Employees and students at the ZHAW took part in a playful competition that reduced greenhouse gas emissions while raising awareness of climate issues.

During seven weeks in spring 2023, participants of the first ZHAW-wide climate duel could choose between 14 challenges designed to change their everyday behaviour. Every week, participants signed up for one footprint challenge and one handprint challenge. Environmental psychologist Cathérine Hartmann led the project together with David Koch from the Institute of Natural Resource Sciences (IUNR). “While the footprint challenges were all about reducing emissions, the handprint challenges were meant to increase awareness of certain topics,” says Hartmann. During a footprint challenge for example, 90 participants attempted to eat vegan lunches for a week, while 72 participants shared 120 sustainable – and generally vegan – recipes as a handprint challenge in the same week.

In total, the participants saved about 2.5 tons of CO² emissions, mostly during the fossil-free mobility challenge, in which the participants refrained from using any means of transportation with internal combustion engines for one week. People who participated in the challenges collected points for their School. The School of Life Sciences and Facility Management had the most participants. Nevertheless, it was the School of Applied Psychology that won the overall climate duel by winning no fewer than four challenges.