Publications

Introduction

AASHE’s publications library is the leading repository of reports, journal articles, books, and student research on sustainability in higher education. Certain publication types are entered in the annual AASHE Awards Program.

At a Glance

3944
Total Resources
1903
Organizations
99
Countries
58
U.S. States & Territories
12
Canadian Provinces

Bars in graphs can be clicked to view resources that align with a particular category. Because a resource may be listed under multiple topics and disciplines, graph data may include higher total counts than what is indicated in total resources above.

3944 resources

Environmental Sustainability Research Centre Strategic Plan

  • Brock University (ON)

The ESRC Strategic Plan communicates our core principles and details how we will achieve our mission from 2018-2023. It is put forward amidst unprecedented environmental challenges, increasing emphasis on sustainability ...


Environmental Sustainability Plan

  • Brock University (ON)

This report builds on the University’s Sustainability Policy established in 2016 and creates a foundation for the tracking of sustainability initiatives enacted at Brock University to date. This plan ...


Energy Conservation and Demand Management Plan

  • Brock University (ON)

With the issuance of this revised energy conservation and demand management plan (ECDM), Brock University is re-affirming its commitment to energy conservation and sustainable operations. The conservation and demand management ...


Sustainability Progress Report

  • California State University, Channel Islands (CA)

Living sustainably means meeting the needs of the present without compromising the needs of the future. Environmental sustainability is one of the strategic priorities at CSU Channel Islands (CI). Facilities ...


Annual Sustainability Report

  • California State University, Dominguez Hills (CA)

In the 2018-19 fiscal year (FY), California State University Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) made several important strides towards supporting sustainability on campus.


Water Action Plan

  • California State University, Long Beach (CA)

CSULB is committed to sustainability in all operations including the use of natural resources such as water. The campus aims to reduce water use as much as possible and use ...


Strategic Energy Plan

  • California State University, Long Beach (CA)

California State University, Long Beach currently has 96 buildings on its campus spread over 323 acres with a total approximate square footage of 4,400,000. The Campus has executed ...


Landscape Master Plan

  • California State University, Long Beach (CA)

This Landscape Master Plan provided for CSULB seeks to identify important aspects of the campus landscape and its systems and provide recommendation on how to preserve and enhance the campus ...


Climate Action Plan

  • California State University, Long Beach (CA)

The Climate Action Plan—developed by dedicated faculty, students and staff on our Sustainability Task Force—outlines ambitious strategies to achieve the kind of reductions needed to meaningfully address the ...


Campus Sustainability Plan

  • California State University, Monterey Bay (CA)

This plan includes 12 topic areas with Environmental Justice and Inclusion being integrated throughout the plan. The goals and recommendation in each topic area consider existing campus guiding documents and ...


Climate Action Plan

  • California State University, Sacramento (CA)

The Plan sets forth a series of practical ways that campus programs, departments and physical infrastructure can continue to move the campus and all its users further towards environmental sustainability ...


Environmental Sustainability: A Roadmap for Calvin College

  • Calvin University (MI)

In January 2016, Calvin College President Michael Le Roy indicated an interest in the feasibility of signing the Second Nature Carbon Commitment. Consequently, Vice Presidents Todd Hubers and Sally Vanderploeg ...


Diversity Report & Action Plan

  • Cleveland State University (OH)

The 2019 - 2020 Diversity Action Plan builds on the Pursuing Inclusive Excellence document of 2016 with practical objectives designed to impact diversity at CSU and move the ball forward in ...


Sustainability Action Plan

  • College of Charleston (SC)

The strategic plan is designed to guide the College's sustainability efforts. It is a comprehensive approach to normatively and empirically test and steer the process toward specific goals and ...


Sustainability Plan 2019-2021

  • College of Lake County (IL)

The College of Lake County Sustainability Plan establishes an ambitious agenda for the college to be a leader for sustainability in higher education. The Climate Action Plan sets goals for ...


Annual Sustainability Plan Performance Report

  • College of Lake County (IL)

The 2019-21 Sustainability Plan provides a streamlined format for evaluating and tracking the progress of sustainability at the College of Lake County. Each of the thirteen goals has its own ...


Strategic Plan of the Cornell University Sustainability Task Force: Proposing Cornell’s Radical Collaboration on Solutions for Sustainability

  • Cornell University (NY)

The Cornell University Sustainability Plan is administered by the Sustainable Cornell Council (SCC), the governance body for campus sustainability and climate change leadership at the Ithaca, NY campus.


Carbon neutrality should not be the end goal: Lessons for institutional climate action from U.S. higher education

  • Hamilton College-Clinton.NY (NY)
  • Smith College (MA)
  • Ceres (MA)

Climate action pledges have increasingly taken the form of commitments to net carbon neutrality. Higher education institutions (HEIs) are uniquely positioned to innovate in this area, and over 800 United ...


Sustainability at Stanford 2020-21 Year In Review

  • Stanford University (CA)

Explore the 2020-21 academic year milestones, key initiatives, and performance metrics that underscore Stanford's pledge to meaningful progress and applied innovation on sustainability.


