About us

Founded in 2022, the Centre for Absolute Sustainability is a cross-departmental initiative at DTU dedicated to advancing research and innovation in absolute sustainability.

The centre was founded in 2022 as a cross-departmental collaboration between the Quantitative Sustainability Assessment section at DTU Sustain and the Design for Sustainability section at DTU Construct. Since then, the centre has expanded to include researchers from across the university with research collaborations around the world.  

Absolute Sustainability news stories

DTU Commemoration 2026

27 April 2026

Ceremonial Lecture: From good intentions to good decisions

At DTU’s annual celebration, DTU Commemoration 2026, Professor Michael Zwicky Hauschild highlighted in the ceremonial lecture how we move from well-meaning green ambitions to decisions that are genuinely sustainable, l when the full balance sheet is taken into account. Watch or rewatch the ceremonial lecture.
Michael Zwicky Hauschild

SUSTAINABILITY

14 June 2022

Questions about absolute sustainability

DTU has established the Centre for Absolute Sustainability. But what is absolute sustainability and why do we need the term? Isn’t it okay to ‘just’ be sustainable?

Mission

Our mission is to enable the transition towards absolute sustainability by developing the knowledge, technologies, and implementation strategies needed for society to prosper within the Earth's carrying capacity.

Achieving this ambition requires a fundamental rethinking of how society develops, produces, and consumes within the limits of the natural systems that support human well-being. Addressing climate change alone is not enough. Lasting sustainability requires society to simultaneously tackle the interconnected challenges of resource use, toxicity, and biodiversity loss while maintaining the environmental conditions on which human well-being depends. 

Through interdisciplinary research spanning sustainability assessment, engineering, and implementation, we develop the scientific foundations and practical pathways needed to guide and accelerate sustainability transition. 

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