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

3959
Total Resources
1908
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.

3959 resources

Comparing Greenhouse Gas Emissions across Texas Universities

  • St. Edward's University (TX)

This project serves as a study comparing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions between universities in Texas. Over 90 percent of climate scientists believe that increased climate change is due to anthropogenic …

  • Posted June 20, 2018
  • Publications
  • View more

Academic staff development as a catalyst for curriculum change towards education for sustainable development: an output perspective

  • Leuphana University of Lüneburg
  • RMIT University

Implementing education for sustainable development (ESD) in university curricula poses a new challenge to the academic system. In recent years many universities have undertaken activities towards its implementation and numerous …

  • Posted June 20, 2018
  • Publications
  • View more

Assessing curricula contribution to sustainability more holistically: Experiences from the integration of curricula assessment and students' perceptions at the Georgia Institute of Technology

  • Georgia Institute of Technology (GA)
  • The Citadel (SC)
  • Utrecht University

There has been a rapid increase in the number of engineering schools in higher educational institutions that have incorporated sustainability into their teaching. Nonetheless, curricula reforms are still needed to …

  • Posted June 20, 2018
  • Publications
  • View more

Leadership for Sustainability in Higher Education

  • Canterbury Christ Church University
  • Manchester Metropolitan University

Sustainability is a complex concept, and the challenge of understanding it and applying it to a diverse, multi-agent, organizational setting with its potentially conflicting priorities cannot be underestimated. Leadership for …


There is No Such Thing as Free Higher Education: A Global Perspective on the (Many) Realities of Free Systems

In the past few years, many countries around the world have debated the financing of higher education. Increasingly, claims emerge that higher education should be free. This article analyses the …


Reduce the Juice: How to Run a Waste Sprint

  • University of London

This communications plan aims to assist universities that are looking to run residence hall sustainability engagement program. It’s designed for running a waste reduction sprint, but could be used as …


Analyzing Ecological Integrity: An Assessment of Princeton University’s Natural Areas

  • Princeton University (NJ)

How can aerial images be used to interpret land use-changes? What can lake sedimentation tell us about erosion patterns? To what extent do forest patches act as stream buffers? How …


Tackling it Together: A Framework for Assessing Climate Vulnerability in the Pioneer Valley

  • Smith College (MA)

In Western Massachusetts, stakeholders are engaging with vulnerability in different ways. While some are planning at the campus and city levels, others have engaged only in areas specific to their …


Circular economy and Cradle to Cradle in educational practice

  • The Hague University of Applied Science

This article describes how Circular Economy (CE) and Cradle to Cradle (C2C) can be used in university teaching to address these frameworks’ strengths and weaknesses in practice. The advantages of …


Wildlife Habitat Management on College and University Campuses

  • University of Massachusetts Amherst (MA)

With the increasing involvement of higher education institutions in sustainability movements, it remains unclear to what extent college and university campuses address wildlife habitat. Many campuses encompass significant areas of …


IEN Toolkit: How to Start and Run a Student-Managed SRI Fund

  • Intentional Endowments Network (MA)

The Intentional Endowment Network's (IEN) new resource, titled "IEN Toolkit: How to Start and Run a Student-Managed SRI Fund", was designed to aid in the creation of new student-managed funds, …


The Geology and Sociology of Consumption: Team-Teaching Sustainability in an Interdisciplinary First-Year Seminar

  • Cornell College (IA)

The complex consequences of current consumption practices, such as climate change and ecosystem degradation, necessitate increased interdisciplinary exploration. In order to raise student awareness of these consumption-related issues, we designed …


Sustainable Energy for University Science Majors: Developing Guidelines for Educators

  • Arizona State University (AZ)
  • Weizmann Institute of Science

This paper describes the basic tenets of a sustainable energy course for university science majors. First, it outlines the three core components of the course: 1. The scientific evidence for …


Sustainability: Why the Language and Ethics of Sustainability Matter in the Geoscience Classroom

  • San Jose State University (CA)
  • University of Rochester (NY)

Because challenges to sustainability arise at the intersection of human and biophysical systems they are inescapably embedded in social contexts and involve multiple stakeholders with diverse and often conflicting needs …


Sustainability, the Next Generation Science Standards, and the Education of Future Teachers

  • Central Washington University (WA)
  • Columbia University (NY)

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) emphasize how human activities affect the Earth and how Earth processes impact humans, placing the concept of sustainability within the Earth and Space Sciences. …


Sustainability in the University Student's Mind: Are University Endorsements, Financial Support, and Programs Making a Difference?

  • University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire (WI)
  • Purdue University (IN)

Despite the increasing awareness that sustainability is an issue needing ongoing attention, and despite millions of dollars spent yearly at universities to promote sustainable behaviors, previous research has found college …


How Does Adding an Emphasis on Socioscientific Issues Influence Student Attitudes about Science, Its Relevance, and Their Interpretations of Sustainability?

