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

4210
Total Resources
2002
Organizations
93
Countries
52
U.S. States & Territories
11
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.

4210 resources

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
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Measuring sustainable development goals (SDGs) in higher education through semantic matching

  • UNSW Canberra
  • UNSW Sydney

Over the past twenty years, higher education institutions (HEIs) including universities, polytechnics, and vocational education providers, have become major conduits for the teaching and dissemination of the sustainable development goals …

  • Posted Aug. 13, 2025
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Green Building Occupant Satisfaction: Evidence from the Australian Higher Education Sector

  • Griffith University
  • Shenzhen University
  • The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
  • UNSW Sydney

Universities spend billions of dollars on green buildings as a sustainability commitment. This research investigates occupant satisfaction with indoor environmental quality (IEQ), building design (BD), and facilities management (FM) in …

  • Posted Aug. 13, 2025
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The sustainability-to-employment pipeline: the impact of SDG-related curricula on graduates’ employability

  • Università di Bologna

Public and private organizations—including higher education institutions—frequently adopt the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to facilitate a better future. In their efforts to realize the Agenda 2030, universities are focusing on …

  • Posted Aug. 13, 2025
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Agents of (un)sustainability: democratising universities for the planetary crisis

  • Queen's University Belfast

As producers and gatekeepers of knowledge, and as providers of education and training, our universities play a key role in the reproduction of unsustainability. This article finds that they are, …

  • Posted Aug. 13, 2025
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Transdisciplinary learning as a key leverage for sustainability transformations

  • Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
  • Leuphana University of Lüneburg
  • Stockholm University

Learning and transdisciplinary research are widely acknowledged as key components for achieving sustainability; however, the links between these concepts remain vague in the sustainability literature. Recently, emphasis has been given …

  • Posted Aug. 13, 2025
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The value of sustainability in students’ university choice

  • University World News

The QS Sustainability Rankings 2023 set out to measure a university’s ability to tackle the world’s greatest environmental, social and governance challenges. Likewise, the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, which …

  • Posted Aug. 13, 2025
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Using Social Media Data to Research the Impact of Campus Green Spaces on Students’ Emotions: A Case Study of Nanjing Campuses

  • Nanjing Forestry University

Campus green space, as a component of urban green space and the main natural place for college students’ daily contact, has a subliminal effect on their mental health. This study …

  • Posted Aug. 13, 2025
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Analyzing the Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on Employee Satisfaction Using a Hybrid SEM-ANN Approach

  • University of Belgrade

In the conditions of modern market dynamics, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is increasingly evolving from a formal ethical principle into a powerful strategic instrument, key to achieving sustainable growth and …

  • Posted Aug. 13, 2025
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The Future of Jobs Report 2025

  • World Economic Forum

This report forecasts a net gain of 78 million jobs by 2030, driven by technology and green transitions. Based on insights from 1,000+ employers, the report highlights climate-change mitigation as …

  • Posted Aug. 13, 2025
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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
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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

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
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Exploring the research trends in climate change and sustainable development: A bibliometric study

  • University of Delhi

Climate change and sustainable development are interconnected and pressing global challenges requiring urgent attention. Researching the trends in climate change and sustainable development through a bibliometric study is essential for …

  • Posted Aug. 13, 2025
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Sustainability and impact reporting in US higher education anchor institutions

  • California State University, Sacramento (CA)
  • California State University, San Bernardino (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
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Uncovering perspectives on SDG integration for university transformations

  • Monash University

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
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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
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Balancing sustainability and profitability

  • IBM

Today’s executives walk a tightrope, balancing the long-term imperative to protect the planet with the short-term need to preserve the bottom line. In a landscape defined by chaos and disruption, …

  • Posted Aug. 13, 2025
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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
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Town, Gown and Place-Based Sustainability: Collaborating in the Shared Space

  • Albany Law School (NY)

The locational and spatial circumstances of town and gown present opportunities to advance sustainability. This essay examines these areas of opportunity by proposing collaborative frameworks between town and gown. In …

  • Posted Aug. 13, 2025
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Breaking Down Barriers: Exploring the Potential of Participatory Visual Research to Promote University Students' Active Participation in Sustainable Development Initiatives