Zero waste policy evaluation of college campus. A case study of University of Florida.

  • University of Florida (FL)

Waste generation and disposal of that waste is as big of an issue as climate change. Different factors come into play in developed and developing world. In developing countries litter ...


A Campus Sustainability Map Organized by the UN Sustainable Development Goals

  • University of Wisconsin-Madison (WI)

In recent years, many institutions of higher education have posted sustainability maps on the Internet. These maps typically highlight campus features and some even provide tours. One way to locate ...


Pedagogies for sustainability: insights from a foundational sustainability course in the built environment

  • RMIT University

Abstract Purpose This paper aims to draw on an in-depth qualitative case study of an undergraduate sustainability education course to show the extent of pedagogical reflection and teaching capability demonstrated ...


Sustainability Master Plan

  • California State University, San Marcos (CA)

Many of the goals in this document entail similar long-term, campus-wide efforts. In addition, recommendations for periodic assessment and reevaluation will enable the University to respond to and implement new ...

  • Posted Aug. 26, 2021
  • Publications
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2020 Sustainable Campus Index

  • AASHE (PA)

The 2020 Sustainable Campus Index (SCI) recognizes top-performing colleges and universities overall by institution type and in 17 sustainability impact areas, as measured by the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating ...


UW Sustainability Action Plan

  • University of Washington, Seattle (WA)

The Sustainability Action Plan is built on five Guiding Principles addressing student learning outcomes, research impact, diversity equity & inclusion, responsible use of our resources, and of course, decarbonization of ...

  • Posted July 15, 2021
  • Publications
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Lehigh, Lafayette, Muhlenberg and Dickinson Join Forces for Unprecedented Renewable Energy Project

  • Dickinson College (PA)
  • Lafayette College (PA)
  • Lehigh University (PA)
  • Muhlenberg College (PA)
  • Coho Climate Advisors (MD)

In February 2020, Lehigh University, Lafayette College, Muhlenberg College and Dickinson College announced a partnership to purchase renewable energy as a collective. Together, the four schools will purchase the largest ...

  • Posted July 15, 2021
  • Publications
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Food Choice and Waste in University Dining Commons—A Menus of Change University Research Collaborative Study

  • Lebanon Valley College (PA)
  • Rice University (TX)
  • University of California, Santa Barbara (CA)
  • University of California, Berkeley (CA)
  • University of California, Davis (CA)

The purpose of this multi-campus research was to investigate the relationships of food type and personal factors with food choice, consumption, and waste behaviors of college students at all-you-care-to-eat dining ...


Embedding sacred ecology in sustainability solutions: The role of post-secondary environmental science programs

  • Central European University

There is increasing attention to the potential contribution of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) to addressing an unprecedented crisis in social-ecological systems. Approaches to the bridging of scientific and indigenous knowledges ...


Designing a Regenerative Future: Higher Education as a Driver of Change

  • OCAD University (ON)

Many Ontario colleges continue to educate students in the traditional mechanistic fashion of the linear economy. Graduates in search of a career are equipped to perpetuate the take-make-waste economic system ...


Affecting Sustainable Changes in the Individual Through Landscape Architecture: A Case Study of the University of Virginia

  • University of Virginia (VA)

In the long trek towards creating a sustainable society, universities play one of the most significant roles. They serve as laboratories for defining what it means to be a sustainable ...


Environmental Justice Ethnography in the Classroom: Teaching Activism, Inspiring Involvement

  • Allegheny College (PA)
  • Rhode Island College (RI)
  • San Francisco State University (CA)
  • University of North Carolina, Wilmington (NC)
  • University of South Florida (FL)

In this era of industry deregulation, gutting of environmental protections, and science denial, environmental justice applied anthropology is more important than ever. There is growing ethnographic research into the ways ...


Towards an equity competency model for sustainable food systems education programs

  • Teachers College, Columbia University (NY)
  • Middlebury College (VT)
  • University of British Columbia (BC)
  • American Museum of Natural History (NY)
  • Columbia University (NY)
  • Tufts University (MA)
  • University of New Hampshire (NH)

Addressing social inequities has been recognized as foundational to transforming food systems. Activists and scholars have critiqued food movements as lacking an orientation towards addressing issues of social justice. To ...


Discourse of ‘helping the poor’: rethinking global poverty and its pedagogical possibilities in higher education

  • Xiamen University

As the global community strives for the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, particularly, the first goal of ‘ending poverty in all its forms everywhere’, university students’ learning experiences and understanding about ...


Increasing University Competitiveness through Assessment of Green Content in Curriculum and Eco-Labeling in Higher Education

  • University of Novi Sad
  • Educons University

Growing environmental problems and increasing requirements of green jobs force universities around the world not only to transform their curricula but also to enrich existing ones with contents related to ...


Teaching the “how” of transformation

  • Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Central Office (NJ)
  • University of Oslo

College and university students are eager to engage with transformative solutions to the climate crisis, but often struggle to see openings or possibilities where they can leverage their actions and ...