  • North Carolina State University (NC)
  • University of Washington, Seattle (WA)

A general consensus exists among the leaders of both developed and developing nations that their citizens should be scientifically literate. Therefore, it is important for educational systems to provide students …


Environmental Education: Reflecting on Application of Environmental Attitudes Measuring Scale in Higher Education Students

  • Leiden University
  • The Hague University of Applied Science

The Ecocentric and Anthropocentric Attitudes toward the Sustainable Development (EAATSD) scale measures environmental concern in relation to sustainable development. This article will discuss how this scale was tested with three …


Integrating problem- and project-based learning opportunities: assessing outcomes of a field course in environment and sustainability

  • University of Saskatchewan (SK)

Improving student competencies to address sustainability challenges has been a subject of significant debate in higher education. Problem- and project-based learning have been widely celebrated as course models that support …


Higher education for sustainability: can education affect moral perceptions?

  • University of Gothenburg

A considerable literature looks at universities’ approaches to integrating sustainable development into teaching and learning, but less is known about how Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) affects student attitudes, values …


A systematic review of the literature on integrating sustainability into engineering curricula

  • University of Tennessee at Knoxville (TN)
  • Lancaster University
  • Jinan University (Guangdong)
  • University of Belgrade

Higher education plays an important role in furthering the sustainability agenda, as reflected in a growing body of literature. While there have been several recent reviews of this work, these …


The Use of Praxis in the Classroom to Facilitate Student Transformation

  • University of Manitoba (MB)
  • University of Regina (SK)
  • University of Windsor (ON)

Critical management education typically assumes that management courses that emphasize critical reflection—that is, courses that critique problematic systems and structures, and ask students to dialogue about and actively reflect upon …


Designing a Proxy Carbon Price Strategy for Smith College

  • Smith College (MA)

This thesis to Design a Proxy Carbon Price Strategy for Smith College was written to internalize the social cost of carbon emissions into financial decision-making. A proxy carbon price is …


Assessing the Energy and Water Use of Vertical Farming at Princeton University

  • Princeton University (NJ)

Research in sustainable solutions for harmful large-scale agriculture will help preserve the earth’s ecosystems and natural resources. Hydroponics is a method of farming that is shown to use considerably less …


The Meat of the Matter: Behavioral Science Nudges for a More Sustainable Diet

  • Princeton University (NJ)

Current levels of global population growth and meat consumption are putting unprecedented demand on agriculture and natural resources. From a sustainability standpoint, the environmental impacts of excess meat consumption, coupled …


SUNY Polytechnic Institute Campus Forest Carbon Inventory Report and Sequestration Estimates

  • State University of New York Polytechnic Institute (NY)

This report takes initial measurements for existing SUNY Polytechnic Institute campus forest carbon stocks and estimates projections for annual rates of carbon sequestration. Establishing a baseline for campus forest carbon …


Dimensions of professional competences for interventions towards sustainability

  • Open University of the Netherlands
  • University of Derby
  • The Open University

This paper investigates sustainability competences through the eyes of professional practitioners in the field of sustainability and presents empirical data that have been created using an action research approach. The …


A scientometric review of global research on sustainability and sustainable development

  • University of Hong Kong (Hong Kong)

The concept of sustainable development has gained worldwide attention in recent years which had enhanced its implementation. However, few studies have attempted to map the global research of sustainability. This …


Enhancing Ecoliteracy through Traditional Ecological Knowledge in Proverbs

  • Seoul National University

Proverbs can be regarded as pithy axioms of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), which can be useful for sustainability education. By using an exploratory sequential mixed method, we analyzed TEK and …


Frontiers in Environmental Education: Philosophical Reflections on the Impact of Power Epistemology and Consumerist Pedagogy in Environmental Education

  • The University of Newcastle (NSW)
  • East China Normal University

In this paper we argue that an educational ideology, based on an epistemology of power and consumerism, has become embedded within the structural foundations of Western Education. The combination of …


Building student capacity to lead sustainability transitions in the food system through farm-based authentic research modules in sustainability sciences (FARMS)

  • Dartmouth College (NH)
  • Montana State University (MT)

Undergraduate courses provide valuable opportunities to train and empower students with the knowledge, skills, and motivation to advance society in more sustainable directions. This article emphasizes the value of bridging …


Leveraging Sustainability Reporting in Higher Education Institutions—A Multidimensional Research Agenda

  • University of Hildesheim

Sustainability has become increasingly important to research and practice. In order to determine impacts, identify improvement potential and to disclose efforts towards sustainability, an organization needs appropriate reporting. Thus, sustainability …


Achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: An enabling role for accounting research

  • University of St Andrews (Scotland)
  • University of London

The purpose of this paper is to establish and advance the role of academic accounting in the pursuit of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are regarded as …


Voluntary disclosure of sustainability reports by Canadian universities

  • University of Hamburg

In contrast to corporate firms, voluntary sustainability reporting by universities is still in its infancy. Against this background, we have investigated which Canadian universities report their sustainability performance and what …


Virtual Water as a Metric for Institutional Sustainability

  • University of Virginia (VA)

Carbon and nitrogen footprints are increasingly common metrics used to consider the environmental impacts of activities and consumption by institutions; an institutional water footprint complements these assessments by providing a …


Using experiential marine debris education to make an impact: Collecting debris, informing policy makers, and influencing students

  • University of Hartford (CT)

The Shore to Statehouse project supported the creation of an open-source, replicable, undergraduate experiential course on marine debris. Funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the course allowed undergraduate …


Urban sustainability education: Challenges and pedagogical experiments

  • Stanford University (CA)
  • Tsinghua University

The twenty-first century will witness massive urban expansion and growth of the urban population, which has global implications for future pathways of sustainable development. Addressing new and heightened demands on …


University-Community Partnership Models: Employing Organizational Management Theories of Paradox and Strategic Contradiction

  • University of Louisville (KY)

University–community (U-C) partnerships have the potential to respond to society’s most pressing needs through engaged scholarship. Despite this promise, partnerships face paradoxical tensions and inherent contradictions that are often not …


University culture and sustainability: Designing and implementing an enabling framework

  • University of Worcester
  • Cranfield School of Management

Universities across the globe are giving increasing priority to the challenges of sustainability, encouraged by a variety of drivers including international and national policy, student and societal pressures. Many extant …


University ad Sustainable Urban Development Indicators for Analysis and Evaluation

  • Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (Madrid)
  • Carlos III University of Madrid

University is an institution with a high potential to promote changes that lead to better social outcomes in terms of sustainability and social responsibility. Therefore, it is seems highly necessary …


The Efficacy of Third-Party Certifications and Memberships: Bridge to Institutional Sustainability at Colleges and Universities

  • Messiah University (PA)

This study researches the effects of third-party certifications and memberships on decision-making pertaining to environmental practices at higher education institutions (HEIs). A survey containing up to 22 questions was sent …


Students' Perception of and Engagement with Sustainability at Humber College

  • Humber College (ON)

ProjectSustainability aims to explore Humber College students’ perception of sustainability, and their engagement with the Office of Sustainability - including the effectiveness of current sustainability initiatives, as well as improvement …


Undergraduate Learning through Engaged Scholarship and University-Community Partnerships

  • College of William & Mary (VA)
  • University of Georgia (GA)

The impact of university–community partnerships and involvement in engaged scholarship on student learning was examined through in-depth interviews with undergraduate members of a student-led, community-based research organization at a selective …


Transnational collaboration for sustainability in higher education: Lessons from a systematic review

  • Leuphana University of Lüneburg

We continue to understand little about how to best design and operate transnational collaborations between universities to advance research and education for sustainability. This article explores general practices in transnational …


Towards the integration of sustainability in Higher Eeducation Institutions: A review of drivers of and barriers to organisational change and their comparison against those found of companies

  • Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (Madrid)

In recent years, there have been a considerable number of efforts to integrate sustainability into Higher Education Institutions (HEIs); however, there are still challenges that need to be overcome. A …


Towards integrated sustainability in higher education – Mapping the use of the Accelerator toolset in all dimensions of university practice

  • University of Calgary (AB)
  • Vert Energy Group
  • Uppsala University
  • Charles University

The role of individual change agents and the human dimension in general are increasingly being acknowledged as critical elements in sustainability integration at higher education institutions. Yet few studies focus …


Towards a universal carbon footprint standard: A case study of carbon management at universities

  • University of Southampton

Organisations of all types are significant contributors to international greenhouse gas emissions. The business case for supporting low-carbon practices is gathering pace, alongside the regulatory demands imposed through carbon emission …


Towards a sustainability reporting guideline in higher education

  • University of Hamburg

So far, sustainability reporting in higher education is in a very early stage – partly, because of the lack of an established and widely recognized sustainability reporting framework for higher …


The role of higher education institutions in regional transition paths towards sustainability

  • University of Marburg

The present paper investigates the role of the located Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the transformation towards sustainability of the city of Linz as well as the region of Upper …


The Role of Eco-campus Assessment Management System in the Sustainable Development of British Universities

  • Nottingham Trent University

The university is a key driver of sustainable development. In the UK, environmental management systems (EMSs) are increasingly being used by organizations to improve environmental performance. Environmental management systems bring …