Every End Is a New Beginning—a Realignment and Relaunch of an Environmental Management System at a German University Following a 15 Years Maintaining Period

As the first Higher Education Institution (HEI) in Europe the University of Applied Sciences Zittau/Goerlitz implemented an Environmental Management System (EMS) according to EMAS (EMAS III 2009) already in 1999 and still is anxious to maintain, audit and improve this successful system on a high level. As most parts of this EMS are designed following Deming’s PDCA cycle, the EMS aims at continuous improvement of performance. After such a long period the university’s EMS reached a high degree of maturity. Recently, however, it seems that the envisaged continuous improvement process (CIP) has yet lost its dynamics. Obviously, there is still a lot of creativity how to improve the environmental performance. But dedication and motivation of both staff and students is slowly declining and low-hanging fruits, i.e. measurements that are cost-effective in the short term, have already been picked. On the other side, new challenges occur for HEI i.e. aspects of energy efficiency, occupational health and safety and sustainability which require a re-launch of the existing university’s environmental management concerning the strategic focus and including improved processes specifically tailored to the needs of an academic institution. The paper presents a conceptual model of a new EMS for Institutions of Higher Education with a core alignment on strengthening and promoting initiatives of students, staff and stakeholders and on supporting small-scale but effective projects at a more operational level.