Education for Sustainability in Higher Education

Report Commissioned by UNESCO ESD Secretariat

to inform the 3rd Global DESD Report

January 2014

Final Draft

Prof. Daniella Tilbury

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 Education for sustainability in higher education

Five key messages from the report:

1. The engagement of higher education in the construction of a global vision and pathway
for sustainable development is critical. The last ten years have witnessed higher education
stepping up its efforts in this area. The period has seen: the catalytic impact of interagency
approaches and government funding significant investment in lowering the carbon footprint
of universities and colleges, and large-scale efforts to introduce sustainability into the
curriculum. The sector has witnessed glimpses of good practice in the reorientation of
learning and teaching processes, curriculum design and quality systems towards sustainable
development. Evidence suggests that universities and colleges have also understood the value
of outreach activities in gaining trust amongst stakeholders and affirming higher education’s
role in social change for sustainability.

2. Progress in areas such as student leadership, adoption of governance structures and whole-of-
institutional approaches has taken at a slower pace. Nevertheless, the study suggests the sector
has gained a deep understanding of the complexity underpinning the higher education
transition towards sustainable development over the United Nations Decade of Education for
Sustainable Development (DESD) years
.
3. It has proven difficult to establish the distinct contribution of the DESD to changes outlined
above. What is evident is that DESD has been successful in raising the profile of Education
for Sustainable Development (ESD) and creating platforms and partnerships for international
collaboration across higher education. It has given a mandate to key stakeholders committed
to this agenda and helped them to mainstream its ideas, reaching beyond their immediate
circles of influence. The DESD has also served to raise overall awareness of good practice
projects and provoked international debate about the role of higher education in change for a
sustainable future.

4. The study concludes that a global rebooting of higher education towards sustainable
development is yet to take place. This will require more than the alignment or scaling up of
existing good practice. Systemic approaches to curriculum change at an institutional level as
well as across the sector are needed. The evidence suggests that academic leadership is key to
realizing this ambition.

5. The Global Action Programme on ESD should prioritize efforts and professional development
opportunities for programme leaders, lecturers and tutors as well as senior managers and
sector leaders who have responsibility for curriculum quality and academic development.
Building capability and academic networks in this area may well prove catalytic in the quest
to reorient higher education towards sustainable development.

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 Education for Sustainability in Higher Education

Contents

Pages

Five key Messages 1

Executive Summary 6

1. Introduction 13

2. Student Leadership and Engagement: Inspiring the Future 17

3. Catalyzing Social Change: Extending the Value and Impact of Universities 24

4. Carbon Reductions: Tackling the University Footprint 31

5. Higher Education Networks and Partnerships: Connecting the Sector 42

6. Curriculum and Learning: the core challenge 53

7. Tools for Measuring Progress: Appraisals, Rankings and Benchmarks 66

8. Leadership and Governance for Sustainability: Driving the Change 73

9. Concluding Remarks 79

Appendix 1 Acknowledgements

Appendix 2 Tables

Appendix 3 References

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Acronyms

AASHE Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.

ACUPCC American College and University President’s Climate Commitment

AISHE Assessment Instrument for Sustainability in Higher Education

AKEPT Higher Education Leadership Academy

ARIUSA Alianza de Redes Iberoamericanas de Universidades por la Sostenibilidad y el Ambiente

AUA Alternative University Appraisal

CADEP Sustainable Development, Environment and Risk

CRC Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme

CRUE Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities

DESD United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development

EEIO Environmental Extended Input-Output

EETU UNEP’s Environmental Education and Training Unit

EFA Education for All

ELIAS Environmental Leadership Initiatives for Asian Sustainability

ESD Education for Sustainable Development

GHG Greenhouse Gas

GUNI Global University Network for Innovation

GUPES Global Universities Partnership on Environment and Sustainability

HE Higher Education

HEFCE Higher Education Funding Council for England

HESI Higher Education Sustainability Initiatives

IAC United Nations Inter-Agency Committee for the DESD

IAU International Association of Universities

IIS International Implementation Scheme

INSEE Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Économiques

ITP International Training Programme. MESA

LiFE Learning in Future Environments

MDGs Millennium Development Goals

MESA Mainstreaming Environment and Sustainability in Africa

MEEG Monitoring and Evaluation Expert Group

MEXT Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology

MIO-ECSDE Mediterranean Information Office for Environment, Culture and Sustainable Development

NSW New South Wales, Australia

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NUS National Union of Students UK

PhD Doctor of Philosophy

PRME Principles for Responsible Management Education

RCE Regional Centre of Expertise

RCE-GWS Regional Centre of Expertise in ESD for Greater Western Sydney

REDD Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation

REFEDD Reseau Francais de Etudiants pour le Development Durables

RGF Revolving Green Fund UK (HEFCE)

SD Sustainable Development

SDGs Sustainable Development Goals

SEDA Sustainable Development Education Academy

SFLA Sustainable Futures Leadership Academy

STARS Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System

STAUNCH Sustainability Tool for Auditing Universities Curricula in Higher Education

TAFE Technical and Further Education

TVET Technical and Vocational Education and Training

UE4SD University Educators For Sustainable Development

UK United Kingdom

US United States

UN United Nations

UNCED United Nations Conference on Environment and Development

UNCBD United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity

UNCSD United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development

UN DESA United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs

UNDP United Nations Development Programme

UNECE United Nations Economic Commission for Europe

UNEP United Nations Environment Programme

UNESCO United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization

UNICEF United Nations Children's Fund

UNITWIN University Twinning and Networking Programme

UNU United Nations University

USAT Unit-Based Sustainability Assessment Tool

USM Universiti Sains Malaysia

UVED Government of Japan and Virtual University Environment & Sustainable Development

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UWS University of Western Sydney

VET Vocational Education and Training

YESBU Youth for Sustainable Development and Better Understanding

YES Youth Eco Summit

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Executive Summary

Context

This research was commissioned by UNESCO as a contribution to the 3 rd global monitoring and

evaluation report that will assess changes and impacts during the UN Decade in Education for

Sustainable Development (DESD). It seeks to capture the diversity of activities that have been initiated

in the course of the DESD as well as those that have been inspired or catalyzed by the DESD itself. The

report presents empirical evidence and narrative data captured through an international survey, regional

consultations, e-dialogues and desktop research, as well as a key informants review process. It presents

a critical review of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in Higher Education, mapping

change over the period, identifying key trends and outcomes. As well as showcasing best practices and

emerging opportunities from around the globe, the review points to areas that are weakly developed and

require further investment of time and resources. Recommendations are made for post-2014 ESD work

and to inform dialogues around the Global Action Programme on ESD.

Catalyzing social change

Revitalizing the role and relationships universities and colleges have with the communities they

serve is key to sustainable development. The last ten years have witnessed an increase in the range and

diversity of activities that reconnect universities with professional bodies, government agencies and

local communities, helping to demonstrate their social value. Openings have been found in the campus

walls that have often distanced academia from its stakeholders. These have enabled universities and

colleges to learn, partner as well as influence beyond their campus environments. Sustainability

examples can be found in all United Nations (UN) regions, although documented experiences suggest

that community sustainability initiatives are perhaps more prevalent in Latin America and the

Caribbean, Africa and Oceania. This report showcases a restorative justice project from Jamaica which

serves as an example of how universities can rebuild relationships in local communities and support

national government efforts in this area. Evidence also suggests that Western universities have more

recently focused outreach efforts on economic recovery, employability and social entrepreneurship. It

references a New Economics Foundation study which found that the social impact of universities in the

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(United Kingdom) UK alone is worth over £1.31 billion and documents how universities add value to

society in terms of health, well-being, citizenship and political engagement, as well as serving as

economic engines.

Student leadership and engagement

It has not been possible to capture definite trends and changes in student leadership for

sustainability during the DESD years, due to an overall lack of engagement at this level. Given these

difficulties, the review has instead provided a situational analysis, pointing to an emergence of student

associations and with a primary focus on sustainable development and the potential of these to lever

change within institutions and across the sector. Findings point to low levels of student leadership;

given the volume and growth of student numbers in higher education, much more needs to be done to

engage students in change. One of the most obvious patterns in the evidence is the tendency to view

students as empty vessels, ready to be filled with the ideas about sustainability from the ‘experts’

around them. This is a key obstacle to genuine student engagement. Just as there is a need to challenge

the paradigms that shape higher education to support sustainability, there is a need for new research and

initiatives that start from an understanding of students as agents of change and can truly support student

leadership for sustainability. This report presents a concrete example from the UK of how government

agencies, higher education bodies and student associations can come together to extend and support this

type of student leadership. Establishing similar partnerships could be an important priority for the new

the Global Action Programme on ESD.

