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For a few weeks now, Frankfurt School has been offering its students new seating in the Creative Learning Lounge opposite the Deli. The 18 seating cubes each represent a UN sustainability goal, as well as current progress and urgency. The cubes were initiated by the FS Sustainability student initiative in collaboration with DZ Bank. The aim is to present the sustainability goals visually and bring students into contact with them in an interactive way to spread awareness, education, motivation and connection. The cubes are used as conversation starter, quick information seeking and of course as a seat.
In 2015, the United Nations and all its member states set themselves the ambitious goal of bringing peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and in the future. To this end, they drew up the comprehensive 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which all 193 member states have adopted as a universal call to action. At the heart of this transformative agenda are 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which call for urgent action by all countries—developed and developing nations alike—to address global challenges including poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace, and justice. To make these complex goals more accessible and engaging, innovative educational tools like the SDG cubes have been developed, serving as interactive learning instruments that help organizations, educational institutions, and communities better understand and implement sustainable practices in their daily operations and strategic planning.
Sponsored by DZ Bank and thoughtfully designed by FS Sustainability, this innovative educational initiative features 18 distinctive physical seat cubes, with 17 cubes each representing a specific Sustainable Development Goal and an additional 18th cube providing a comprehensive overview of global SDG progress. These interactive learning tools maintain a consistent, professional format while offering comfortable seating space for individual users, transforming abstract sustainability concepts into tangible, engaging experiences.
Each cube is meticulously crafted with six informative sides that collectively tell the complete story of its respective SDG through carefully curated graphics, data visualizations, and actionable content:
Sides 1 & 3: Data-Driven Insights: These sides feature compelling graphs and statistics sourced directly from official SDG reports. Recognizing that many perceive sustainability goals as too abstract to measure effectively, the United Nations has established 231 unique statistical indicators to track and visualize meaningful progress. Each cube presents two carefully selected graphs that demonstrate real-world impact and measurable outcomes.
Side 2: Goal Overview: This introductory page clearly identifies the specific goal while providing an accessible explanation of its fundamental meaning and the core principles that drive its implementation, making complex sustainability concepts understandable for all audiences.
Side 4: Official UN Presentation: Serving as the cube’s centerpiece, this side showcases the goal using the exact design standards and visual identity published by the United Nations, complete with the official UN-provided icon that instantly communicates the goal’s focus area.
Side 5: Fascinating Facts & Figures: This engaging side presents thought-provoking statistics, surprising facts, and compelling data points related to the goal, enhanced with intuitive icons and visual elements that make the information memorable and impactful.
Side 6: Personal Action Steps: Acknowledging that individual actions are fundamental to achieving long-term SDG implementation, this practical side offers concrete, achievable recommendations that students and users can immediately incorporate into their daily lives to contribute meaningfully to their chosen goal.
On April 29, 2025, Aryan Goswami (Head of FS Sustainability), Steffen Matthei (Head of FS Sustainability), and Melissa Peura (Head of Marketing Department at FS Sustainability) visited the DZ Bank office in Frankfurt to present the first set of finished sustainability cubes to their project sponsors, accompanied by Angelika Werner (Vice President Strategic Relations at Frankfurt School) and Micha Ruppert (Content Creator, Frankfurt School). The delegation was warmly welcomed by Frank Scheidig (Head of Global Senior Executive Banking), Christian Gärtner (Senior Executive Banking), and Lennart Stackebrandt (Head of Sustainability), who engaged in detailed discussions about the cubes’ educational impact, their potential for enhancing employee sustainability awareness, and strategies for integrating these innovative tools into DZ Bank’s corporate communication initiatives. The presentation was met with such enthusiasm that DZ Bank ordered their own set of cubes to engage their employees and visitors, while both organizations expressed strong commitment to expanding their collaboration through future joint projects focused on sustainability education in the financial services sector.
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