"KUS trainee sustainability scouts" launched

15 trainees shed light on various aspects of the topic of sustainability in five learning units. The further education program was initiated jointly by the Kommunalunternehmen Strukturentwicklung Landkreis Pfaffenhofen a.d. Ilm (KUS), the Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt (THI) and the Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt (KU).

For these 15 trainees, it's time to get started: they will become KUS sustainability scouts (Photo: KUS).

What does occupational safety have to do with sustainability? What connections and dependencies exist between ecology and economy? What are the consequences for sustainable management? And what makes an organization such as a company, a bank, or a municipality sustainable? These and other topics are the focus of the "KUS trainee sustainability scouts" training program.

"Sustainability is the central challenge of the 21st century," said KUS board member Johannes Hofner, opening the launch event at the Pucher Dorfheim. Vocational education and training play a key role in this. Together with Professor Holger Hoppe from the THI and Annette Kümmel, Chief Sustainability Officer at the KU, he congratulated the participating apprentices on the great trust that companies place in them. "We should think about whether our actions are good. Question, be alert, attentive, and courageous to rethink and innovate procedures and processes," Hoppe advised. "The workshops allow you to build up expertise that you can take back to your company and make a difference," added Kümmel.

In the five workshop units, the dimensions of the different areas of economy, ecology, social affairs, and culture are first analyzed. The participants then look at value creation in their organizations. Together with the speakers, they analyze in which departments and processes sustainability is already being successfully promoted. The curriculum also includes a practical potential analysis and topics such as the energy transition and psychological aspects.

The sustainability scouts are implemented as part of the "People on the Move II" project, which is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the Free State of Bavaria as part of the "Innovative University" initiative and implemented at the THI at the Sustainability Research and Transfer Centre Neuburg (ForTraNN). Information on the sustainability scouts and the sustainability programs offered by the KUS can be found at www.kus-pfaffenhofen.de/nachhaltigkeit.

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