Carbon reductions

The last ten years have witnessed significant efforts to curb carbon emissions of Universities

and colleges, particularly in the West. Countries such as the United States (US), Canada and UK, some

of the biggest emitters in the sector, are increasingly active in attempting to reduce the carbon footprint

of buildings, travel and procurement activities. The realities of climate change, together with the

economic benefits of reducing energy consumption, have motivated high profile commitments and

actions to reduce sector emissions in these countries. Over the last ten years, government agencies

responsible for higher education have developed guidelines on how to measure carbon-footprints and

set carbon reduction targets, have benchmarked institutions, provided financial incentives, and have
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also set penalties for those not meeting targets. Institutions have signed charters, developed carbon

reduction strategies, employed specialist staff to measure improvements and engaged staff and students

in carbon reduction activities. Most of these activities have centered on reducing direct emissions from

university operations and none of these initiatives existed at the start of the DESD. As the sector

continues to expand, consideration needs to be given to reducing indirect emissions as well as to

evaluating the relative impact of higher education models that support online, distance and transnational

education alongside traditional campus-based offerings.

HE networks and partnerships

Perhaps the most visible ESD development across and within regions has been the expansion

and presence of higher education networks. The report showcases an Ibero-American higher education

network established in 2007 which brings together 228 universities across 15 countries; one of many

that have scaled up their membership or established new collaborations, giving momentum to higher

education agendas within the sustainable development movement. This influence was evident on the

road to Rio+20, where higher education colleges and universities could opt for accreditation to

participate at this global gathering for the first time.

In parallel, prominent higher education partnerships such as the Global Universities Network

for Innovation (GUNI) and the International Association of Universities (IAU) have placed

sustainability as a core concern of their activities, bringing sustainability into mainstream sector

dialogues. This is a significant development which would have been seen as untenable ten years ago.

Equally, UN-facilitated initiatives such as the Global Universities Partnership on Environment and

Sustainability (UNEP GUPES) and the Regional Centres of Expertise in Education for Sustainable

Development (UNU RCE) have extended the reach of higher education sustainability initiatives across

communities of practice, together reaching an additional 550 universities in the last ten years. There

have been no evaluation studies that quantify the extent of this influence, however case studies exist

that document how these bodies have created momentum in this sector. The numerous Higher

Education Treaties and Declarations that have emerged during the DESD are also worthy of note, as

these have provided a focus for partnership energies and given substance to sector activities. As the

influence of these partnerships and treaties continues to grow, it is expected that they will stimulate

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further developments across the sector. The Global Action Programme on ESD should recognize their

catalytic potential and mobilize support around these collaborative efforts.

Curriculum and learning for sustainability

Evidence collected by this study suggests that the DESD has served to raise awareness of the

ambitions underpinning ESD and promoted debate about its place in mainstream higher education

curriculum. Champion institutions grappling with a whole-of-institutional approach to ESD have

responded with a diversity of approaches: some integrate sustainable development concepts in the

curriculum; many develop new programme offerings with a specialization in sustainability; whilst

others seek deeper change and the reorientation of education processes and systems to align with ESD.

The report features recent initiatives that are supporting the higher education journey towards

sustainable development with new education tools and curriculum guidance as well staff development

programmes.

Regional reports compiled by United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization

(UNESCO), capture differences but also patterns in the strategies adopted to promote ESD across the

regions. The higher education sector in Asia, Europe North America, and Oceania shows a stronger

overall trajectory in embedding ESD in higher education thanks to clearer mandates from provincial or

national governments. This section showcases efforts in China where it has been reported that over 300

universities have sustainable development offerings and that the almost all universities have begun to

address curriculum reorientation in line with ESD. The report recognizes the role that Australian,

Dutch, Canadian, Japanese, Swedish and UK government aid agencies have played in funding

curriculum development for sustainability in Africa, Asia and the Pacific Islands and the investment of

the European Commission in promoting international collaboration in this area. The report presents a

case study from the Mediterranean documenting North-South collaboration to advance education and

learning for sustainability in higher education.

Going forward, the Global Action Programme on ESD should prioritize professional

development opportunities for programme leaders, lecturers and tutors as well as senior managers that

have responsibility for curriculum, quality and academic development. Building capability and

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academic networks in ESD is key to the reorientation of higher education towards sustainable

development.

Tools for measuring progress in HE

The transition of the higher education sector towards sustainability needs to be underpinned by

information systems that can capture and benchmark progress and thus inform strategic investment and

management decisions. These tools are important to build bridges between strategy, academic

development and operational issues in the area of sustainability. In 2005, when the DESD was

launched, there were no systematic mechanisms for measuring progress in this area. In 2013, a range of

self-assessment tools are in use which promote whole-of-institutional approaches to sustainability and

often present opportunities for independent validation or certification of performance. The tools

measure what is calculable in terms of eco- or carbon efficiency and comparable in terms of curriculum

and academic development. They also recognize policy and structural changes and often assess the

processes and motivations that underpin changes in an institution.

Rankings and benchmarking systems have become equally important, although they serve a

different purpose. Key informants suggest that they have been effective in raising the profile of

sustainable development amongst opinion leaders and with key stakeholders not yet engaged with this

agenda. They are often controversial, as the sector has struggled to agree on criteria for assessment.

Some stakeholders do not agree with the ‘naming and shaming’ game that underpins publicly listed

ranking schemes; they argue that this can serve to de-incentivise or disengage senior managers from the

poorer performing institutions. However, evidence suggests that they have proven to be effective in

attracting attention and promoting action in this area. The post-2014 Global Action Programme on ESD

should promote wider adoption of self-assessment tools and utilize the data collected by rankings and

benchmarking schemes to capture milestones and assess progress of the sector towards sustainability.

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Leadership and governance for sustainability

As the social contract of universities continues to evolve, executive teams are now being held

accountable for the corporate social responsibility performance of their institutions. University leaders

have responded by supporting outreach activities and making ‘in principle’ commitments by signing

public charters and declarations to reorient higher education towards sustainability. Interestingly, the

experience of the last ten years has shown that it is easier to contribute to change for sustainability

across social groups than to adopt governance structures for sustainability within universities. A recent

international study identified how tackling these challenges requires leaders with the power, vision and

capability to steer their organizations through a change journey that is complex, uncertain, slow and

political. The cross-regional Turnaround Leadership in Higher Education (2013) study calls for an

acknowledgement of the distinctive leadership challenge that underpins the reorientation of higher

education towards sustainability and the complexity associated with embedding ESD through a whole-

of-institutional approach.

The review shows that there are several needs in this area, such as position descriptions for

leadership roles that clearly reflect these change management capabilities and better training for HE

sustainability leaders, who have been forced to develop their capabilities ‘on the job’. Emerging

practice shows that there are moves under way to address these needs and the report showcases the

efforts of the Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities (CRUE), which has drawn together Vice-

Chancellors and Presidents to map and drive change across the sector through action learning processes.

The report also observes modest but significant developments in a handful of universities that are

attempting to tackle the complex academic leadership challenges and to introduce sustainability

leadership roles amongst senior executives and members of University governing bodies.

Going forward, the Global Action Programme on ESD should acknowledge the need for

leadership development for senior university executives and governors. Its significance in the

transformation process towards sustainability cannot be underestimated, as underlined by the fact that

such moves are increasingly reflected in sector rankings and self-assessment tools.

Final words
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 The report sought to capture the diversity of activities that have been initiated in the course of

the DESD, as well as those that have been inspired or catalyzed by the DESD itself. It has proven

difficult to establish the distinct contribution of the DESD to changes mapped by the study with clear-

cut empirical evidence, given timelines and limited resources allocated to this study. What is evident is

that the DESD has served to raise overall awareness of good practice projects and provoked

international debate about the role of higher education in change for a sustainable future.

The report found that in Asia Pacific and United Nations Economic Commission for Europe

(UNECE) the DESD has influenced policies and generated resources and incentives for ESD in higher

education at the national level. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the DESD has served as a backdrop

for the unpacking of complex relationships and perceptions of stakeholders with strong environmental

interests. In others, for example Africa and Oceania, the DESD became a focal point for re-examining

socio-political and environmental rights and making the people and development issues underpinning

ecological efforts more explicit. Whilst in the Arab Region, ESD has begun to align with access, quality

and gender equality issues. These debates have also touched on the inter-connections between ESD and

other global agendas such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as well as international

education priorities such as Education for All. Extending relationships with these non-environmental

strands of ESD needs to be a consideration of the Global Action Programme on ESD.