Understanding the factors influencing recycling behavior in college students: the role of interpersonal altruism and environmental concern

  • National Taichung University of Science and Technology
  • Ming Chuan University
  • National Quemoy University

The purpose of this study is to develop and empirically test a model that can predict factors affecting student recycling behavior. The theoretical model was based on motivation, place attachment ...


Key experiences for the transdisciplinary approach: fieldwork-based training in sustainability science education

  • University of Tokyo
  • National University of Singapore
  • University of the Free State
  • International Christian University

This paper aims to describe how a sustainability-focused program in higher education can provide training and key experiences for implementing transdisciplinary approaches. The case is a fieldwork-based training course called ...


Energy use and CO2 emissions in the UK universities: An extended Kaya identity analysis

  • Florida International University (FL)
  • Australian National University
  • Kingston University London
  • London School of Economics and Political Science
  • Universität Duisburg-Essen

We investigate the progress of the UK universities in greening their energy sources in line with the UK's goal of becoming a net-zero economy by 2050. Using the HESA ...


Signaling sustainability: impact that learning how to report has on enrollment, endowment and emissions of North American higher education institutions

  • Robert Morris University (PA) (PA)
  • Connecting Environmental Professionals Ottawa

The purpose of this paper is to develop an integrated model assessing the frequency and timing between reports on the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE ...


Action learning partnerships: carbon, commerce and community co-learning at a Canadian university

  • University of Northern British Columbia (BC)
  • Prince George Chamber of Commerce (BC)
  • Carbon Realities Consulting (BC)

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to discuss an innovative course offered as a partnership between the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) (Canada), the Prince George Chamber ...


Sustainable development goals and higher education: leaving many behind

  • Nelson Mandela University (Eastern Cape)
  • International Education Association of South Africa

This paper critically interrogates the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in relation to higher education in low-income countries. While the SDG Goal 4, Target 4.3, calls for ensuring ‘equal access ...


Inner Transformation for 21st-Century Futures: The Missing Dimension in Higher Education

  • Indian Institute of Technology Madras

We live in times of great global risks and problems that pose multiple wic­ked, inter­depen­dent challenges, such as climate change, environmental degradation, social ine­qualities, geopolitical tensions ...


Strengthening city–university partnerships to advance sustainability solutions: a study of research collaborations between the University of British Columbia and City of Vancouver

  • University of British Columbia (BC)
  • Sustainability Solutions Group (QC)
  • City of Vancouver (BC)

This paper aims to investigate sustainability research collaborations between the City of Vancouver and the University of British Columbia (UBC), as a case study to better understand how to use ...


Towards a common future: revising the evolution of university-based sustainability research literature

  • University of Beira Interior
  • University of Passo Fundo
  • University of Campinas
  • Hiroshima University
  • Universidade NOVA de Lisboa
  • Universidade Federal Fluminense
  • University of Applied Sciences Zittau/Görlitz
  • Bournemouth University (Dorset)
  • University of Wroclaw/Uniwersytet Wrocławski (Wrocław)
  • University of Minho
  • Universidade federal de Santa Maria
  • University of Belgrade
  • University of the Aegean (Lesvos)
  • Hamburg University of Applied Sciences

The field of sustainability has evolved considerably since the report “Our Common Future” was published in 1987. Whereas matters related to sustainable development used to be of marginal interest in ...


Students’ Innovation in Education for Sustainable Development—A Longitudinal Study on Interdisciplinary vs. Monodisciplinary Learning

  • University of Hamburg
  • Goethe University Frankfurt

Innovative ideas are essential to sustainable development. Students’ innovative potential in higher education for sustainable development (HESD) has so far been neglected. Innovation is often associated with an interdisciplinary approach ...


Plant blindness and sustainability

  • Aberystwyth University
  • University of Gothenburg

Abstract Purpose

The present paper aims to examine the concept of “plant blindness” in the context of current sustainability debates. “Plant blindness” was the term introduced in 1999 by the ...


Impact of sustainability-focused learning intervention on teachers’ agency to teach for sustainable development

  • University of Education Lahore (Punjab)
  • Beaconhouse National University

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has been identified as a key enabler of all Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Considering the vital role of ESD, a framework ‘ESD for 2030ʹ has ...


Embodied, operation, and commuting emissions: A case study comparing the carbon hotspots of an educational building

  • State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (NY)
  • University of Florida (FL)
  • University of Vaasa
  • Jilin University

Building operational energy, mobility energy, and materials embodied energy contribute to a significant portion of the global greenhouse gas emissions. Buildings stand at the intersection of these three contributors and ...


Sustained Relevance Through Elegance: Redesigning Higher Education from Within

  • Arizona State University (AZ)

Universities and colleges in the United States (U.S.) are in a period of rapid transformation. Driven by the need for an educated workforce, higher education institutions are responding to ...


Exploring the Capacity of Canadian Intercollegiate Athletics Departments to Engage in Environmentally Sustainable Operations

  • University of Windsor (ON)

Despite an increased understanding about the role of sports in environmental sustainability (ES), little is known about the nature of ES operations in Canadian university athletics departments. The purpose of ...