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

3966
Total Resources
1909
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.

3966 resources

Responsible Management Education as Socialization: Business Students’ Values, Attitudes and Intentions

  • Nazareth University (NY)
  • Macquarie University (NSW)
  • University of Melbourne (Victoria)

The growing interest in sustainable development in all sectors of the economy has fostered a noteworthy shift toward responsible management education (RME). This emerging view underscores that business schools provide …


Carbon Neutrality at Higher Education Institutions: A Case Study Analysis of Arizona State University

  • Arizona State University (AZ)

Campus sustainability and the goal of reaching carbon neutrality have become a major trend among many Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) globally, and many of them have taken public pledges to …


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 …


Educational contexts and designs for cultivating leaders capable of addressing the wicked issues of sustainability transitions.

  • Blekinge Institute of Technology

The ongoing sustainability crisis offer numerous, multifaced societal challenges as a result of the ongoing degradation of socio-ecological systems by human activity causing massive ecological damage and human suffering. Overcoming …


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 …


Emotional reactions to climate change and associated coping strategies: a grounded theory study on graduate students of sustainability-related programmes

  • Uppsala University

Climate change is happening. Yet this phenomenon does not only concern the environment, but also has various notable and important psychological implications for individuals in particular and society in general. …


City-University Partnerships in Implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals at a Local Level

  • The 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 …


Synchronizing Sustainability Education Across Higher Education Community Orientations

  • The University of British Columbia (BC)

With increased concerns surrounding the global climate emergency, the need to address the issue emerges across individuals and large organizations alike. The University of British Columbia is one of the …


Assessing Undergraduate Sustainability Knowledge at California Polytechnic State University

  • California Polytechnic State University (CA)

Sustainability education has become an important focus of many higher education institutions (HEIs), with the inclusion of many sustainability-related learning objectives for undergraduate students. As sustainability is a new, rising …


Coping With Climate Change: Examining Emotional Effects and Searching for Solutions

  • University of Vermont (VT)

Inspired by experiences with college students and my own reckoning of the climate crisis, I sought to understand the indirect psychological impacts of climate change on UVM students and what …


Providing a ‘point of entry’: Approaches to framing sustainability in curriculum design in Higher Education

  • RMIT University

The rationale for including sustainability in Higher Education curriculum has been made clear, yet how to facilitate effective learning in this field has received less research attention. This article focuses …


Co-learning for sustainable design: The case of a circular design collaborative project in Ireland

  • University of Limerick
  • Koç University

Incorporating concerns of sustainability and circularity into design practice is undoubtedly important for both design research and education. There is a need to equip novice designers with the skills to …


Collaborating for transformation: applying the Co-Laboratorio approach to bridge research, pedagogy and practice

  • Simon Fraser University (BC)

Intractable issues such as poverty, environmental degradation and economic and social exclusions, as exemplified in the SDGs, are inherently systemic problems that require multi-actor collaborations. This paper presents the learnings …


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 …


The COVID-19 pandemic and the growing need to train engineers aligned to the sustainable development goals

  • Universidade Federal de São Carlos
  • University of Campinas
  • Hamburg University of Applied Sciences
  • Universidade Federal Fluminense
  • Manchester Metropolitan University

Considering the requirements of sustainable development regarding professionals training and the challenges evidenced during Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, this study aims to contribute to the debates regarding the need to …


Can public universities play a role in fostering seed sovereignty?

  • The 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 …


Raising awareness of the Sustainable Development Goals through Ecological Projects in Higher Education

  • Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Kentriki Makedonia)
  • University of Western Macedonia

This research demonstrates a novel method to communicate in Higher Education and raise awareness of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and particularly of Sustainable Development Goals, a vital step …


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 …


A Successive Change in the Curriculum for Sustainable Public Administration

  • Åbo Akademi University (Varsinais-Suomi)

Sustainable development is considered to be one of the most important issues for the future, as evidenced by the growing interest in sustainable development in higher education. The draft revision …


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 …


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 …


SOSTAUGA project: reduction of water consumption and evaluation of potential uses for endogenous resources

  • University of A Coruña (a Coruña)

The University of A Coruña (UDC) elaborated the SOSTAUGA project, aiming to reach a higher sustainable level of its water management. SOSTAUGA defined four priority points of action: the restoration …


Green Building, Green Behavior? An Analysis of Building Characteristics that Support Environmentally Responsible Behaviors

  • Texas Tech University (TX)

This study examines the environmentally responsible behaviors (ERBs) of undergraduates (n = 575). ERBs were measured in an online survey and the influence of situational context on behavior was explored …


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 – …


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? …


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 …


The Emotional Experience of Sustainability Courses: Learned Eco-Anxiety, Potential Ontological Adjustment

  • Concordia University (QC)
  • Queen's University
  • York University

The knowledge content of university-level introductory sustainability courses elicits emotional reactions by students that are novel within the typical classroom context. Common negative reactions include ‘sadness’, ‘worry’, ‘guilt’ and ‘disgust’, …


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, only …


What Can Decolonial and Abolitionist Critiques Teach the Field of Higher Education?

  • The University of British Columbia (BC)

In this article, I offer a critical reading of the higher education field-imaginary and its orienting assumptions, inspired by decolonial and abolitionist critiques. These critiques identify the constitutive and ongoing …


University of Oregon 2020 Materials Report

  • University of Oregon (OR)

The UO Materials Tracking Report covers all material solid waste and recovery categories for the institution. This report applies 27 years of reports to generate a timescale graphs for all …

  • Posted April 29, 2021
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Student-Centered Learning and Sustainability: Solution or Problem?