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Chapter 1 Introduction

In December 2002, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly adopted resolution 57/254 to

establish the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development 2005-2014 (DESD).

The Decade, often referred to as the DESD, seeks to integrate the principles, values and practices of

sustainable development into all aspects of education and learning. UNESCO, as the lead agency, is

responsible for tracking progress in the implementation of the DESD and reporting during the ten year

period.

UNESCO appointed a global Monitoring and Evaluation Expert Group (MEEG) that advises on

frameworks and focus of the tracking process. The first global report Learning for a Sustainable World

(Wals, 2009) reviewed contexts and structures for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). The

second report, Shaping the Education of Tomorrow (Wals, 2012) launched at Rio+20, focused on

processes and learning for sustainable development.

UNESCO commissioned this research as a contribution to the final global report that will assess

changes and impacts during the ten year period. It seeks to capture the diversity of activities that have

been initiated in the course of the DESD, as well as those that have been inspired or catalyzed by the

DESD itself. It presents a critical review of ESD in higher education, mapping change over the period,

identifying key trends and outcomes. As well as showcasing best practices from around the globe and

emerging opportunities, the review points to areas that are weakly developed and require further

investment of time and resources. Recommendations are made for post-2014 ESD work and to inform

dialogues around the Global Action Programme on ESD.

The data underpinning this research was gathered through diverse methods:

- Two UNESCO questionnaires distributed to Member States and other stakeholders (including

UN Agencies) in March 2013. Both narrative and numeric data were collected via this method i.

- Regional reports arising out of consultations held in Africa, Arab States, Europe and North

America, Latin America and the Caribbean as well as Asia and the Pacific. These regional

consultations took place between March and June 2013. They provided important data which

served to identify and/or confirm trends and best practices ii.

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 - Desktop analysis of work published between 2005-2013. This included a review of: national

government reports and documents; articles in internationally peer reviewed journals; research

material available online; think tank and opinion pieces; regional workshop reports; and survey

data.

- Consultations with various national and international e-groups that bring together ESD and/or

higher education experts and practitioners. Colleagues were asked to assist with accessing

documentation or data for the specific themes covered in this report.

- Individuals with specific ESD or HE roles who could provide data for case studies were also

contacted.iii

- A review of IAU database of sustainable development practices which collated data from 95

universities around the globeiv.

The evidence presented by the report was subject to:

- A key informant review – the author of this report identified readers from each of the UNESCO

regionsv who had extensive experience in ESD. The reviewers checked the validity of the

findings and commented on early drafts before the report was submitted to UNESCO.

- A blind peer review process – This process, involving 5 experts from across the globe, was

managed by UNESCO in ways to assure anonymity and rigor of the process.

Where it exists, this report provides empirical evidence as well as narrative data to document the

depth of the policies, processes and/or practices reviewed. The work is informed by the DESD

objectives and ESD ambitions to transform, and not just inform, thinking, education and practice for

sustainable development. ESD is often associated with the pedagogical approaches that seek to develop

future thinking, participatory learning, systemic engagement, intercultural dialogue and critical

reflective practice. Thematically, it lends itself to global issues such as poverty reduction, quality of

education, climate change, equality, sustainable lifestyles, corporate social responsibility, youth

unemployment, social justice, peace, biodiversity and cultural diversity.

The term ‘higher education’ is used in this report to refer to tertiary or third level education which

leads to a degree or professional certification. This type of learning usually occurs at universities,

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academies, colleges or tertiary institutes. It may involve a physical presence at a campus or the

workplace and/or it may take place virtually through online delivery.

Studies confirm that 2 per cent of the world population attend higher education but more than 80

per cent of the decision-makers in industry, community and politics are graduates of universities (Scott

et al., 2013). These figures provide a compelling rationale for investment in higher education for

sustainable development. This is backed by history, which has documented how universities and

colleges have been powerful forces for social change.

This research seeks to assess changes and capture a snapshot of activities in higher education for

sustainable development over a ten year period. Documenting the complexity which underpins change

processes, as well as regional variations of activity, proved challenging. The study is limited by access

to documented material and information. Relevant documents written in the official UNESCO

languages of English, Spanish and French were reviewed. Key informants provided access and insights

into documents written in other languages which were of relevance to this study. Care was taken to

ensure that the data represented regional trends and variations and to achieve this, information was often

hunted down and validated with the help of key informants from different locations across the globe.

The study also sought to capture the various levels of engagement in higher education, evaluating

policy, practice and process, as well as sector and institutional levels of operation. Ultimately, the study

sought to compile evaluative and empirical evidence but this proved challenging as investment in these

areas of activity has been minimal. For example, it was not possible to locate studies which assessed the

impact of relevant higher education or ESD national policies or measures or the global carbon footprint

of higher education. Similarly, the study was unable to quantify or establish the impact of ESD

programmes on graduate outcomes or long term community practice. The research was also time- and

resource-bound. It was written in October 2013, reviewed in January 2014 and limited to 12 days work.

The report is divided into 6 primary strands that were identified as key areas of higher education

activity and concern over the last ten years in ESD and sustainability. These consist of: Catalyzing

Social Change: Student Leadership and Engagement; Carbon Reductions; Networks and Partnerships

for Change; Curriculum and Learning; Tools for Measuring Progress; and, Leadership and Governance

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for Sustainabilityvi. It is important to note that although they are presented individually, these strands do

not exist in isolation. In reality they are intertwined, as the exemplars illustrate.

Each strand seeks to address the following:

Q. During the DESD, what were the major trends and challenges in relation to ESD in HE?

Q. What changes have taken place to reorient HE towards sustainability since the beginning of

the DESD?

Q. How has the HE sector contributed to the transition to sustainable development globally

during the DESD?

Q. How has the DESD helped to advance these changes in, and contributions of, higher

education and research?

Q. How has research and innovation informed developments in this area?

Q. What opportunities are there to further ESD in Higher Education after the DESD?

The answers to these questions are drawn together in the concluding section which reviews key

trends and identifies priority areas for post-2014 efforts. The report makes recommendations and seeks

to inform dialogues regarding the contribution of higher education for sustainable development, in the

lead-up to final DESD Conference scheduled to take place in Nagoya in November 2014.

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Chapter 2 Student leadership and engagement: inspiring the future

It has not been possible to capture definite trends and changes in student leadership for

sustainability during the DESD years, due to an overall lack of data. Student-led activities are generally

notable by their absence from the higher education or sustainable development literature and key

informant evidence suggests that they are not common practice in universities and colleges around the

world. Media reports have captured individual examples of student enterprise and involvement,

particularly with regard to the green agendavii, but this level of coverage does not provide usable data or

any credible way to measure overall student engagement levels.

2.1 From behavior change to empowerment

An analysis of recent international efforts and research studies reveals that the sector has

focused primarily on understanding student sustainability in relation to behavior change and the sharing

of experiences in this areaviii. On occasion, these texts touch on curriculum agendas by identifying the

skills students need to address sustainable development issues or prepare themselves for challenging

future scenarios - from the perspective of staff working in the sector. One of the most obvious patterns

in the evidence, which stands out as a real obstacle to deeper student engagement, is the tendency to

view students as empty vessels, ready to be filled with the ideas about sustainability from the ‘experts’

around them. The literature review uncovered a multitude of studies that assess levels of student

understanding or their adoption of sustainable behaviors, using underlying models that treat students not

in terms of their potential contribution to sustainability but more as objects of study, with behaviors that

should be modified. Indeed, initiatives that seek to assess students’ levels of understanding or literacy

appear to be on the rise, as are research studies that identify factors which influence students’ behavior

towards sustainabilityix. The findings from demonstration and action projects also point to the relatively

low levels of genuine student involvement, in a sector where the volume and growth of student numbers

could be the source for real change.

Other indicators, such as national award schemes, provide additional insights and support this

picture of the lack of student leadership in sustainability. For example, in 2012 the UK Green Gown

Awardsx judging panel, headed by a deputy chief of the Higher Education Funding Council for England

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(HEFCE), announced that it would not be making an award under the Students category, as the projects

nominated had failed to present evidence of student leadership and were instead mostly staff initiated

and/or facilitated . The criteria for this award have since been modified, so as to recognize broader staff-

student partnership projects.