  • McGill University (QC)

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is a promising approach to addressing the global sustainability crisis, with universities playing a critical role in preparing graduates as sustainable citizens. However, traditional top-down …

  • Posted Aug. 13, 2025
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Integrating Sustainable Development Goals into the Architecture Curriculum: Experiences and Perspectives

  • Ain Shams University
  • Helwan University
  • Impact Circles

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) play a crucial role in architectural education, as buildings contribute 39% of global energy-related carbon emissions and 40% of extracted materials are used in construction. …

  • Posted Aug. 13, 2025
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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
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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
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Sustainability in supply chain management: using drawings to understand undergraduates' perceptions of sustainability

  • Technological University Dublin

Purpose: This paper presents an interpretation of freehand drawings produced by supply chain management undergraduates in response to the question: “What is sustainability?” Having to explain sustainability pictorially forced students …

  • Posted Aug. 13, 2025
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Conceptualizing and comparing world-class universities’ contributions to global sustainability: Pathways, priorities and potential indicators

  • Changsha University
  • Hunan 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
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Racially inclusive climates within degree programs and increasing student of color enrollment: An examination of environmental/sustainability programs.

  • University of Virginia (VA)
  • Vincent Evaluation Consulting (OK)

Students of color remain severely underrepresented in many science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines, including environmental fields. Although there is a growing body of research on predictors of selecting …

  • Posted Aug. 13, 2025
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Emotions and transformative learning for sustainability: a systematic review

  • Freie Universität Berlin
  • Technische Universität Braunschweig

As multiple global sustainability crises worsen and become more existential, understanding how individuals undergo deep personal transformations related to sustainability is increasingly important. Transformative learning theories are widely used in …

  • Posted Aug. 13, 2025
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Life Writing for Sustainability Education

  • Bowling Green State University (OH)

This paper argues that in order to address wicked sustainability problems, such as climate change and rapid biodiversity loss, it is necessary to draw from the humanities and use methods …

  • Posted Aug. 13, 2025
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Global Climate Talent Stocktake: Doubling green talent by 2050 to meet global demand

  • LinkedIn

This report highlights the growing global demand for green talent amid accelerating climate commitments from governments and businesses. Using LinkedIn data, it reveals a widening gap between green job demand …

  • Posted Aug. 13, 2025
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The failure to decarbonize the global energy education system: Carbon lock-in and stranded skill sets

  • Norwegian Institute of International Affairs

The energy transition involves the transformation of professions and labour markets, which in turn depend on the availability of a workforce with the right education and competence. This study assesses …

  • Posted Aug. 13, 2025
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Universities Need a Social License to Operate and Grow: Reflecting on the University-Community Engagement of two Transnational Universities

  • Ocean University of China
  • University of Groningen

Transnational higher education is big business. However, it is unclear what transnational universities must do to behave in a responsible way or to gain a social licence to operate. Examining …

  • Posted Aug. 13, 2025
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Savings from solar energy exceeds University’s expectations

  • Pennsylvania State University (PA)

Penn State’s solar energy purchasing agreement with Lightsource bp has significantly outperformed expectations, saving the university an estimated $2.5 million in energy costs, over four times the original two-year projection. …

  • Posted Aug. 13, 2025
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Mapping universities-communities partnerships in the delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals

  • Manchester Metropolitan University
  • Nelson Mandela University
  • State University of Campinas
  • Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul - UFRGS
  • University of Passo Fundo

The establishment of partnerships between universities and communities can significantly support the implementation of initiatives related to sustainability as a whole and help to realize some of the United Nations …

  • Posted Aug. 13, 2025
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$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
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College Pulse Sustainable Campuses Survey 2023

  • College Pulse

This survey was designed and conducted by College Pulse. Interviews were conducted in English among a sample of 2164 undergraduate students who are currently enrolled in the U.S. The sample …

  • Posted Aug. 13, 2025
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Shifting the approach: greening abolitionist teaching for inclusive sustainability

  • California State University, San Marcos (CA)
  • Goddard College (VT)

