Coordination & Planning
Introduction
Staff and other resources help an institution organize, implement, and publicize sustainability initiatives. These resources provide the infrastructure that fosters sustainability within an institution. Sustainability planning affords an institution the opportunity to clarify its vision of a sustainable future, establish priorities and help guide budgeting and decision making.
Featured Resources
Latest News from AASHE Bulletin
New Resources
Beyond the Right Thing to Do: The Value of Sustainability in Higher Education (2nd Edition)
- AASHE (MA)
This document aims to help higher education sustainability practitioners more powerfully articulate the value of sustainability to higher education leaders as well as the general public. As different points will …
- Posted Aug. 26, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Carbon Neutrality Plan
- University of Windsor (ON)
Contents 1. Project overview, objectives and methodology 2. Current state analysis 3. Setting targets and establishing the campus roadmap 4. Financial planning, impossible, future project spotlights 5. Accountability
- Posted Aug. 20, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Purdue STARS Performance Analysis
- Purdue University (IN)
In 2013, Purdue University submitted the school’s first official report to the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) to capture the university’s efforts in sustainability via …
- Posted Aug. 19, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Basic Needs, Sustainability & Leadership
- Portland Community College (OR)
The Basic Needs, Sustainability & Leadership (BNSL) program at Portland Community College provides opportunities to advance the interconnected issues of basic needs support (including food and housing security, transportation access, …
- Posted Aug. 19, 2025
- Photographs
- View more
Determinants of the dissemination of economic, social and environmental information at the university level in the context of commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals
- Universidad de Granada
In the context of universities' commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the paper aims to analyse the factors that influence the degree of information disclosure related to the economic, …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Walking the talk: organising for social impact through performance management in European business schools
- University of St. Gallen
- Vienna University of Economics and Business
Universities, and business schools specifically, are experiencing a transformation of their societal mission. Similar to the STEM fields, business schools are nested in global competitive environments facing multiple competing pressures, …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Ranking of European Universities by DEA-Based Sustainability Indicator
- Mendelova univerzita v Brně
The paper introduces a novel approach to university rankings that considers a university's contribution to sustainable development. It addresses the usual controversies surrounding the construction of rankings using composite indicators. …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
University contributions to sustainability via state-level climate action plans in the USA
- University of Maine (ME)
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to conduct a preliminary analysis of the role of higher education institutions (HEIs) in state climate science assessment (CSA) and state climate adaptation …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Responsible management education: The leadership role of PRME business schools
- University of São Paulo
- Hamburg University of Applied Sciences
- University of Passo Fundo
The literature largely agrees about the relevance of higher education institutions in assembling their internal systems to contribute to sustainability challenges. Business schools are also expected to commit to the …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Are Brazilian universities greening? An analysis of their performances in an international sustainability ranking
- Universidade Federal de Uberlândia
The escalation of environmental issues demands a response towards sustainable development, and universities may contribute to a greener future by reducing their own environmental impacts. Brazil has a history of …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
A sustainable campus for an uncertain future. Two cases of infrastructural transformation at Norway’s largest university
- Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Purpose: This study aims to convey lessons learned from two sustainability initiatives at Norway’s largest university. This contributes to knowledge-based discussions of how future, sustainable higher education institutions (HEIs) infrastructures …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Higher education institutions as a microcosm of the circular economy
- Lund University
Higher education institutions (HEIs) can play a key role in the transition to the circular economy (CE) given their missions, characteristics and role in shaping the coming generations of citizens …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Emerging ESG reporting of higher education institutions in China
- Beijing Foreign Studies University
- Capital University of Economics and Business
This paper investigates the ESG reporting practices of Chinese higher education institutions (HEIs). Based on Global Reporting Initiative's common reporting standards and the education sector-specific indicators proposed by earlier studies, …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Environmental Sustainability Research and Future Directions for Events and Facilities: An Assessment of the Field
- Texas A&M University (TX)
Environmental sustainability among sport facilities and events is the focus of this piece. The authors focus on three areas: (1) the environmental impacts of sport facilities and events, (2) the …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Uncovering perspectives on SDG integration for university transformations
- Monash University (VIC)
Purpose: This case study explores different perspectives on integrating the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in universities to achieve university transformations. This study recognises that university actors think differently about the …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Can We Measure Universities’ Impact on Climate Change?
