Green Office Initiative and was the AStA's Ecology and Infrastructure Officer from 2020 to 2022. She served as a member of the Sustainability Council from 2023 to 2024.

Professor Dr Michael Schemmann was a member of the Sustainability Council from April 2022 to July 2023. He is Scientific Director of the Professional Center and holds the Chair of Adult Education / Continuing Education at the Faculty of Human Sciences.

Judith Schmidtlein was a student at the University of Cologne and a member of the Sustainability Council from 2022 to 2024.

Professor Dr Günter Schwarz, as Rectorate representative for innovation, research infrastructure and sustainability, was chairman of the Sustainability Council from April 2022 to September 2023. He holds a chair in biochemistry at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences.

Ole Walter is a student at the UoC and the AStA's ecology and infrastructure officer of 2024. In this role, he was part of the Sustainability Council.