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.
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Place-based inquiry in a university course abroad: lessons about education for sustainability in the urban outdoors
- James Madison University (VA)
This paper aims to present the case of a semester-long study-abroad education class in Italy. This course explored place-based methods that classroom teachers (K-12) might use to connect students’ outdoor ...
- Posted May 5, 2021
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Learning to survive: Wicked problem education for the Anthropocene age
- University of South Florida (FL)
This article addresses major lacunae in higher education from the standpoint of Anthropocenic survival. Wicked problems transcend national, cultural and disciplinary boundaries. Eco-survival, international migration, destabilized global markets, shifts in ...
- Posted May 5, 2021
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Guide to Estimating Multi-Modal Commuting Greenhouse Gas Emissions
- University of Illinois Chicago (IL)
A greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory is emerging as the preferred tool used to address a climate action plan. It enables an institution to measure progress toward desired goals, including reducing ...
- Posted May 5, 2021
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Student food insecurity and the social equity pillar of campus sustainability
- University of Kansas (KS)
Abstract Purpose
College and university campuses serve as a vital test bed for sustainability solutions of various types. To date, though, campus sustainability efforts have focused more on the environmental ...
- Posted May 5, 2021
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Campus Sustainability Plans: A Descriptive Analysis of Sustainability Plans from Institutions of Higher Education in the United States
- Texas State University, San Marcos (TX)
As the sustainability movement gains traction around the globe, institutions of higher education are increasingly being looked to for leadership. One established method of improving a campus’s environmental, economic ...
- Posted May 5, 2021
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Assessing water literacy at a primarily undergraduate university in Ohio
- Malone College (OH)
As the impacts of water quality on human health become better understood, universities have an opportunity to equip students to become more informed and responsible citizens. We define water literacy ...
- Posted May 5, 2021
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Tools for assessing sustainability in service operations in higher education institutions
- Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná
The objective is to analyze sustainability practices in service operations in three Higher Education Institutions of the Federal Network of Professional, Scientific and Technological Education in Brazil through a developed ...
- Posted May 5, 2021
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Sustainability-oriented labs in real-world contexts: An exploratory review
- Chalmers University of Technology
There are growing claims that meaningfully engaging with complex sustainability challenges requires change of a systemic nature. In governing transitions to sustainability, laboratories in real world contexts are growing in ...
- Posted May 5, 2021
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Impact of a University Environmental Sustainability Strategy on Employees
- University of Waterloo (ON)
The ever-growing trend of campus sustainability, coupled with pressure from external stakeholders (competitor actions, government regulations, etc.) induces organizations to adopt sustainability and its triple bottom line framework to enhance ...
- Posted May 4, 2021
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Influence of landscape management practices on urban greenhouse gas budgets
- Boston University (MA)
- Brown University (RI)
With a lack of United States federal policy to address climate change, cities, the private sector, and universities have shouldered much of the work to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) and ...
- Posted May 4, 2021
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City-University Partnerships in Implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals at a Local Level
- University of British Columbia (BC)
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is regarded as a triumph of multilateralism. The Agenda lays out 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that aim to provide a shared blueprint for ...
- Posted May 4, 2021
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Student perceptions of reflection and the acquisition of higher-order thinking skills in a university sustainability course
- McMaster University (ON)
Sustainability challenges are complex and call for the effective development of knowledge, skills, and abilities in current and new leaders. New offerings in higher education provide sustainability training to complement ...
- Posted May 4, 2021
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Can public universities play a role in fostering seed sovereignty?
- University of British Columbia (BC)
- University of Toronto (ON)
Across Canada and the United States, public universities were founded with a mission to contribute to broad societal well-being. Yet, the capacity of public research institutions to develop and disseminate ...
- Posted May 4, 2021
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The Neuroscience Community Has a Role in Environmental Conservation
- University of South Dakota (SD)
We previously argued that the neuroscience community has a role in environmental conservation because protection of biodiversity and the specialized behavioral adaptions of animals is essential to understanding brain structure ...
- Posted May 4, 2021
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Sustainability practices in Spanish higher education institutions: An overview of status and implementation
- Gävle University College
- Carlos III University of Madrid
Higher education institutions have been steadily progressing towards the integration of sustainable practices in their university system. Consequently, an increasing number of these institutions have recognized their responsibility and are ...
- Posted May 4, 2021
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Experimenting with sustainability education: the case of a student-driven campus initiative in Finland
- Aalto University
Experiments are deemed not only useful, but necessary in sustainability transformation to enhance local decision-making. This is especially apparent in Finland where national government programmes and city administrations promote sustainability ...
- Posted May 4, 2021
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Education, anthropocentrism, and interspecies sustainability: confronting institutional anxieties in omnicidal times
- University of Gothenburg
Deborah Britzman’s remarkable question, ‘What holds education back?’, appears more urgent than ever in a world of accelerating environmental crises, climate change, and what has been described as omnicide ...
