About the AGS at ETH

The Alliance for Global Sustainability is an international multi-disciplinary collaboration of four leading technology research universities - the ETH Zurich, MIT, the University of Tokyo, Chalmers University of Technology - and their associated partners. The AGS at ETH is part of ETH Sustainability. Since its inception in 1997, it has provided intellectual leadership to help societies improve both environmental quality and the quality of life by integrating large bodies of knowledge, conducting research and rigorous analysis, and identifying robust pathways and policies leading to a sustainable future.

How can the AGS benefit the ETH? No one university has expertise in everything, and the AGS partnership offers fresh perspectives - geographically, culturally and politically - for tackling problems related to sustainability. By exchanging knowledge and experience from around the world, the AGS can bring added value to our teaching and research.

The AGS vision is to help develop the global research agenda and provide the scientific knowledge that will enable society to address our urgent need for global sustainability.

The ETH Zurich is the leading house for the AGS in the ETH domain, and encourages involvement of students, faculty and staff from all the ETH domain institutions.

For the period 2009 to 2011, the AGS has five strategic goals:

1. Advance global sustainability research

•    Promote deep analysis and outreach of sustainability research, particularly in the areas of urban futures, energy pathways, food and water

•    Encourage/initiate new sustainability research projects that meet stringent criteria of excellence and relevance

•    Convene international seminars and synthesize findings in outreach reports

2. Strengthen university education on sustainability

•    Engage students in AGS research and seminars

•    Support student initiatives related to sustainability

•    Exchange best practices to improve sustainability education at the AGS universities

•    Minimize the environmental footprint of AGS events

3. Disseminate research priorities, results and syntheses to key stakeholders

4. Develop a plan for outreach and dissemination of AGS research

5. Strengthen the AGS’s position as an agenda-setting sustainability partnership