Despite there being no clear evidence of widespread student engagement in sustainability in higher

education, the last ten years have seen the rise of several national and regional student organizations

with a primary remit of engaging with sustainable development. These new entities have focused their

attention on practical initiatives, demonstration projects and sometimes on academic activities, and they

have forged partnerships with opinion leaders and higher education agencies, to advocate for a

healthier, greener and more just future. Table 1 (found in Appendix 1) presents examples of these

groups and the range of green as well as social enterprise projects they are engaged with. The table also

documents their relatively low membership numbers, which may reflect the fact that most of them have

only recently been established. An alternative interpretation, however, is that these low overall

numbers point to the lack of broader student practical engagement with this agenda. Prof Javier Benayas

(2013), Executive Secretary of CRUE special working groups on Sustainable Development,

Environment and Risk (CADEP) explains:

‘The key problem with student associations is their lack of continuity. On average, a student remains at the

University between 3-5 years. Over time they become more involved with sustainability projects and

initiatives but then they leave the University. This means that associations which are very active one year

may stop existing the following year. This is the main reason why there are no strong or stable student-led

organizations in Spain’

A French study undertaken in 2011xi by Reseau Francais de Etudiants por le Development

Durables (REFEDD) captured attitudes and engagement levels of 10,000 French higher education

students. As well as recording a strong green focus to the work of these students, the study revealed that

60% of respondents felt they could do "a little", while 20% would like to act but do not know how.

Interestingly, 30% of what the study termed as "passive" students explained that they would be willing

to take action if this effort was valued by professional areas or programmes (REFEDD, 2011).

According to Institut National de la Statistique et des Études Économiques (INSEE), there were

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2,319,627 higher education students in France in 2011 and it is therefore difficult to ascertain the

representativeness of these views, but these are interesting insights that merit further consideration.

Similar conclusions are derived from other surveys such as the Net Impact Survey (2013) and the

Principles for Responsible Management Education, Master of Business Administration (PRME MBA)

(2013) student attitudes towards responsible management which capture student’s interest in

sustainability education.xii It is important to note, the survey data available on student engagement and

leadership is derived mostly from Western nations.

2.2 Partnerships to promote student leadership

The patterns of rising participation in higher education worldwide form an important backdrop

to these findings pointing to low levels of student engagement with sustainability. Current estimates

circle around 150 million students currently enrolled in higher education internationally – an increase of

more than 50% in the past decade alonexiii. The potential impact of widespread student involvement with

sustainability is therefore highly significant, particularly through co-ordinated efforts at the national

level and through mainstream student associations.

A path-finding example of how changes can be achieved, in the national and multi-stakeholder

effort to enhance student leadership for sustainability in higher education, is documented in Figure 1.

The UK National Union of Students (NUS) initiated a strategic partnership and over a period of five

years has created diverse opportunities for higher education students to engage with these concerns.

Figure 1 - Case Study: A National effort to engage UK Higher Education students in sustainability

The NUS is a confederation of 600 student unions composed of over 7 million students in tertiary

education: 2.35 million of these are in higher education across the UK. The NUS is now playing a key role in

creating and supporting change for sustainability in UK higher education. Over the period of the DESD, and in

partnership with key higher education agencies, it has developed a multi-pronged approach to understanding,

incentivising and supporting student engagement across UK universities, including research studies that help to

construct an understanding of student commitment and engagement in sustainable development at the national

level. The DESD has been seen as key to the inception of these activities (Agombar, 2013).

Understanding student commitment and expectations

For many years, little research was carried out into the overall perception of, and demand for,

sustainability among higher education students. Several small scale studies existed, but no substantial data was
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available to indicate the potential interests of students in sustainability in their university experience, whether

practical or educational. This gap has been addressed by a series of NUS national studies commissioned by the

UK Higher Education Academy (see Bone and Agombar, 2011, Drayson et al., 2012, NUS 2013) . The research

surveyed first year students over three years, finding consistently that 85% of student respondents believe that

universities should actively promote sustainable development and that 60% want to learn more about

sustainability (base c11, 100; see below).

The most recent study surveyed third year students and results replicated those for first year students,

showing their belief that universities should be responsible for actively incorporating and promoting sustainable

development to prepare their students for graduate employment. The research highlights a range of

recommendations and calls for universities and colleges to focus their efforts where they can be most effective,

particularly on education and the curriculum, not just the institution’s carbon footprint.

These results have provoked much interest and debate across UK universities, with the overall conclusion

that students are committed to sustainability at a professional level, as they are aware of employer expectations

and can see the importance of this agenda for future life prospects. This insight goes some way to explaining why

only smaller groups of students tend to engage in demonstration or action projects at universities (see below), as

many more are now studying whilst undertaking paid employment to meet recent increases in university fees.

Promoting behavior change

The early work of the NUS in sustainable development focused primarily on promoting pro-

environmental behaviors amongst students (Student Switch-Off) and supporting student unions to ‘green’ their

operations (Green Impact Scheme), echoing the themes reflected in the analysis of relevant literature:

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Green Impact

An environmental accreditation and award scheme for student unions, which has been extended across

University administrative and academic departments, Green Impact now reaches into over 1,000 institutional

departments, collectively comprising over 50,000 staff across 54 institutions. Green Impact in 2011/12 enabled

participating teams and departments to complete 25,185 pro-environmental actions. The more student-facing

component of this scheme is the training of student auditors, which has helped students to improve their practical

understanding of environmental impact and develop sustainability skills which make them more employable; 800

auditors have been trained since the scheme began. This scheme, supported by the UK’s Department for

Environment, Food, Rural Affairs has shown a 15% increase in pro-environmental behaviors. (See

www.nus.org.uk/greenimpact).

Student switch off

An inter-dormitory energy-saving competition that is run through Facebook. Now seven years old, the

scheme has reached over half a million freshers and saved over £1m in energy for participating institutions, equal

to 7,127 tonnes of carbon. In 2012 Student Switch Off won the prestigious Ashden Award for best behavior

change campaign in the UK. This year Student Switch Off is being delivered into 130,000 student bedrooms and

has already directly engaged 19,000 students as energy-saving advocates in their halls of residenc. (See

www.nus.org.uk/studentswitchoff).

Student Eats (Edible and tasty spaces)

A Lottery-funded food growing scheme that is establishing on-campus edible gardens and allotments for

students, academics and community groups at eighteen institutions. For example, the Exeter Student Eats Garden

brings together academics and students from the psychology department who are managing the bee hives with the

business school staff and students who are developing a products to see the honey. (See

www.changeagents.org.uk/SBAs_).

Sustainable behaviors assistants

Through this scheme newly graduated students are placed in organizations to provide extra resource

around sustainability engagement and communications, supporting the delivery of Green Impact and Student

Switch Off. 58 SBAs have been placed in the last 5 years and over half have been retained after their fixed term

contracts have ended. www.changeagents.org.uk/SBAs

A recent NUS commissioned study suggested that student commitment to sustainability was lower than

that among the general UK population, supporting the view that engagement is overall far less effective when

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attempting to promote behavior change in sustainability. Its ‘Lifting the Lid’ report (NUS, 2013) concluded that

54.8 % of students recycle, whilst 75% of the general public in the UK are actively engaged in this activity.

around 10% of students participating in the study did not recycle at all and around half of these (47.2%) were first

year students. This finding agrees with reports from University Green Officers who have pointed to the challenge

of engaging first year students in sustainable practice despite the increasing interest from employers and local

communities in this agenda.

Student leadership and legacy

In 2013 the NUS extended its strategies to engage in changes linked with the higher education curriculum

as well as promoting students as agents of change in the community, potentially reaching out into most major

towns and cities across the country. The 2013 Green Fund Scheme arose out of a partnership between the NUS

and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). Over £5 million has been provided to student

unions through a competitive bidding process for student-led environmental sustainability projects around four

key themes: student participation, partnership, impact and legacy.

Twenty-five student hubs have been funded for two-years at c£50k-£150k per year. The hubs implement

a broad mix of sustainability project which include developing: grass roots student activism through sustainability

(University of Central Lancashire); student-led food growing projects on campus (Universities of Lancaster and

Roehampton); green audits for student homes; social enterprise companies (University of Gloucestershire) and

greening local businesses (University of Southampton); and developing an institution-wide team of Green Course

Ambassadors supporting the embedding of ESD into the curriculum (University of Liverpool). The projects are an

interesting mix of conventional, innovative and transformative projects, including the first UK pilot of the coveted

Maastricht Green Office model (University of Exeter) and pilot local Green Funds (University of Leeds).