- Posted May 4, 2021
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Conference spaces as emotional sites for becoming campus sustainability leaders
- University of Vermont (VT)
This paper applies a feminist political ecology approach to ask: How do sustainability in higher education (SHE) conference events co-produce the subjectivities and expertise of campus sustainability professionals (CSPs) emotionally ...
- Posted May 4, 2021
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Worry and Hope: What College Students Know, Think, Feel, and Do about Climate Change
- University of Hawaii System Office (HI)
“Colleges and universities can only thrive if society and the biosphere are healthy. Any institution that is so shortsighted as to pursue its ends without taking into account the interests ...
- Posted May 4, 2021
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Carbon footprinting of universities worldwide: Part I—objective comparison by standardized metrics
- Nanyang Technological University
- Trier University of Applied Sciences
Background Universities, as innovation drivers in science and technology worldwide, should be leading the Great Transformation towards a carbon–neutral society and many have indeed picked up the challenge. However ...
- Posted May 4, 2021
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Funding Campus Sustainability through a Green Fee—Estimating Students’ Willingness to Pay
- Manhattan College (NY)
Many higher education institutions promote sustainability by instilling environmental awareness within college students, the innovators of the future. As higher education institutions face budgetary constraints to achieve greener campuses, green ...
- Posted April 23, 2021
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Universities’ Reporting on SDGs: Using THE Impact Rankings to Model and Measure Their Contribution to Sustainability
- Universitat Politècnica de València (Valencia)
- Polytechnic University of Milan
- Universitat de València
Higher education institutions (HEIs) have voiced growing concerns about sustainability issues since Agenda 2030 was approved, but this is not enough for societal stakeholders seeking and delivering innovation and excellence ...
- Posted April 23, 2021
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Identifying and addressing reverse salients in infrastructural change. The case of a small zero emission campus in Southern Norway
- Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the relevance and use of the concept “reverse salient” in ambitious infrastructural change. Thomas Hughes, in his seminal study of socio-technical ...
- Posted April 22, 2021
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A scoping review of policies promoting and supporting sustainable food systems in the university setting
- University of Sydney (NSW)
Background Transitioning towards sustainable food systems for the health of the population and planet will require governments and institutions to develop effective governance to support the adoption of sustainable food ...
- Posted April 22, 2021
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Exploring transformative pedagogies for built environment disciplines: the case of interdisciplinarity in low carbon transition
- Oxford Brookes University
The integration of transformative pedagogies into curricula is recognized as a strategy to deal with the new demands of complexity in learning, which include equipping future professionals with the necessary ...
- Posted April 22, 2021
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Measuring environmental website communications in Latin American universities: multimodal and ecolinguistic benchmarking
- Universidad De Alcalá
This paper aims to explore the current state of website environmental communications in Latin American universities through a benchmarking operational tool. The study considers how these universities communicate their environmental ...
- Posted April 22, 2021
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A case study on the suitability of STARS for green campus in China
- Zhejiang University
With the continuous development of China's green campus, its future construction should learn from foreign advanced development experience and achievements. On the one hand, STARS, a global advanced green ...
- Posted April 22, 2021
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Students as change agents for campus sustainability in Malaysian universities
- University of Malaya
The notion of students as change agents have widely been used in the campus sustainability literature, but very little has been done to unpack what it really means in practice ...
- Posted April 21, 2021
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Sustainable economic development in higher education institutions: A global analysis within the SDGs framework
- Universidad de Almería (Almeria)
Universities must focus their efforts on being economically competitive without harming the chances of being sustainable. The study of sustainable economic development (SED) of higher education institutions (HEIs) has experienced ...
- Posted April 21, 2021
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DEI and Social/Environmental Justice Planning at University Sustainability Offices
- Tufts University (MA)
This document is a memo written by an intern at the Tufts Office of Sustainability. The memo benchmarks 22 institutions of higher learning, noting the plans and initiatives that related ...
- Posted April 21, 2021
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Which Are the Main Factors Influencing Corporate Social Responsibility Information Disclosures on Universities’ Websites
- Universidad de Granada
Universities are now becoming more active in the field of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Nevertheless, they do not appear to be granting the same degree of importance to the dissemination ...
- Posted April 8, 2021
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Developing a Practical Framework of Sustainability Indicators Relevant to All Higher Education Institutions to Enable Meaningful International Rankings
- University of Limerick
Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) sustainability assessments are receiving significant attention in the academic literature, with ever more complex grading and ranking systems being developed. This paper aims to provide national ...
- Posted April 8, 2021
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Hybrid method for measuring the accessibility and safety of students’ walking routes in car-dominated campuses
- King Abdulaziz University
Creating a systematic, simple, and inexpensive method to measure walking route accessibility and safety is important for improving walkability in car-dominated university campuses. This study is the first to design ...
- Posted April 8, 2021
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Community-based climate action planning as an act of advocacy: a case study of liberal arts education in a rural community
- Colgate University (NY)
The current lack of comprehensive federal climate policy highlights the critical need for effective subnational climate policy and programs. We describe our efforts to create and cultivate a community-based multi-stakeholder ...
