Felix (2019)The role of green and Sustainability Offices in fostering sustainability efforts at higher education institutions.
Purpose The lack of change structures can be seen as an important reason why sustainability continues to suffer a niche existence in most higher education organisations. This is a problem because universities can leverage their teaching, research and operations to advance solutions to climate change, hunger and other Sustainable Development Goals. The purpose of this study is to highlight the vital importance of self-efficacy approaches, in particular the Green Office (GO) Model that aims to strengthen collaboration among all members of higher education communities and provides inspiration for what a sustainability office on campus might look like. Design/methodology/approach The research presented follows a two-step methodology. First, the peculiarities and commonalities of already existing GOs were analysed to better understand drivers and barriers for their institutionalisation. Building on this, a peer-to-peer digital training programme was developed and tested, aiming to provide students, staff and academics with knowledge and skills to establish more sustainability offices and improve the work of existing ones. Findings Research revealed three main obstacles for the dissemination of the GO model: lack of adaptation of international experiences to other university contexts, missing educational offers and a limited scope of public relations. The findings adduce proof that GO provides a replicable model that can be both adapted to different university contexts and scaled internationally. Research limitations/implications This research has been limited by the availability and ability to procure information from the sampled universities’ actors beyond the close GO community. Originality/value This case study presents an original research and development undertaking that was realised in a unique collaboration between a non-profit, student-initiated social business and an academic institution.
Sustainability reports are regarded as important tools in offering information about the environmental, social, economic, and institutional performance of an institution, and in demonstrating a commitment to matters related to sustainable development. But even though sustainability reporting has been used by a variety of higher education institutions to date, it is not as widely practiced as it should be. To further investigate this topic, a twofold approach was used: a study focusing on sustainability reporting approaches deployed in a sample of 30 universities across a set of countries; and a survey with a sample of 72 universities from different global regions to assess the extent to which they are deploying sustainability reporting as part of their activities. The scientific value of the paper resides in the fact that it offers a comprehensive overview of the subject matter of sustainability reporting, and how higher education institutions handle it. It also outlines the efforts in developing these documents which may catalyse further progress in this key area.
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