A mid-point evaluation at the end of 2014 will determine the effectiveness of the Fund, to make the case

for further phases of funding to extend the scheme and take it to scale. As well as managing the Fund, the NUS

add value by supporting student unions throughout the process, from application to delivery and evaluation, as

well as leading on linking projects, sharing learning and high-profile communications celebrating successes.

Collectively the projects will engage 352,000 students in sustainability over the next two years,

equivalent to about 15% of students in English HE. The core activities will also collectively save at least 4,000

tCO2/year, making a strong contribution towards the sector's carbon targets (NUS, 2013). The Green Fund helps

embed sustainability into the fabric of campuses, accommodation, and also - perhaps most importantly the

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curriculum, helping develop student-led, collaborative education for sustainable development across England, and

offering models of good practice that could be replicated elsewhere.

Source: Agombar (2013)

2.3 So what’s changed and what next?

Given the difficulties in ascertaining national and international student engagement patterns, the

review has instead provided a situational analysis, pointing to an emergence of student associations and

bodies with a primary focus on sustainable development and the potential of these to lever change

within institutions and across the sector. More needs to be done to understand and to incentivise student

engagement in sustainability, and in ways that are informed by the latest studies and initiatives, which

point to the professional and educational interest of students in sustainability, rather than just

encouraging participation in volunteer greening projects. Just as there is a need to challenge the

paradigms that shape higher education to support sustainability and to exemplify alternatives, there is a

need for new research and new initiatives that start from an understanding of students as agents of

change and can truly support student leadership for sustainability. The UK case study provides a

concrete example of how government agencies, higher education bodies and student associations can

come together to extend and support this type of student leadership. Establishing similar partnerships

could be an important priority for the new The Global Action Programme on ESD.

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3. Catalysing social change: extending the value and impact of universities

3.1 Increasing activity and diversity of outreach programmes

The last ten years has seen a tangible increase in the number of university initiatives that seek to

influence sustainability actions beyond the campus walls xiv. In 2013, most universities can identify a

sustainability-related initiative that they have led and which has influenced change across one or several

communities of practice. Examples can be found across all UN regions with documented evidence

suggesting that these are perhaps more prevalent in Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia Pacific,

Africa and across the Arab States.

In the Middle East, for example, the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology runs

a community-wide recycling and compost scheme where problems and solutions to waste issues are co-

constructed with local stakeholders (Salamé, 2011). In Egypt, Alexandria University’s ‘Youth for

Sustainable Development and Better Understanding’ (YESBU) supports the sustainability literacy

across local schools since 2002xv. At Imam Khomeini University, Iran hold sports and cultural festivals

underpinned by sustainable development messages. xvi

In a recent GUNI report, Lotz-Sisitka (2011) captures this outreach trend in Africa, where

universities are seeing sustainability as an opportunity to redefine university-community

relationshipsxvii. She presents evidence that institutions are making tangible contributions to local

communities by addressing issues of peace, security, conflict resolution and HIV/AIDS. Lotz-Sisitka

cites Uganda Martyrs University and its ‘improving livelihoods’ initiative which has resulted in

improved income, food security, water conservation and sustainable livelihoods, as well as better

relationships between the university and the communities it neighbors (GUNI, 2012).

UNESCO’s 2013 regional consultation on the DESD points to increased activity with regards to

socio-cultural work of universities across the Asia Pacific. It records examples from Malaysia, where

initiatives have focused on inter-ethnic understanding, peace and social cohesion as well as the

promotion of traditional knowledge (Schaeffer, 2013). Similar trends where captured by a survey

conducted by IAU (2013). It documents, for example, how Hangdong Global University in Korea

facilitated capacity building initiatives that linked enterprise with sustainable development efforts. In

the Philippines, Dr Galang work on teacher education partnerships has redefined ‘town and gown’
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relationships, breaking down barriers through collaborative and negotiated socio-environmental projects

(Galang 2010).

This report presents two case studies to document, in some depth, the diversity of outreach

activities that are taking place in 2013. The first case study from University of Western Sydney,

Australia that illustrates how Universities can bring together local schools, government, industry and

community groups and academics to promote personal and professional sustainability choices amongst

young people (see Figure 2). The second case study showcases a restorative justice project from

Jamaica, co-ordinated through the Northern Caribbean University but also involving local churches,

community and welfare groups, as well as government, law and the criminal justice system. It serves as

an example of how universities can broker approaches situated within their locality that serve national

ambitions (in this case for reconciliation and peace) and at the same time rebuild relationships in local

communities (see Figure 3).

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Figure 2: Extending influence beyond the walls of the University: YES Australia!

Australia’s Youth Eco Summit (YES) is an award-winning example of a University partnering

with their local schools, government, industry, vocational education and training colleges (VET) and

community groups to support sustainability education. This co-ordinated approach involves the

University of Western Sydney (UWS), the Sydney Olympic Park Authority and the New South Wales

(NSW) Department of Education and Communities, under the auspices of the Regional Centre of

Expertise in ESD for Greater Western Sydney (RCE-GWS). Through this partnership UWS are

supporting the implementation of the new national curriculum focus on sustainability as an integrating

theme in the K-12 curriculum and fostering the development of innovative learning pathways.

The YES programme centres on a two-day curriculum-based event, designed to encourage

students to adopt sustainable practices in all areas of life, to showcase practical initiatives and

promote school and college student leadership. YES includes hands-on workshops, seminars, displays

and active learning projects for over 6,000 students and their teachers from 160 schools. It provides a

unique platform for students to teach students, and for industry and tertiary educators to engage with

youth on a wide range of sustainability topics ranging from energy, making money out of waste,

sustaining biodiversity to sustainable agriculture, fostering local food security, Aboriginal culture,

student activism, green skills at work and careers in the area. Students who are unable to attend in

person are connected to the event by video-link.

The University serves as a link to leverage activities taking place in parallel in higher

education, schools and the various groups actively promoting sustainability in the region. YES is a

key strategy for alerting young people to post-secondary courses related to sustainability; for

encouraging them to consider a career in the area by providing opportunities for them to meet young

people already employed in or studying the field; to build youth leadership; and to foster links

between the various levels of education in a Region.

YES was the recipient of the 2013 NSW Government Green Globe Award as recognition of its

value to the local community. Examples of the hundreds of activities available for students at YES

2013 include:

• TRIBAL SOLAR: Powering Cultural Sustainability with Western Sydney Institute TAFE

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 • National Roads & Motorists Association’s Sustainability in Transport Competition

• Sustainable Agriculture: The role of Royal Shows in securing the future of food and fibre for a

growing population

• The Heart of Sustainability: Rotary's Social and Cultural Projects in Vanuatu

Source: Scott (2013)

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Figure 3: Universities achieving social impact: Restorative justice circles in Jamaica

“Jamaica is a beautiful country, but it is deeply troubled by poverty and violence. Anyone who has

followed Jamaica over the past 10 to 20 years can see our country has suffered from the loss of communal

relationships that once existed. The issue of crime and violence is dominant at present. One way to rebuild

structures and rebuild relationships is through restorative justice…. Rather than just punishing a perpetrator of

crime, we want to find ways to reinstate the perpetrator back in the community.”

(Dr Teran Milford, Dean of the College of Teacher Education and Behavioural Sciences at Northern Caribbean

University (NCU) in Mandeville Jamaica).

This core principle of restorative justice, along with its focus on repairing the harm done to people and

empowering those affected by crime, has found a ready recipient in Jamaica, where the government is now

engaged in a program to promote the use of restorative justice throughout many areas of society to redress past

harms and begin making enduring changes in the culture.

Restorative justice was mandated by the Jamaican government in response to violent conflicts in 2001

between police and citizens in inner-city areas. Jamaica’s commitment to restorative justice was heralded in

January 2007, with a 21-day period of “national grieving, atonement, healing, restoration and reconciliation”,

declared by the Governor-General, Hon. Professor Kenneth O. Hall. Events included a series of church services

held around the country and culminated in a two-day training and two-day international conference.

The training and conference were initiated by the Department of Behavioral Sciences at NCU, in

partnership with the Ministry of Justice, and were co-sponsored by the United Nations Development Program

and the Canadian International Development Agency.