- Posted April 8, 2021
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Exploring the coverage of environmental-dimension indicators in existing campus sustainability appraisal tools
- The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Despite the plethora of comprehensive review of campus sustainability assessment tools, reporting, and indicators in the extant literature, studies are absent specifically on campus-wide and spatial-based indicators in existing tools ...
- Posted April 8, 2021
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A Holistic Approach to Integrate and Evaluate Sustainable Development in Higher Education. The Case Study of the University of the Basque Country
- University of the Basque Country
Since the United Nations (UN) approved the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development in 2015, higher education institutions have increasingly demonstrated their commitment by supporting several initiatives. Although a great deal ...
- Posted April 8, 2021
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The incoherence of sustainability literacy assessed with the Sulitest
- Elon University (NC)
- Northern Illinois University (IL)
- University of California, Santa Barbara (CA)
Improving sustainability knowledge has long been central to international efforts to achieve sustainable development. In response to these efforts, which are formalized in Target 4.7 of the Sustainable Development ...
- Posted April 8, 2021
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Sustainability practices at private universities: a state-of-the-art assessment
- University of Passo Fundo
- Universidade Federal de Vicosa
- College of Charleston (SC)
- Universidade NOVA de Lisboa
- University of A Coruña (a Coruña)
- University of Worcester
- University of Minho
- Pompeu Fabra University
- Hamburg University of Applied Sciences
Private universities also play a key role in the sustainability debate. But despite their importance, there a shortage of research on how sustainability is being implemented at private universities. Based ...
- Posted April 8, 2021
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Evaluation and Lessons Learned from a Campus as a Living Lab Program to Promote Sustainable Practices
- University of British Columbia (BC)
- University of Victoria (BC)
- Yaşar University
Any group that creates challenging goals also requires a strategy to achieve them and a process to review and improve this strategy over time. The University of British Columbia (UBC ...
- Posted April 8, 2021
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Behavioral Strategies To Ditch Desktop Printers
- AASHE (PA)
- Root Solutions (CA)
Replacing individual desktop printers with shared ‘multi-function’ printers (MFPs) is one of the most impactful ways campuses can reduce paper use. It also generates a suite of other benefits, including ...
- Posted March 26, 2021
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Mapping the (mis)alignment of HEIs with sustainability
- AASHE (PA)
This event is part of the AASHE Award Winner Webinar Series, featuring a presentation of the Campus Sustainability Research Award winning project.
Science, technology, and innovation have been recognized as ...
- Posted March 18, 2021
- Videos & Webinars
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Annual Green Talks Symposium
- University of California, San Diego (CA)
Green Talks is a TED-style talk symposium specifically geared towards environmental awareness. This annual event aims to engage and educate the UC San Diego student body and broader community about ...
- Posted March 8, 2021
- Case Studies
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Engage in Climate Solutions: Help Get the Climate Policies We all Need
- AASHE (PA)
- Higher Education Associations Sustainability Consortium (HEASC) (PA)
Do your students and staff want to do something more for climate change that creates a large positive impact? The Beyond Doom and Gloom: Climate Solutions initiative is collaborating with ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2021
- Videos & Webinars
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The carbon footprint of a UK University during the COVID-19 lockdown
- Bournemouth University (Dorset)
The COVID-19 pandemic has provided a unique opportunity to compare the carbon intensity of higher education delivered on- and off-campus. This is attributed to governmental lockdown orders that have forced ...
- Posted Feb. 19, 2021
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Education for Sustainable Development Goals (ESDG): What Is Wrong with ESDGs, and What Can We Do Better?
- The Hague University of Applied Science
This article will discuss social, environmental, and ecological justice in education for sustainable development (ESD) and Education for Sustainable Development Goals (ESDG). The concept of sustainable development and, by extension ...
- Posted Feb. 17, 2021
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Unthinking knowledge production: from post-Covid to post-carbon futures
- Durham University
The past years have witnessed a growing awareness of the role of institutions of knowledge production in reproducing the global climate crisis, from research funded by fossil fuel companies to ...
- Posted Feb. 17, 2021
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Are distance higher education institutions sustainable enough? – A comparison between two distance learning universities
- Universidade Aberta
- University of Beira Interior
- Universidad de Granada
- Madrid Open University
Universities are continually transforming its structure and governance in response to the new social, environmental and economic challenges. Particularly, there has recently been a growing academic interest for measuring sustainable ...
- Posted Feb. 17, 2021
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Green University and academic performance: An empirical study on UI GreenMetric and World University Rankings
- University of Huddersfield
- Hacettepe Üniversitesi
The role of higher education institutions in promoting environmental sustainability is not limited to research activities but also covers improving their campus infrastructure into a more environment-friendly setting as well ...
- Posted Feb. 17, 2021
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Drivers for Universities’ Contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals: An Analysis of Spanish Public Universities
- University of Zaragoza
Universities have a critical role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), both for implementing active policies and for encouraging other actors to participate. This requires having the skills and ...
- Posted Feb. 10, 2021
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COVID-19, sustainable development and higher education: towards a recovery path
- Hamburg University of Applied Sciences
This paper aims to outline the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to universities and how they may react.
- Posted Feb. 10, 2021
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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.