In recent years, there has been growing criticism within environmental studies and sciences (ESS) regarding the environmental racism embedded in the institutions that train future environmental professionals and leaders. The …

  • Posted Aug. 13, 2025
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Fossil fuel industry influence in higher education: A review and a research agenda

  • National University of Ireland, Maynooth
  • Salem State University (MA)
  • University of Miami (FL)
  • University of Michigan (MI)
  • University of Regina (SK)
  • Virginia Tech (VA)

The evolution of fossil fuel industry tactics for obstructing climate action, from outright denial of climate change to more subtle techniques of delay, is under growing scrutiny. One key site …

  • Posted Aug. 13, 2025
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Understanding the Green Transition Supply and Demand Dynamics

  • LinkedIn

This report analyzes global trends in the demand and supply of green talent between 2021 and 2024. It highlights a steady increase in demand for green skills, outpacing the growth …

  • Posted Aug. 13, 2025
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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
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University of Zurich Sustainability Report

  • University of Zurich

Provides an overview and updates on sustainability at the university.


UBC Neighbourhood Climate Action Plan

  • The University of British Columbia (BC)

UBC’s pathway to a net-zero, climate resilient community for the campus neighborhoods.


UBC Neighbourhood Climate Action Plan Progress Update

  • The University of British Columbia (BC)

This report provides a 2025 progress update on NCAP implementation by scope area. The report tracks progress towards building climate resilience and reducing GHG emissions since NCAP was approved in …


Climate Action Barometer Global Wave 2024

  • International Education Sustainability Group

The Climate Action Barometer (CAB) Global Wave 2024 report highlights how institutions are engaging with climate action, where progress is being made and where further steps are needed.

Universities have …


KAUST SDG Highlight Report 2024

  • King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

KAUST is proud to release the third edition of its SDG Highlight Report, reaffirming the University’s commitment to sustainable development through science, education, and real-world solutions. The report captures institutional …


Climate Risks and Resilience at Dickinson College: Strategies for Health and Wellbeing

  • Dickinson College (PA)

Prepared for Building Climate Resilience at Dickinson and in Central Pennsylvania, an initiative of Dickinson College, the Borough of Carlisle, and Cumberland County, PA, as part of Dickinson’s Baird Sustainability …

  • Posted April 3, 2025
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Climate Risks and Resilience at Dickinson College: Strategies for Infrastructure, Utilities, and Grounds

  • Dickinson College (PA)

Prepared for Building Climate Resilience at Dickinson and in Central Pennsylvania, an initiative of Dickinson College, the Borough of Carlisle, and Cumberland County, PA, as part of Dickinson’s Baird Sustainability …

  • Posted April 3, 2025
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Climate Risks and Resilience at Dickinson College: Strategies for Continuity of Operations

  • Dickinson College (PA)

Prepared for Building Climate Resilience at Dickinson and in Central Pennsylvania, an initiative of Dickinson College, the Borough of Carlisle, and Cumberland County, PA, as part of Dickinson’s Baird Sustainability …

  • Posted April 3, 2025
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Climate Risks and Resilience at Dickinson College: Strategies for College Finances

  • Bard College (NY)
  • Dickinson College (PA)

Prepared for Building Climate Resilience at Dickinson and in Central Pennsylvania, an initiative of Dickinson College, the Borough of Carlisle, and Cumberland County, PA, as part of Dickinson’s Baird Sustainability …

  • Posted April 3, 2025
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University Leadership that Enables Sustainability Education and Scholarship

This chapter is part of a new open access handbook from Taylor and Francis (https://www.taylorfrancis.com/reader/download/13f32394-c078-4201-8b83-0bce63352914/book/pdf?context=ubx). It explores and articulates different levers and areas of responsibility for sustainability in academic programs …

  • Posted Feb. 20, 2025
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York University Endowment Fund: Sustainable Investing 2023-2024 Progress Report

  • York University (ON)

The 2023-24 Sustainable Investing report highlights how York University's endowment fund continues to support the institution's commitment of contributing to a more sustainable future on local and global levels. The …

  • Posted Jan. 14, 2025
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