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Universities all over the world are increasingly recognizing the need for the attainment of environmental sustainability on campuses resulting in the adoption of several environmental sustainable initiatives by university management. This article, therefore, seeks to investigate the impact of campus-base management practices on environmental quality among Russian Universities. The study also explores the strengths and weaknesses against the best practices for campus sustainability as defined by the UI greenMetric world university ranking as well as the awareness of students about pro-environmental behaviours on campuses. Secondary data from the 2015 to 2019 world university ranking was sourced for the impact assessment as well as the strengths and weaknesses. The study also sourced primary data with the help of a structured questionnaire from student respondents to assess their awareness of pro-environmental behaviours. Fixed-effects, and random-effects models were used to assess the management impact on environmental quality. The result from the empirical models indicate that education and research, transportation and waste influence environmental quality on university campuses. The strengths and weaknesses of universities were assessed based on six (6) categories (setting and infrastructure, energy and climate change, waste, water, transport, and education and research). The study also assessed the perception of students on pro-environmental activities. While the results show an increasing trend of awareness among Russian universities (Management) in campus sustainability initiatives, most students appear to be unaware of environmental initiatives undertaken by their universities. The study, therefore, made some recommendations that can help improve campus sustainability levels while at the same time increase student participation.

Relevance. Transition to a low-carbon economy in order to effectively and efficiently exploit the natural resource base of a country is a daunting task, especially for developing countries due to their over-reliance on climate factors. This study focuses on the case of Ghana and assesses the impact of several indicators – agricultural production, economic growth and energy consumption – on the environment. Research objectives. The aim of the study is to describe the causal relationship between agriculture production, economic growth, energy consumption and environmental degradation. Data and Methods. Using time-series data from 1975 to 2014, the study employed the ARDL model to achieve its objectives. Results. The empirical results from the bounds test provide evidence of a long-run association when the covariates are regressed on environmental degradation. The significance of the error correction term at 1% level of significance confirms this assertion. The result further shows that there is evidence of a unidirectional short-run Granger causality and a bidirectional Granger causality among the variables. There was, however, no evidence of Granger causality between economic growth, livestock production index, crop production index and environmental degradation. Conclusion. It is recommended that policy makers should prioritize the adoption of environmentally friendly technologies both in the crop and livestock sub-sectors to ensure that while the food needs of citizens are met, environmental quality is not compromised. Moreover, it is important to ensure energy use efficiency in production.

The desire to combat the negative externalities of climate change and its variability has gained a lot of ground over the last few decades. This has resulted in the development of several approaches among which is the UI GreenMetric university ranking developed in 2010. In light of this, this article seeks to examine the performance of African higher education institutions on the ranking table and the impact they have had on their respective countries. To achieve this, this article compared performance scored between participating universities, carbon dioxide (CO 2) emission trends, and renewable energy consumption trends. The findings paint a picture of poor performance across each of the categories measured under the UI GreenMetric ranking. However, there was some marginal decline in CO 2 emissions as well as an increase in renewable energy consumption for some participating countries. The findings reveal that participation of African universities in the ranking has been very low. Institutionalizing green campus initiatives by African governments to make it a must for a higher education institution to adopt such strategies was recommended. The study also recommends an increase in support for research in the area of green technologies, methods, and procedures in Africa so as to create enough awareness and education on the topic.

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