- University College London (London)
Universities have a growing interest in understanding the impact that they have on climate change, whether positive or negative. Yet beyond the direct emissions from their campuses, is it possible …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Sustainability reporting, universities and global reporting initiative applicability: a still open issue
- Università di Verona
Purpose: The porpose of this study is to critically consider the use of global reporting initiative (GRI) guidelines in universities' sustainability reports. In light of the recent literature and Habermas's …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Board characteristics and sustainability in higher education institutions: The case of the United Kingdom
- University of Gloucestershire (Gloucestershire)
- Australian University Kuwait
We explored the relationship between board characteristics and sustainability of higher education institutions in the United Kingdom (UK). We analysed 153 UK universities using data for the year 2019. Our …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
An evaluation of a computational technique for measuring the embeddedness of sustainability in the curriculum aligned to AASHE-STARS and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
- Technological University Dublin (Dublin)
Introduction: SDG 4.7 mandates university contributions to the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through their education provisions. Hence, universities increasingly assess their curricular alignment to the SDGs. A …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Science-based targets for higher education? Evaluating alignment between Ivy+ climate action plans and the Science-Based Targets initiative’s net-zero standards
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MA)
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the extent to which a sample of US-based higher education institution’s (HEI’s) climate targets and associated climate action planning efforts align …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Academic capture in the Anthropocene: a framework to assess climate action in higher education
- Montana State University (MT)
- University of Arizona (AZ)
- University of Delaware (DE)
- Utah State University (UT)
- University of Milano-Bicocca
Higher education institutions have a mandate to serve the public good, yet in many cases fail to adequately respond to the global climate crisis. The inability of academic institutions to …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Sustainable Development in Third Level Programs: Distilling a Pathway to a True Net-Zero Education
- Queen's University Belfast
- University of Manchester (Lancashire)
This study probes the notable gap between the theoretical endorsement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDGs 7, 12, and 13, and their tangible implementation in higher education …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Measuring and monitoring the transition to the circular economy of universities: CExUNV
- Universitat Jaume I (Castelló)
The circular economy (CE) has been identified as a critical strategy to contribute to sustainable development and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda, being one …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Universities, Sustainability, and Neoliberalism: Contradictions of the Climate Emergency Declarations
- Cardiff University
UK universities have been successively declaring a climate emergency, following the University of Bristol’s lead in 2019. Universities are key actors in climate change education, and potentially progressive organisations researching, …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Exploring the Mediating Role of Organizational Commitment in the Relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility and Employee Performance: Evidence from Henan's Universities
- Lincoln University College
Aims: This study aims to examine the mediating role of organizational commitment in the relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and employee performance within Henan's universities, highlighting the strategic importance …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Net-Zero Heroes? Climate Change Mitigation Efforts and Strategies across Australian Group-of-Eight Universities
- University of Melbourne (Victoria)
Businesses are increasingly declaring their operations to be “carbon neutral” or “net-zero”. But how real are these claims? We investigated the climate mitigation efforts of the eight leading universities in …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Building more epistemically inclusive and environmentally equitable universities
- University of California, Santa Cruz (CA)
Higher educational institutions tend to draw from mainstream approaches to environmentalism that reinforce race, class, and gender hierarchies around who constitutes “an environmentalist” and what activities constitute “environmentalism.” As a …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Purchases dominate the carbon footprint of research laboratories
- University of Toulouse
- Université Paris-Saclay
