Climate Action Fund
The intended use of the funds in 2026 will be announced on 27 November at the meeting of the Sustainability Sounding Board meeting on 27 November.
Climate Action Fund
The Climate Action fund was introduced at the university on 1 January 2025. The additional resources in the fund will be used to implement climate action and sustainability measures at the University of Oldenburg. The fund will be fed from the CO2 tax that is additionally levied on air travel. The use of the funds will be decided each year in a participatory process.
Background to the CO2 levy
On 1 January 2025, the guideline for climate-friendly business trips came into force at the University of Oldenburg. In addition to regulating short-haul flights, the guideline provides for a CO2 levy for air travel. This levy is paid into an internal Climate Action fund. The climate action contribution is determined in the application procedure for the settlement of the business trip. The statutory CO2 price per tonne (in 2025: 55€ per tonne) is set as the minimum price for the levy. For short-haul flights of up to 1,000 kilometres, an additional base amount of 50€ per flight is charged.
Financial scope
The size of the Climate Action fund and therefore the financial room for manoeuvre depends directly on the revenue from the CO2 levy. This in turn depends directly on the travel behaviour of employees. The CO2 levy is collected on an annual basis. For this reason, the size of the Climate Action fund can currently only be estimated on the basis of travel data from previous years. We currently expect it to be around 100,000 € per year. However, as the CO2 levy was only introduced on 1 January 2025 and processing has not yet been established, the size of the fund in 2025 could be significantly lower.
The exact amount for the year will be communicated here in January 2026.
Intended use 2025
The funds from 2025 are to be channelled into the area of everyday mobility, in particular the cycling infrastructure at the university's locations.
The following individual measures were developed in a participation workshop:
- Measure 1: Promotion of decentralised company bikes for FKs, Institutes or other OUs
- Measure 2: Strengthen or support bicycle hire from the AStA bicycle workshops
- Measure 3: Offer "bike maintenance" + check-up including minor repairs, e.g. set up as an event at the start of the semester
- Measure 4: Set up cargo and company bikes (possibly with electric drive) in the university's vehicle fleet
- Measure 5: Communicate existing options for (private) cargo bike hire in Oldenburg
Prioritisation of the measures
As the scope of the Climate Action fund cannot yet be estimated, it is possible that not all of these measures can be fully implemented. The numbering of the measures represents the current prioritisation and implementation sequence. We will make any changes to this prioritisation transparent here.
Realisation period
The measures will be implemented one after the other over the course of the year, depending on the availability of funds. We aim to implement the measures by 31 December 2026.
Participatory process
As the CO2 levy and therefore the resources of the climate action fund are generally financed from decentralised budget funds, employees should have the opportunity to help shape how the funds are used.
The first workshop to determine the use of the funds from 2025 took place on 13 March 2025. The participants from the various areas of the university first worked out the criteria to be used to evaluate the decision on the implementation of the measures. The group decided in favour of "effectiveness" and "access for all university members". In addition to proposals for the greening of buildings and the financial support of the Green Team measures on the topic of bicycle mobility were developed.
The results of the workshop were compiled by the climate action management. At the meeting on 1 April 2025, the Presidential Board approved the use of the Climate Action fund for the measures as developed in the workshop.
Current status of the implementation of measures
We will report on the measures implemented here over the course of the year. We also provide information in the climate action newsletter.