The public presentation of the 2025 Sustainability Report took place on 15 May, in the Congress Centre, at Alameda Campus of Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa. The document, available on the Técnico website, sets out in detail the institution’s organisational model, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the practices and principles adopted in accordance with international sustainability policies.
“We now have a document that not only complies with regulations, but also allows us to showcase Técnico’s contributions to sustainability and society as a whole”, said Miguel Amado, Vice-President of Técnico for Sustainability and Infrastructures. In his view, “Técnico is becoming increasingly transparent, but also increasingly credible”, enabling “increasingly informed decision-making”.
Miguel Amado also noted that the report demonstrates the “best” practices within the institution, identifies areas for improvement and draws comparisons with other universities and organisations. He emphasised that this is a “process of continuous improvement” and highlighted the importance of involving the entire academic community: “It’s crucial that the Técnico community perceives sustainability in everyday life as a natural part of our routine”, he stated.
Rogério Colaço, President of Técnico, considers this report to be the first one produced “in depth”. In his view, the document not only complies with international standards but also ensures the “transparency”, “dissemination” and “scrutiny” practised at the School. He also believes that this initiative represents “a way of uniting everyone in the task of building the institution”. In light of today’s rapid changes, Rogério Colaço emphasised that adapting to these changes requires effective communication, active listening and “maximum” involvement from everyone.
Among the topics presented, particular attention was drawn to the recent creation of the Sustainability Unit at Técnico, which is responsible for overseeing and monitoring sustainability policies, liaising with teams, analysing data and results, and producing sustainability reports.
Indicators and Targets
The report, which summarises the impact achieved during 2025, presents a performance analysis and sets out indicators and targets for the coming years, highlighting three pillars: governance, social and environmental.
Under the governance pillar, a key milestone was the 44% proportion of female employees, representing a 1% increase compared to 2024, as well as 43% of funding coming from non-governmental funds, also up by 1%.
In the social pillar, there was a 14% increase in the number of students participating in international mobility programmes (both IN and OUT), representing a 1% increase compared with the previous year. In the environmental pillar, the report reveals that 100% of buildings have recycling bins for waste sorting, a 4% increase compared to 2024. Also noteworthy was the 15% reduction in paper consumption, representing a 10% improvement compared to the previous year.
As for future targets, objectives have been set for 2027 in the environmental pillar and for 2030 in the governance and social pillars. In the governance pillar, the aim is to rank among the top 20 engineering schools in Europe, achieve a 50% rate of non-governmental funding, and reduce outdoor parking by 20%.
In the social pillar, the targets include increasing the number of participants in initiatives related to staff wellbeing by 20%, increasing the international mobility of students (both IN and OUT) by 30%, and exceeding approximately 1,000 participants in sustainability training initiatives.
In the environmental pillar, by next year, it is expected a 6.1% reduction in electricity consumption, a 15% decrease in paper consumption and a 4.4% reduction in water consumption.