- Université de Rennes
- Sorbonne Université
Despite increasing interest for the carbon footprint of higher education institutions, little is known about the carbon footprint associated to research activities. Air travel and attendance to conferences concentrate recent …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Sustainability and impact reporting in US higher education anchor institutions
- California State University, San Bernardino (CA)
- California State University, Sacramento (CA)
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to assess how higher education anchor institutions (HEIs) voluntarily report their non-economic impacts. Its goals are to quantify the ease of public access …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Enhancing sustainable development goals or promoting universities? An analysis of the times higher education impact rankings
- Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (Madrid)
- Universitat Politècnica de València (Valencia)
- Gävle University College
Purpose: This study aims to analyse and evaluate the methodology followed by the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings (THE-IR), as well as the coverage obtained and the data offered by …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Conceptualizing and comparing world-class universities’ contributions to global sustainability: Pathways, priorities and potential indicators
- Hunan University
- Changsha University
Sustainability is a goal for today, with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) acting as a guiding framework in a world characterized by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. As research universities …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Towards context-independent indicators for an unbiased assessment of environmental sustainability in higher education: An application to Italian universities
- Universita degli Studi di Padova
- University of Trento (Trentino)
- Università degli Studi dell'Insubria
Higher education institutes (HEIs) are important drivers for the development and implementation of best practices for environmental sustainability. However, reliable indicators are needed to objectively evaluate the environmental performance of …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Campus sustainability office representations of the DEIJ-sustainability nexus
- Central Michigan University (MI)
- University of Vermont (VT)
The number of campus sustainability offices in the USA has grown over the past two decades. These offices evolve from myriad origins such as an outgrowth of a facilities department, …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Do higher education institutions contribute to countries’ SDG progress: Evidence from university rankings
- University of Helsinki
- Sumy State University
- Ferenc Rakoczi II Transcarpathian Hungarian College of Higher Education
- Zhytomyr Polytechnic State University
The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have become a universal call to action over the past few years and a basis for assessing the progress of sustainable development of countries …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Exploring the nexus between university sustainability practices and academic performance: An empirical analysis of the QS sustainability ranking and four world university rankings
- Nanjing Agricultural University
Universities, as agents of change, are expected to contribute to society’s most pressing challenges, particularly the 21st century’s central issue of sustainability. Amid growing expectations from governments, society, and an …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Exploring the moderating role of university environmental performance in shaping students’ environmental awareness and behaviors
- Bursa Uludağ Üniversitesi
- Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the moderating role of university environmental performance in the relationship between students’ environmental awareness and behavior, with a particular focus on …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Tree mapping and carbon inventory on a university campus in South Korea: Case study and global review
- Korea University
- Kyungmin University
- Sangji University
Campus trees have significant potential for sequestering carbon in urban environments and improving civic life quality; however, few inventories of university campus trees have been constructed worldwide (excluding North America). …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Driving Revenue Growth through Sustainable Products and Services: Implications for Chief Marketing Officers
- The Conference Board
The business benefits of sustainability initiatives go well beyond strengthening corporate image. Chief marketing officers can leverage such initiatives to respond to the voice of the customer, address global societal …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Consumers care about sustainability—and back it up with their wallets
- McKinsey & Company (NY)
- Nielsen
A joint study from McKinsey and NielsenIQ examines sales growth for products that claim to be environmentally and socially responsible.