Dr Grace Kelly, chair of the Department of Behavioral Sciences at NCU, was key to the organization of

the conference, which was also supported by Chief Justice Hon. Lensley Wolfe, Attorney General Senator Hon.

A.J. Nicholson, Q.C., the Jamaica Constabulary Force and the Dispute Resolution Foundation.

Nearly 300 people from across Jamaica—social workers, probation officers, lawyers, teachers, guidance

counsellors, victim support and children’s service workers, government officials, members of the church

community and university students—heard trainers and presenters from Canada, the United States, South Africa

and Hungary.

Restorative justice practices can be applied to daily life in families, schools and workplaces. They are

centred around the rejection of the inappropriate deeds and not the doer, allowing all parties to express their

feelings about an incident, and doing things “with people, rather than to them or for them”.

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 Before the conference, a “National Day of Atonement” service was held at Portmore Seventh-Day

Adventist Church. Participants wrote a hurt they wanted to forgive or be forgiven on a piece of paper and put it

in a box. The following week, in a ceremony in Mandeville, participants formed a big circle outdoors around the

box, which had travelled to churches around the country and was now full of paper. The box was then burned.

The process brings together universities, government agencies, police forces, social workers,

psychology services, lawyers and prosecutors, clergy, schools and colleges, as well as non-governmental

organizations (NGOs) and community activists. In education, restorative justice could become part of the

curriculum in schools, to help disseminate the whole concept. Key questions underpinning the process include:

Q. What happened? Q. Who has been affected by what you have done and how? Q. What do you need to do to

make things right?

A number of support services and centres offering restorative processes have been established as part of

this programme. People in communities now have the opportunity to call someone when in need and create an

environment which will minimize conflict overall.

(Extract from : Joshua Wachtel Posted 07-07-12 ‘Healing in Our Land’

www.iirp.edu/article_detail.php?article_id=NTU0 )

It is worth noting, that in several Western nations, the focus of recent outreach efforts has been

through universities attempting to address the negative impacts being experienced by vulnerable groups

due to the current economic declinexviii. As national debt increases, governments have been forced to

rethink their investment strategies and are asking questions about the value and impact of university

activity on economic as well as social development. Universities are being held to account and

encouraged, through various funding mechanisms, to establish stronger links with their local and

regional communities to support the recovery. As a result, there has been some re-orientation of

university activity towards supporting local and sub-regional economic growth through incubation

centres; mentoring for social entrepreneurs by business schools and university business development

units; and incentives for industries to work with researchers to develop and adopt greener technologies.

This recent development has led to an array of studies attempting to identify and measure this type of

value, such as that undertaken by the New Economics Foundation, which found that the social impact of

universities in the UK is worth over £1.31 billion. It opens with the strap-line that the ‘benefits are felt

by everyone, not just those who go to university’ (Shaheen, 2011). The study documents how
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universities add value to society in terms of health, well-being, citizenship and political engagement, as

well as serving as an economic engine.

3.2 So what’s changed and what next?

Sustainable development can be the key to revitalising the role and relationships universities

and colleges have with the communities they serve. The last ten years have witnessed an increase in the

diversity and range of activities that reconnect universities with professional bodies, government

agencies and local communities, helping to demonstrate their social value. Openings have been found in

the campus walls that have often distanced academia from its stakeholders. These have enabled

universities and colleges to learn, partner as well as influence beyond their campus environments.

Evidence suggests that while community sustainability projects have been thriving in Latin America

and the Caribbean, Africa and Australia, Western nations have more recently focused university

outreach efforts on economic recovery, employability and social entrepreneurship, seeking new angles

to connect with sustainability.

As outreach efforts continue to extend, it is important to assess the value of these initiatives by

quantifying impact as well as collecting narrative evidence from stakeholders who have benefited

through these initiatives. These evaluations can document the leadership role Universities can play in

addressing key social, economic and environmental concerns across communities of practice.

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Chapter 4 Carbon reductions: tackling the university footprint

4.1 Sector drivers and incentives

Counting and cutting down the carbon emissions of higher education has been a primary

concern of the higher education institutions (HEIs) engaged with sustainability. This is not surprising

given that In the US alone; universities and colleges of higher education contribute approximately 121

million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions per annum. The realities of climate change and

internationally agreed carbon reduction targets, together with the economic benefits of reducing energy

consumption, have motivated high profile commitments by Presidents and Vice Chancellors, as well as

government measures, to reduce sector emissions.

Countries such as the US, Canada and UK, some of the biggest emitters, are now active in their

efforts to reduce the carbon footprintxix of higher education buildings, travel and procurement activities.

The American College and University President’s Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) documents how

higher education institutions can make a collective and tangible difference to advancing sustainable

development by taking collective action on several fronts (see Figure 4).

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Figure 4 American College and University President’s Climate Commitment

The ACUPCC is a voluntary effort that relies on the commitment of higher education leaders

and leadership teams. It was developed in 2006 and requires signatory institutions to account for their

emissions and develop a climate action and emissions reductions plans. As of October 2013, the

document has gained 675 signatories and resulted in 1993 greenhouse gas inventories and 521 climate

action plans.

The impact of the ACUPCC is well documented:

‘Collectively, ACUPCC signatories report an annual cumulative reduction of 328,698 metric tons of

CO2e emissions, in addition to producing a combined 444,300,134 kWh of renewable energy annually, which is

the equivalent of powering 46,928 American households every year.

Three signatories—College of the Atlantic (ME), Colby College (ME), and Green Mountain College (VT)

—have achieved carbon neutrality and 44 more have set a target date within the next ten years. More than 180

signatories have established programs to encourage student climate and/or sustainability research, 82 signatories

have included sustainability learning outcomes in institutional General Education Requirements, and 108

signatories offer professional development to all faculties in sustainability education Collectively, 144 signatories

have secured funding from outside sources totaling over $309 million, and 209 signatories reported savings from

implemented CAP projects totaling $144.5 million.

Timothy White, Chair of the ACUPCC Steering Committee 2013, Oct 4th 2013.

The ACUPCC is unique as it requires signatories to pay membership dues to support the

implementation, development and reporting. Second Nature, non-profit organization, supports the core

program functions of the Commitment and acts as its fiscal agent. The ACUPCC inspired similar

initiatives in Peru, Scotland and Canada.

(Source: Extract from www://presidentsclimatecommitment.org/_

In some countries, carbon reduction measures have been driven by government agencies

responsible for higher education. They have set high expectations for the sector: in England, for

example, the Government is requiring universities and colleges to implement a carbon reduction target

of at least 80% by 2050 against 1990 levels..xxMeeting these sector-wide targets will be challenging for
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individual higher education institutions, who are expected to report sharp decreases in emissions over

this time periodxxi; it will also require collaboration and innovation across institutions. HEFCE (2010)

has produced guidelines on how to measure carbon footprinting, is providing funding opportunities such

as the Revolving Green Fund 2011-13 (see table 4 in appendix) and is setting financial penalties for

higher education institutions that do not meet their targets xxii.

Where they exist, higher education institutions have acted quickly to take up government

incentives to reduce carbon. In parallel to the social appetite for reducing carbon and combating climate

change, the last ten years has also seen an increasing overall pressure on higher education institutions to

improve the quality and flexibility of learning opportunities and educational facilities, within limited

budgets. According to the U.S. National Centre of Education Statistics (NCES), universities and

colleges annually spend more than $14 billion in operations and maintenance of buildings and grounds,

and up to $7 billion on energy and utilities (Wikipedia, 2013). Cutting down on energy consumption has

made sense to some senior management teams as it enables them to redirect funds to improve the

student learning experience (Carbon Trust, 2012).

However, reducing carbon emissions will prove more challenging to higher education

institutions with larger campuses, multiple delivery partners and sites, and for those with specialist

scientific facilities. These issues, linked to the diversity of higher education instituitons in the sector, are

reflected in the challenges of measuring carbon emissions in line with the classification system

developed by the World Resources Institute (see Table 3 in appendix). For example, recent data from

135 US institutions that signed up for the ACUPCC were studied by Klein-Banai and Theis (2013).

When looking at gross emissions for scope 1, 2 and 3, laboratory space was found to have 10 times

more effect on emissions per square meter than space such as classrooms or offices, while residential

space had a x2 effect. These challenges are not always understood at the higher education policy level,

as sector-wide targets or initiatives rarely differentiate between institutions.