While discussions surrounding education for sustainable development (ESD) are diverse, most scholars and policy makers view student-centered learning (SCL) as axiomatic. In contrast, we argue that promoting SCL potentially stymies …

  • Posted April 23, 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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Developing Sustainability Competences Through Pedagogical Approaches: Experiences from International Case Studies

  • Gävle University College

This book is aimed at developing sustainability competences through pedagogical approaches by comparing 15 case studies from 12 countries in 4 continents (Africa, America, Australia, and Europe) analysing how Sustainable …

  • Posted April 23, 2021
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The impacts of higher education institutions on sustainable development: A review and conceptualization

  • Gävle University College
  • Vienna University of Economics and Business

This paper aims to conceptualize impacts of higher education institutions (HEIs) on sustainable development (SD), complementing previous literature reviews by broadening the perspective from what HEIs do in pursuit of …

  • Posted April 23, 2021
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Reducing energy demand in China and the United Kingdom: The importance of energy literacy

  • University of Plymouth (Devon)
  • Zhejiang University
  • Plymouth Marjon University

As the impacts of climate change become increasingly visible across the globe, awareness of the need for cleaner energy and demand reduction is growing. Energy literacy offers a strong potential …

  • Posted April 23, 2021
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How to run a sustainability science research group sustainably?

  • University of Kassel
  • University of Turku
  • University of Hohenheim

Rigorous sustainability science includes addressing pressing real-world problems, weaving multiple knowledge systems, and striving for transformative change. However, these key attributes of sustainability science often conflict with university structures and …

  • Posted April 23, 2021
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Climate change advocacy: exploring links between student empowerment and civic engagement

  • Illinois State University (IL)
  • Northern State University (SD)

This study identified the attitudes and behaviors of college students regarding their advocacy for climate change adaptation and mitigation. Specifically, perceptions of climate change were assessed and advocacy activities were …

  • Posted April 23, 2021
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Key competencies in sustainability in higher education—toward an agreed‑upon reference framework

  • Arizona State University (AZ)
  • Bellevue College (WA)
  • Chatham University (PA)
  • Furman University (SC)
  • Northern Arizona University (AZ)
  • University of South Dakota (SD)
  • University of Hawaii at Manoa (HI)
  • University of Michigan (MI)
  • Université Laval (QC)
  • UNESCO
  • University of Auckland
  • University of Vechta
  • Leuphana University of Lüneburg
  • Rovira i Virgili University

Hundreds of sustainability programs have emerged at universities and colleges around the world over the past 2 decades. A prime question for employers, students, educators, and program administrators is what …

  • 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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Assessing the carbon footprint of a university campus using a life cycle assessment approach

  • Clemson University (SC)

To respond to anthropogenic effects on the global climate system, higher education institutions are assessing and aiming to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. The objective of this paper was to …

  • Posted April 23, 2021
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Energy Efficiency Improvement in K-12 Schools: A Case Study in Florida

  • Florida Institute of Technology (FL)

K-12 schools are responsible for over 1.4% of the total annual energy consumption in the United States. In a collaboration between Florida Institute of Technology and Brevard Public Schools (BPS), …

  • Posted April 22, 2021
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Lessons from unsuccessful energy and buildings sustainability actions in university campus operations

  • University of Coimbra

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are increasingly striving to deploy actions that promote the efficient use of energy and other resources on university campuses. Successful sustainability initiatives are vastly described in …

  • Posted April 22, 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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Exhausted: Education and the Response to the Planetary Crisis

  • University College London (London)

The climate crisis is of a severity that fills many with a sense of hopelessness. The modest steps that ordinary citizens can take to reduce energy consumption and waste seem …

  • Posted April 22, 2021
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What Ought to Be Done to Promote Education for Sustainability in Teacher Education?

  • James Cook University (Queensland)

Teachers are major players in the development of future citizens who have the knowledge, understanding, skills, values and dispositions to respond to existential threats such as climate change, land degradation, …

  • Posted April 22, 2021
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The Risk and Potentiality of Engaging with Sustainability Problems in Education—A Pragmatist Teaching Approach

  • Ghent University

This article engages in the discussion about education's role in relation to sustainability problems, a debate characterised by a tension between two legitimate concerns: a concern about the instrumentalisation of …

  • 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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‘Business as Usual’: Critical Management Studies and the Case of Environmental Sustainability Education

  • University of Queensland (QLD)
  • University of South Australia

The inclusion of sustainability and ethics teachings in management education for many seems a positive step forward for creating more environmentally just and ethically sound managers. However, the type of …

  • Posted April 22, 2021
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Towards energy transition at the Faculty of Education of Bilbao (UPV/EHU): diagnosing community and building

  • University of the Basque Country

Purpose This paper aims to present the results of a study aimed at performing a first diagnosis of energy literacy and energy use in a Faculty of Education, by means …

  • Posted April 22, 2021
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Green competencies: insights and recommendations from a systematic literature review

  • Indian Institute of Management (Jharkhand)

This study conceptualises the construct – green competencies. The concept is in the niche stage and needs further elaboration. Hence, to address the research gap, this study follows the steps …

  • Posted April 22, 2021
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