Student can integrate sustainability in their curriculum in different ways.
Educational programs
We offer a growing number of sustainability-oriented educational programs that are fully specialized.
Courses
A study we conducted in 2020 showed that our School had about 150 sustainability-related classes. In 2021, we sought input from our student community (in association with La Convergence) to find out what else we could offer. Below is a non comprehensive list of our Bachelor’s and Master’s classes that cover sustainability-related issues and topics.
Architecture
Chemistry and chemical engineering
Civil engineering
- CIVIL-239 Engineering a sustainable built environment
- CIVIL-212 Fundamentals of indoor climate
- CIVIL-309 Urban Thermodynamics
Computer science & Communication systems
Electrical and electronic engineering
Environmental sciences and engineering
- ENV-304 Traitement et valorisation des eaux et des déchets (in French)
- ENV-370 Environmental system analysis and assessment
- ENV-220 Fundamentals in ecology
- ENV-300 Analyse des polluants dans l’environnement (in French)
Life sciences engineering
Material science and engineering
Mathematics
Mechanical engineering
Humanities and Social Sciences Program
- ENV-101 Durabilité (in French)
- MGT-203 Sustainable entrepreneurship
- HUM-207 Ethique sociale et politique (in French)
- HUM-226 Wellbeing and Planetary Boundaries (in French)
- HUM-342 A sustainable economy for tomorrow (in French)
- HUM-351 Becoming an ethical engineer
- HUM-317 Cooperation and environmental psychology (in French)
- HUM-359 Environmental ethics (in French)
- HUM-393 Introduction to Environmental History (in French)
- HUM-390 Perspectives critiques de la durabilité (in French)
The list of courses below is sorted by carrier section. Note that most of these courses are open to more than one Master.
Architecture
- AR-439 UE F : Architecture et réhabilitation (in French)
- AR-440 UE K : Architecture and Sustainability : performance studies (in French)
- AR-442 Comfort and architecture: sustainable strategies
- AR-449 Architecture et énergie solaire (in French)
- AR-496 Behind/Beyond future cities
- AR-497 Building Design in the circular economy
- ENV-526 Climate and water sensitive urban design
- AR-532 Green spaces – Concepts and planning approaches
Chemistry and chemical engineering
- ChE-408 Process intensification and green chemistry
- CH-407 Sustainable chemistry and engineering in Industry
- CH-480 Sustainable chemicals manufacture: concepts/tools
- ChE-414 Thermodynamics of energy conversion and storage
- CH-421 Catalysis for energy storage
Civil engineering
- CIVIL-460 Indoor air quality and ventilation
- CIVIL-534 Computational systems thinking for sustainable engineering
- CIVIL-424 Innovation for Construction and the Environment
- ENG-445 Energy and Comfort in Buildings
- CIVIL-466 Water resources engineering and management
Computer Science & Communication Systems
Digital Humanities
Electrical and Electronic Engineering
- ENG-410 Energy Supply Economics and Transition
- ME-409 Energy conversion and renewable energy
- EE-587 Space sustainability, a multidisciplinary approach
Environmental Sciences and Engineering
- ENG-474 Etudes d’impact (in French)
- ENV-410 Science of climate change
- ENV-461 Sustainability assessment of urban systems
- ENV-470 Development Engineering
- ENV-468 Occupational and environmental health
- ENV-500 Solid waste engineering
- ENV-510 Life cycle assessment in energy systems
- ENV-471 Environmental economics
- ENV-421 Sustainability, Climate, Energy
- ENV-409 Air pollution
- ENV-462 Urban Green&Blue infrastructure and global warming
- ENV-501 Material flow analysis and resource management
- ENV-422 Applied Ecology
- ENV-512 Global Change ecology and Fluvial ecosystems
- ENV-526 Climate and Water Sensitive Urban Design
- ENV-530 Sustainability Robotics
Financial Engineering
Life Sciences Engineering
- BIO-455 Introduction au droit et à l’éthique (in French)
- BIO-413 Planetary health
- BIO-508 Ethics for Life Sciences engineers
Management of Technology
- MGT-406 Design in innovation: Creation for adoption
- MGT-494 Economics for challenging times
- MGT-495 Introduction to ethics and critical thinking
- FIN-429 Sustainable & entrepreneurial finance
- MGT-450 Technology, sustainability and public policy
- MGT-530 Sustainable logistics operations
- MGT-536 Legal aspect of sustainability & digitalisation
- MGT-505 Systems thinking
- MGT-470 Sustainability in the global context
- MGT-540 Advanced sustainable accounting and finance
- MGT-475 Strategy, sustainability and innovation
- MGT-504 Environmental assessment and reporting
- MGT-532 Marketing & sustainability in a digital world
- MGT-546 Sustainable transformation and future-fit business
- MGT-556 ESG accounting and reporting
Materials Science and Engineering
- MSE-466 Wood structures, properties and uses (covers for wood)
- MSE-433 Towards Sustainable Materials
- MSE-466 Wood structures, properties and uses
Mechanical Engineering
- ME-516 Lifecycle performance of product systems
- ME-460 Renewable energy (for ME)
- ME-454 Modeling and Optimization of Energy Systems
- ME-468 Solar energy conversion
- ME-420 Advanced design for sustainable future
Microengineering
Quantum Science and Engineering
Humanities and Social Sciences Program
- HUM-397 Design for sustainability
- HUM-471 Economic growth and sustainability
- HUM-427 History of globalization I
- HUM-489 Comment enseigner la durabilité
- HUM-420 L'(in)action pro-environnementale (in French)
- HUM-409 Penser la nature (in French)
- HUM-412 The ethics of engineering
- HUM-476 Transition écologique: entre théorie & pratique
You teach at EPFL and would like to feature your course in this (non-exhaustive) list? Contact us at sustainability@epfl.ch or melanie.studer@epfl.ch
Internships
A sustainability label has been integrated into EPFL’s internship portal to guide students in choosing a sustainable internship.Read more here.
MAKE projects
Several interdisciplinary MAKE projects are linked to sustainability
- Aether: Harvest the unlimited power of wind through innovative kite systems
- Carbon removal: Explore carbon capture technologies
- Genorobotics: Accelerate biodiversity identification and referencement
- rebuilT: Reuse, biosourced & Low Tech construction
- Sailowtech: Field science, low-tech spirit, awareness in the service of the understanding of the Ocean
MOOCs
Members of our community can learn more about sustainability through our numerous online learning opportunities.
A Resilient Future: Science and Technology for Disaster Risk Reduction
Building expertise on developing sustainable and resilient infrastructure
Exploring Humans’ Space: An Introduction to Geographicity
Groundscape Architecture Design Lab, re-thinking cities underground
Innovative Governance of Large Urban Systems
Introduction à l’Analyse du Cycle de Vie – de la pensée à la pratique (in French)
Introduction to Faecal Sludge Management
Introduction to Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage
Introduction to Public Health Engineering in Humanitarian Contexts
Management of Urban Infrastructure – Part 1
Municipal Solid Waste Management in Developing Countries
Planning & Design of Sanitation Systems and Technologies
Smart Cities – Management of Smart Urban Infrastructures
Swiss-Energyscope (in French)
Technology Innovation for Sustainable Development
Villes africaines I : Introduction à la planification urbaine
Villes africaines : environnement et enjeux de développement durable (in French)
Villes africaines : mobilité et transports urbains (in French)
Villes africaines : Restructuration des quartiers précaires (in French)
Contact
Melanie Studer
melanie.studer@epfl.ch
+41 21 693 40 96