Institutional efforts to curb carbon emissions have targeted primarily the reduction of scope 1

and 2 emissions (see Table 5 in appendix). Universities and colleges are making their educational

facilities more efficient using a variety of measures which improve measurement and management of

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energy use; installing renewable energy technology, using more efficient lighting, and updating

heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems as well as investing in more efficient vehicle fleets.

Although government directives to report on carbon emissions have prompted action in many

countries, others have taken the initiative to develop their own approaches. Universities in Belgium,

Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Germany are not required by government to report on emissions, but

researchers are active in this area and working closely with university estates teams to develop tools and

techniques to reduce the carbon footprint of higher education. In Norway, for example, academics at the

Norwegian University of Science and Technology developed an Environmental Extended Input-Output

(EEIO) model to calculate the carbon footprint of the Norwegian University of Science and

Technology, capturing variations across departments. xxiii

In other countries, industry schemes at the national level provide the context and mechanism for

the higher education response. For example, there is no specific requirement for Australian higher

education institutions to report on carbon, but many universities have to declare their annual GHG

emissions under the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Scheme xxiv, as their use is greater than

the minimum energy threshold for corporations. This data is then used for assessing liability under the

Australian carbon pricing mechanism, a carbon tax set by government that also counts towards meeting

the Kyoto Protocol targets (O’Connell, 2013). Some of the universities and colleges in Australia that are

not required to report in this way are nevertheless engaged in setting up systems and processes that can

account for their carbon emissions. Monash University has facilitated a sector programme since 2006

supporting universities and Technical and Further Education (TAFE) Institutes in collecting and

submitting environmental metrics, including greenhouse gas emissions.

Clearly, drivers and incentives at the sector level, whether these are specific to higher education

or national and industry-led, have provided the stimulus for dedicated action in universities to tackle

carbon emissions and to monitor their progress. In many countries, the national context is providing an

important external stimulus for further development in higher education’s carbon reduction efforts. This

can be seen both in the actions taken by individual institutions and in interesting examples of co-

ordinated efforts by multiple higher education institutions in British Columbia (see Figure 5).

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 As a result of this increased level of activity in the sector, significant reductions have been

registered by a range of institutions and the most innovative and effective initiatives are now celebrated

by the environmental sector (e.g. AASHE Stars; the Green Gown Awards). In the US, for example, 5

universities were identified as champions of the sector due to their significant achievements in this area

(see Table 4 in appendix).

In recent years, higher education institutions have begun to turn their attention to scope 3

emissions, which bring an extra set of measurement challenges and are also on the rise in the expanding

higher education sector. A recent study at a UK University identified that scope 3 emissions total

around 79% of the university’s total carbon emissions, with procurement emissions at around 36% of

the entire footprint (Ozawa-Meida et al., 2013) (see Figures 6 & 7) . Other research suggests that

emissions from international student air travel to and from UK universities have been estimated at

around 652,000 tonnes carbon equivalent in 2003/04, an increase of 44% since 2000/01 (Robin et al.,

2008).

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Figure 5: Sector Commitments: ‘Higher Education leadership helps British Columbia

Achieve public sector carbon neutrality’

In March of 2008, six British Columbian University presidents created and signed the

University and College Presidents’ Climate Change Statement of Action. On June 30, 2011, the

Canadian Ministry of the Environment announced carbon neutrality for British Columbia’s entire

public sector.

British Columbia’s higher education sector (made up of 11 public Universities and 4 private

Universities) has given a whole new meaning to “climate action”. The first signatures of the action

plan came hand in hand with an incredibly comprehensive provincial program launched by the

Canadian government to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. The 23 nationwide “Statement of

Action” signatories, which includes 22 public Universities and one private University have been

working with one another, public and private sector partners, and the Canadian government to

accelerate this achievement. This has by far proven the efficiency of collaboration when presented

with an issue that requires participation from all fronts. Below are a few accomplishments from the

six original creators and signatories.

 University of British Columbia, Vancouver

In 2011, the most sustainable living building in North America will be completed on UBC’s

campus. The Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS) will be serving as a

living laboratory through solar, wind, geothermal, and rainwater systems. The campus is also

converting its entire steam-heating system to a hot water-based system, cutting its energy use

by 24% and its greenhouse gas emissions by 22%. In addition, a new clean energy project will

allow the first biomass-fueled, heat-and-power generation system of its kind to eliminate up to

4,500 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per year.

 Simon Fraser University

Comprised of three different campuses, SFU has initiated a “U-Pass”, free student

transportation program for the greater region, a green labs program, an energy management

revamp program at its Burnaby Campus and a green buildings project for its Vancouver

campus in the heart of the city.

 Royal Roads University

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 Closely tracking its GHG emissions through SMART Tool, the University has set up a

Sustainability Action for the Environment Fund which is used directly to support campus

programs that offset, reduce or eliminate GHGs. It has also partnered with ride-share to offer

students a cheap and energy efficient solution for transportation in the area.

 University of Victoria

The University offers an across-the-board bicycle program that includes renting out recycled

bicycles, it has installed more than 175 solar panels on campus buildings, parking ticket

dispensers and transit stops. UVic also designed an innovative water-to-water heat pump

system to supplement four of the campus’ building’s energy requirements.

 Thompson Rivers University

TRU hosts four LEED certified buildings on its campus. Its energy efficiency initiatives also

include a Smart Bar /Surge Protector system installed across the campus, which detects when

a computer is asleep, automatically turning off any other surrounding appliances or systems.

 University of Northern British Columbia

Winner of AASHE’s top campus project sustainability award in North America, UNBC is

deemed “Canada’s Green University”. Its bioenergy project has saved 140 tonnes of CO2e

per year and offset 85% of previous fuel consumption. A U-Pass system has also been set up,

providing students with discounted rates to move about in the region and to different

campuses, of which the Quesnel campus is entirely LEED Gold certified.

(Source: Extract from http://secondnaturebos.wordpress.com/2011/07/25/higher-education-leadership-

helps-british-columbia-achieve-public-sector-carbon-neutrality/)

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Figure 6: Institutional responses and initiatives

To date, a great number of higher education institutions have signed charters and

statements of action, turning their commitments into action by developing carbon reduction

strategies (e.g. Yale University’s GreenHouse Gas Reduction Strategy, 2010), employing

specialist staff to measure improvements (e.g. Macquarie University, Australia); sharing tools

to improve footprints (e,g, UNEP’s Greening Universities Toolkit, 2013) and engaging staff

and students in carbon reduction activities (see Table 2 in appendix). Recent years have also

seen initiatives that seek to lower the carbon footprint of laboratory activities (e.g. SusLab) and

ICT services and products provided at the University (SusteIT). Research suggests that none of

these carbon reduction initiatives existed prior to 2005.

39 | P a g e
Figure 7: 2008-09 De Montfort University GHG emissions by detailed source

As the sector continues to expand, questions are being asked about whether alternative low

carbon, home-based models of higher education that support online and distance learning should be

pursued. These models reduce the need for higher education infrastructure and activities such as staff

and student travel, buildings for teaching and term-time student accommodation, enabling institutions to

minimize some of their carbon emissions. Robin et al.’s (2008) research suggests that distance learning

HE courses would lower the carbon emissions of full time courses by 85% and part-time courses by

61% respectively, compared to campus-based courses. However these achievements need to be weighed

against the costs and issues associated with the transition to online and distance learning provision – and

in some areas the reductions for universities may involve a transfer of energy use and emissions to

domestic households and to other educational establishments .

40 | P a g e
4.2 So what’s changed and what next?

The last ten years have seen significant engagement of the higher education sector in efforts and

investment to reduce its carbon footprint. In many cases, the impact of these measures have been

recorded and reported institutionally as well as at national level. The financial benefits to the institutions

are tangible and the contributions to meeting national Kyoto commitments are clear. An interesting

range of external drivers are influencing the approaches being developed both within and across

institutions, with a handful of universities and colleges leading the way and demonstrating how to

become carbon neutral.

Institutions are currently reporting reductions in absolute terms; however, reducing the carbon

footprint of higher education is hard to achieve in this fast expanding sector (Carbon Trust, 2013). The

carbon challenge is still substantial for the majority of universities and colleges, as they begin to work

on understanding and measuring their scope 3 emissions. Reducing the carbon impact of travel and

procurement activities remains a sizeable task and the rise of transnational education will extend the

challenge further, as the range of delivery models and sites used by universities continue to diversify.

