AASHE Campus Sustainability Hub

The 10-Year Challenge is a transformative initiative launched by the IE University Sustainability Office in 2020. Its primary aim is to address sustainability challenges annually by focusing on a specific theme, improving awareness, performance, and institutional culture in alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The initiative integrates sustainability across the university and involves all departments and schools in driving actionable change.

Sustainability was not new to IE University when the Sustainability Office opened in the fall of 2019, but it was also not yet a transversal department with university-wide objectives and implications. At that time, we developed key performance indicators (KPIs) related to sustainability for each unit in the university, resulting in an annual data collection from 54 separate areas with 221 unique KPIs. This allows us to have year to-year comparative data, and to identify areas of growth and others needing more support as potential candidates for the annual challenge. Soon after its opening in January 2020, the Sustainability Office launched the 10-Year Challenge, which features a new focus each year and culminates in 2030, aligning (temporally) with the UN 2030 Agenda. Through this campaign, we introduce sustainability as a concept to the university community, giving clarity to this term that is becoming increasingly present in our lexicon. This opportunity allows us to raise awareness about how we each have a role in advancing sustainability and that our individual actions matter as we work together toward a more sustainable world. The first year of the 10-Year Challenge coincided with the first year of a comprehensive, university-wide sustainability strategy and plan. For this reason, our first challenge was Responsible Consumption. We understood the importance of getting the university to begin creating an atmosphere of environmental responsibility and the sustainable use of resources.

This initiative is driven by two primary objectives: reducing our environmental impact (to achieve zero net emissions by 2030), and the cultivation of a sustainable culture and mindset throughout the IE community, aligning ourselves with the UN Sustainable Development Goals targets. Each year, objectives and key results (OKRs) are developed for the specific yearly challenge.

With each challenge, the first step is to map the current situation using the collected data and conduct meetings with the departments and schools. We can then both promote the challenge for the year and understand the circumstances of each unit as it relates to the focus of the challenge. We listen to each unit as they often have ideas for improvement or encounter related pain points. Through this, we gain a more comprehensive view of the situation from the information we have gathered. What follows is an analysis of the information and a subsequent action plan for the relevant departments or schools. Sometimes the action plan results in a refinement of existing policies or the creation of new ones.

In 2020, we launched the 10-Year Challenge under the UN 2030 Agenda, starting with Responsible Consumption as the first focus. We also updated the Code of Conduct to reinforce our sustainability and social responsibility efforts.

In 2021, we chose Community Building as our challenge of the year and launched the Sustainability Townhall to promote community-based initiatives. We also achieved ISO 14001 certification for Environmental Management. In governance, we introduced the Code for the Prevention of Workplace Harassment.

In 2022, we chose Carbon Footprint as our challenge of the year, completing our first certified carbon emissions audit and becoming one of the first carbon-neutral universities in Europe. We also updated key policies on harassment, discrimination, and equality as part of our governance initiatives.

In 2023, our yearly challenge was Accessibility, Inclusion, and Belonging, focused on enhancing campus inclusivity and fostering community. We implemented architectural, educational, and technological solutions for universal access for all students. Additionally, we launched the KPI Sustainability App to monitor sustainability KPIs from various departments annually.

2024's challenge focused on Waste Reduction, emphasizing community awareness and process analysis. A key initiative was partnering with the 'Too Good to Go' app to combat food waste on campus. Additionally, the cafeteria collaborated with Bumerang to provide sustainable alternatives to single-use food containers, reinforcing our commitment to reducing waste and promoting sustainability.

Each year's budget for the 10-Year Challenge varies significantly depending on the specific theme and its associated needs, making it difficult to provide a single fixed number. For example, 2023, dedicated to Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging, required the highest investment to date. Following an accessibility audit, the university allocated thousands of euros to enhance both physical infrastructure and digital accessibility across its buildings and platforms. On average, annual expenses for the initiative range between €80,000 and €100,000 when dividing the total expenditure across all yearly challenges. It's also important to note that certain expenses from earlier challenges continue to carry over into subsequent years. Examples include carbon footprint calculation, auditing, and compensation projects, as well as ongoing support for sustainability townhall initiatives and improvements like tactile paving within campus buildings. These sustained efforts ensure continuous progress in embedding sustainability across all areas of the university.

Since the launch of the 10-Year Challenge in 2020, we can see that this strategy has been successful in meeting the two primary objectives set out at the beginning: cultivating a mindset and culture of sustainability on campus, and reducing our environmental impact. As we involve each department and school at the beginning of each new challenge, listen to them, and make suggested action plans, they are amenable to the new ideas and are much more engaged in the process than if we had merely done an informational campaign about the goals of our challenge and asked everyone to be a part. Ultimately, the achievements or outputs of the yearly challenge are the actions that each area has taken, resulting in continuous advancement in sustainability on campus. As we rely heavily on data for measuring progress, this initiative has underscored for us the importance of having a methodology that everyone understands and is easy to comply with. This initiative showcases an unwavering university-wide commitment to sustainability. Each challenge is meant to be ongoing and requires the involvement of all departments and schools to be successful. That said, this strategy also requires the Sustainability Office to have a very active role in taking sustainability to the departments, demystifying sustainability, and thereby eliminating any barriers to participation. This facilitates future engagement in the yearly challenges and even inspires creativity on the part of the departments and schools for future ways to be involved.

The success of the 10-Year Challenge highlights several key lessons learned. Active stakeholder involvement and co-creation with departments foster a sense of ownership and greater commitment, ensuring widespread engagement. A data-driven methodology, relying on reliable metrics and year-to-year comparisons, enables informed decision-making and effective progress tracking. Simplicity in implementation, supported by clear methodologies and guidance from the Sustainability Office, reduces barriers to participation and ensures alignment across the university. The ongoing nature of the challenge underscores the importance of persistence and adaptability, as sustainability requires continuous effort. Finally, embedding sustainability into the university’s identity is essential for creating lasting impact and encouraging broader adoption of sustainable practices throughout the community.

The IE University Sustainability Office’s 10-Year Challenge not only fosters an environment in which sustainability is part of the fabric of the university, it also instills a high level of employee engagement related to sustainability initiatives as the entire community works toward meeting the goals of the yearly challenges. This in turn creates a positive feedback loop as increased employee buy-in further develops a culture of sustainability on campus for our students wherein the university itself is a role model.

• Nicole Rosow - IE University - Director of Sustainability | Instituto de Empresa SL

• Link: Sustainability at IE University
• Link: 10 Year Challenge Announcement
• Link: Waste Reduction