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Climate Risks and Resilience at Dickinson College: Infrastructure and Continuity Planning
- Dickinson College (PA)
Dickinson College is faced with growing risks from climate change that could significantly impact its campus infrastructure, operations, and ability to fulfill its educational mission without disruption. As climate change …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Preparing and Adapting Our Campuses for the Effects of Climate Change
- Merrimack College (MA)
Colleges across the United States have become greener, and efforts are underway to enhance their sustainability practices and reduce their carbon footprint. This article is not about the greening of …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
The State of Campus Resilience in the Face of a Changing Climate
- Society for College and University Planning (MI)
- Amgen
The impact of climate-related events poses a major threat to campuses nationwide, a trend expected to only worsen as the climate continues to change. However, a recent study by Haley …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Integrating Resilience Planning into University Campus Planning
- Society for College and University Planning (MI)
Within the higher education community, there is increasing awareness of the need to plan for more frequent occurrences of natural hazards and the effects of climate change. Many institutions are …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Adapting universities and colleges to a changing climate
- Environmental Association for Universities & Colleges (EAUC) (Gloucestershire)
The guide provides a range of support, from an initial self-assessment on climate readiness and an example Elevator Pitch to use to communicate the need for investment in adaptation, to …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Don't Think Your Campus Needs to Prepare for Climate Change?: Here's Why You're Wrong
- Merrimack College (MA)
It isn’t hard to find evidence that colleges across the country are concerned about global climate change and the role they play in contributing to it. Solar panels, LEED-certified buildings, …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
$3 Million Gift Boosts Sustainability at CNU
- Christopher Newport University (VA)
The Redekop Family Endowment has donated $3 million to fund projects advancing sustainability at Christopher Newport University. The gift of $1 million for each of three years will support programs …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Stewart and Lynda Resnick Pledge $750 Million to Caltech to Support Environmental Sustainability Research
- California Institute of Technology (CA)
The owners of The Wonderful Company, have announced an unprecedented $750 million pledge to Caltech to support cutting-edge research into the most pressing challenges in environmental sustainability. The commitment, part …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, university’s first new school in 70 years, will accelerate solutions to global climate crisis
- Stanford University (CA)
Stanford’s first new school in 70 years will launch this fall as the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, recognizing a $1.1 billion gift from John and Ann Doerr, the largest …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Commercialising university inventions for sustainability—a case study of (non-)intermediating ‘cleantech’ at Aalto University
- Utrecht University
- University of Helsinki
- University of Sussex (Sussex)
The challenge to transform towards more sustainable societies requires action on multiple levels, including commercialisation of inventions created in universities. We examine intermediation in the pre-commercialisation phase of cleantech inventions …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
Commercialising science-based sustainable innovations: extending the role of university-industry collaboration
- University of Oulu
Technological innovation for sustainability is often complex and entails high costs and uncertainties for companies. Therefore, collaboration with external partners, such as universities, is crucial. However, commercialising innovations originating from …
- Posted Aug. 13, 2025
- Publications
- View more
This tab provides access to data collected through AASHE’s Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System™ (STARS). STARS is a transparent, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to measure their sustainability performance. STARS enables meaningful comparisons over time and across institutions using a common set of measurements developed with broad participation from the campus sustainability community.
All responses reference content from reports under the latest version of STARS, version 2.2. AASHE membership and log-in is required.
PA 1: Sustainability Coordination
- Description of the sustainability committee(s)
- Description of the sustainability office(s)
- Description of activities and accomplishments of the institution-wide coordinating body or officer during the previous three years
- First sustainability position (upload)
- First sustainability position (text)
- Second sustainability position (upload)
- Second sustainability position (text)
- Third sustainability position (upload)
- Third sustainability position (text)
- Website URL - Sustainability Coordination
PA 2: Sustainability Coordination
- Published measurable objectives - Academics
- Published measurable objectives - Engagement
- Published measurable objectives - Operations
- Published measurable objectives - Planning & Administration
- Website URL - Highest Guiding Strategic Plan
- Sustainability plan (upload)
- Sustainability plan (website URL)
- Website URL - Sustainability planning
PA 3: Sustainability Coordination
- Description of participatory or shared governance bodies
- Percent of official members of the highest governing body that are women
- Website URL - Institution’s highest level governing body
- Description of campus-community council or equivalent body that gives external stakeholders a regular voice in institutional decisions
- Website URL - Institutional governance body
PA 4: Reporting Assurance
Additional analysis on scores and quantitative fields can be conducted using the STARS Benchmarking Tool.