Tec shares 2-year progress on its sustainability plan for 2025

2 years after its creation, Tec de Monterrey has shared progress in each of the 6 areas included in the Ruta Azul initiative, its sustainability and climate change plan for 2025.

“When we were designing the strategic plan for 2025, we thought it was very important to have an impact on society and that’s how Ruta Azul was created,” explained David Garza, Rector and Executive President of the Tec.

“We want our educational institution to set an example for other institutions to follow on sustainability issues,” he added.

Below, we share some of the progress made in each of the areas included in the Ruta Azul plan.

1. Culture of sustainability

This part of the plan promotes sustainability conscious decision-making.

Over the past two years, the Tec has avoided the emission of more than 8.5 tons of CO2, and more than 707,200 liters of water have been saved. In addition, the plan avoided the use of 112,500 plastic bottles.

2. Mitigation

The aim of this part of the plan is to reduce the environmental impact of the institution’s operations. By 2025, it expects to reduce its carbon footprint by 50%.

Greenhouse gas emissions have been reduced by 41%, and 74% of the energy consumed by the Tec and TecSalud each year comes from renewable sources.

In addition, total water consumption on campus was reduced by 15.1% in comparison with 2019 and the amount of recycling/composting increased from 4 to 24%.

“We want our educational institution to set an example for other institutions to follow on sustainability issues.” - David Garza, Rector and Executive President of the Tec.

3. Adaptation

This part of the plan aims to minimize the impact of climate change on Tec facilities, the Tec community, and neighboring communities.

Precise georeferencing was carried out as part of this aspect of the plan, creating a database of more than 34,000 trees on campus as part of the national inventory of trees.

4. Education

This part of the plan aims to shape leaders committed to forging a sustainable future.

From 2019, Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 12 was included on the curriculum for undergraduate courses taught by National Schools.

Teaching modules including SDGs were consolidated, impacting more than 4,500 students.

5. Research

This part of the plan promotes interdisciplinary research which will provide systemic solutions to the complexities of climate change and supports the need for sustainable development.

The first internal call was designed for projects which would promote applied innovative and interdisciplinary research with a focus on campuses as ‘living laboratories.’

What’s more, the education track focused on sustainable development started with the launch of the Novus 2023 call, which supports educational innovation research projects incorporating Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and SDGs.

6. Outreach

Its aim of this part of the plan is to catalyze climate action in society in general.

The Ruta Azul Student Committee was created to establish a direct link between students from all campuses. It is made up of 34 student sustainability leaders from each undergraduate and PrepaTec campus.

The Life Long Learning Green Academy was set up by the Vice Rector’s Office for Continuing Education to guide organizations on the development of a sustainability-oriented culture, to train leaders in sustainability, and to help the private sector identify climate risks.

For the second consecutive year, the Tec participated in the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27), the world’s most important climate action event.

A delegation including staff, two researchers, and a student was sent to the event.

The presentation

The second Ruta Azul progress report for 2022-2023 was presented on April 21 in the Main Hall of the Rector’s Building, the event being led by David Garza, Rector and Executive President of the Tec, and Inés Sáenz, Vice President of Inclusion, Social Impact, and Sustainability at the Tec.

Ruta Azul students and staff also participated.

Watch the broadcast of the presentation here (in spanish):

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