As Second Nature (2013) reminds us:

‘Despite widespread buy-in, there is currently, a lack of useful and tailored resources on the climate

challenges campuses and communities face, a lack of tools for resilience implementation, and a lack of

clear guidelines and analysis for the most usable and responsible approaches’.

The Global Action Programme on ESD should explore ways of engaging the universities in this

important agenda and in responding to the challenges associated with scope 3 and the rapid

globalization of the sector, to help understand and share the burden of carbon responsibilities associated

with these processes. In particular, there is a need to engage with elite and older universities, which tend

to have larger campuses, often have older historic buildings, and may have extensive scientific

facilities.

However, all universities now need to respond to the carbon reduction agenda in relation to

their own mix of campus-based and more flexible forms of online, work-based, overseas and distance

education. Support from governmental and industry incentives, further research into carbon efficient

41 | P a g e
technologies and the tracking of energy efficiency initiatives, will all be critical in helping them to work

effectively on these challenges.

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Chapter 5 Higher education networks and partnerships: connecting the

sector

5.1 Extending influence and reach

Perhaps the most visible development helping to extend ESD and sustainability agendas in

higher education has been the presence and expansion of collaboration across and within global regions.

The last ten years have seen the scaling up of membership groups into more representative and higher

profile regional and international networks that are brokering dialogue and change in the sector.

Prominent groups such as the Alianza de Redes Iberoamericanas por la Sostenibilidad y el Ambiente

(ARIUSA) (Latin America, Caribbean and Iberia); the Australasian Campus Towards Sustainability

(Australia and New Zealand); the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher

Education (North America); the Pacific Network of Island Universities for Sustainability (South

Pacific); the Asia Pacific Regional University Consortium on Environment for Sustainable

Development, the Copernicus Alliance (Europe) and the Mainstreaming Environment and Sustainability

in African Universities network (MESA) have now become identifiable forces of influence in their

respective regions. (See Figure 8)

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Figure 8 ARIUSA – Alianza de Redes Iberoamericanas de Universidades por la

Sostenibilidad y el Ambiente

Latin American Universities have a long tradition of engaging with environmental resource

management and education issues. Saez and Benayas (2012) document efforts dating back to the

1950s and provide evidence that Latin American Universities were the first to organize themselves

through higher education networks to promote environmental sustainability. ARIUSA brings together

13 national university networks which represent a total of 228 universities in 15 Latin America,

Caribbean and more recently Spain. It was formally constituted in 2007 in Bogota when the

representatives from six major regional networks got together to sign articles of association.

The Alliance is run by various operational networks that focus on specific projects such as the

development of an Ibero-American Masters and Doctoral Programme on Environmental Science and

Technology; the edition of a magazine “Ambiens” (http://ppct.caicyt.gov.ar/ambiens) as a tool for

dissemination and publication of studies in the areas of society-environment and sustainability; the

development of a report which captures how sustainability is embedded in Latin-American

universities; or, the most recent one, the development of an indicator system to assess sustainability

strategies and to be used as a tool to design environmental and sustainability action plans.

At the end of 2012, ARIUSA signed an agreement to become the focal organization of UNEP

GUPES for Latin-America and work closely with the UNEP office in Latin-America and the

Caribbean. In 2013, a series of National Forums are taking place in each country with the

participation of universities and national Ministries of Environment. In December 2013, the final

report of these events will be presented at the University of Valparaiso. This meeting will also focus

on developing proposals for a potential regional action plan which could be presented at the Rio

Summit of Ibero-American Rectors in 2014 and at the UNESCO ESD World Conference in Nagoya,

2014.

 (Source: Benayas , 2013; Saenz, 2013)

44 | P a g e
 At a more strategic level, these networks have also given momentum and representation to

higher education agendas within the broader sustainable development movement, by coming together

and speaking with one voice. This influence was evident on the road to Rio+20, where higher education

colleges and universities could opt for accreditation to participate at this global gathering for the first

time (see Figure 9).

Figure 9: RIO+ 20 and Higher Education

On the occasion of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in 2012,

otherwise known as Rio+20, Higher Education leaders, staff, students and networks came together to

profile the contribution of universities and colleges to sustainable development.

The UN meeting assessed progress to date and defined new sustainable development governance

frameworks and goals. The higher education sector called for renewed political commitment for

sustainable development and was highly visible on the ‘road to Rio’. Through its networks and

numerous partnerships, it lobbied for the realignment of priorities, funding and activities to support

sustainability in higher education as a critical channel for the fundamental changes in education and

learning that will be required.

Rio+20 Higher Education Treaty

A group of over 30 agencies, organizations and associations came together to influence Rio+20

dialogues. These stakeholders are rooted in different regions of the globe and actively engaged in

sustainable development in higher education level. The partnership, led by Copernicus Alliance with the

support of the UNU IAS and the IAU, generated a Higher Education Treaty for Rio+20 and used the

document to lobby for a presence in the outcomes document of Rio+20. The Treaty commanded

45 | P a g e
signatories from over 100 organizations and institutions from across the globe.

Higher Education for Sustainability Initiative

‘The Higher Education Sustainability Initiative attracted hundreds of endorsers and commitments from 250

universities in about 50 countries. This initiative is transformative, global in reach and could reach thousands of

graduates from universities and business schools”. Ban Ki-Moon, 28 June 2012

The Higher Education Sustainability Initiative (HESI) for Rio+20 was initiated in 2012 by a

group of UN partners (the Executive Coordinator of Rio+20, UN DESA, UNEP, UNESCO, UN Global

Compact, UN Global Compact's PRME and UNU) in the run-up to the Rio+20 Conference.

Chancellors, Presidents, Rectors, Deans and leaders of higher education institutions signed a

Declaration to acknowledge their responsibility and potential contribution to sustainability, with

commitments to teach sustainable development concepts, encourage research on sustainable

development issues, green their campuses, support communities in adopting more sustainable lifestyles

and engage with international frameworks to monitor and report on progress.

The Future We Want

The Rio+20 outcomes document ‘The Future We Want’ included actions to support higher

education for the first time. In it governments agreed to support education institutions to carry out

research and innovation for sustainable development, including in the field of education, to develop

quality and innovative programmes geared to bridging skills gaps for advancing national sustainable

development objectives. This reflected the prominence of education (and higher education) in the

Sustainable Development Dialogues which took place at Rio and which reflected the spirit of

negotiations and prime concerns of stakeholders at the Summit.

Established international networks have also played an important role in helping to address

sustainability as part of the function of higher education and its essential purpose in engaging with the

world. Partnerships such as the GUNI and the Association of International Universities (AIU) have

46 | P a g e
placed sustainability as a core concern of their activities, bringing dialogues around sustainability into

the higher education mainstream. This is a significant development which would have been seen as

untenable ten years ago and has been accompanied by various initiatives that serve to position the

sustainability and ESD agendas within the common practice and shared thinking of the sector. GUNI

has facilitated knowledge sharing events and activities, as well as publishing its global review series

‘Higher Education in the World’ which includes dedicated attention to sustainability as part of the

sector’s societal responsibilitiesxxv. The historical standing and international reach of the IAU have

enabled it to foster greater global co-operation and communication around sustainable development in

higher education, particularly through the promotion of international networks and by leading

activitiesxxvi.

Equally, UN-facilitated initiatives such as the UNEP and the UNU RCE have extended the

reach of higher education and the sustainability agenda across communities of practice. With their

combined efforts, they have reached an additional 550 universities in the last ten years. As yet, there

have been no evaluation studies that quantify the extent of this influence; however, case studies exist

that document how these bodies have created momentum in this sector (see Figure 10).

Figure 10:

Global Universities Partnership on Environment and Sustainability

GUPES is an interactive network of UNEP, its partners and universities with the aim of

promoting the integration of environment and sustainability concerns into teaching, research,

community engagement, and management of universities; and enhancing student engagement

and participation in sustainability activities both within and beyond universities. This is done in

accordance to the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-14) and the
47 | P a g e
 outcome document of the Rio+20 Summit - The Future We Want. The network is housed by

UNEP’s Environmental Education and Training Unit (EETU). Presently, there are close to 400

GUPES members from five different continents.

The GUPES network has 3 broad goals:

 To provide a strategic platform for the mainstreaming of environment and

sustainability concerns into university systems across the world, and to facilitate inter-

university networking on sustainability issues with emphasis on South-South and

North-South tertiary partnerships;

 To build, through university education systems, a professional capacity and leadership

needed for the prevention of and responses to environmental issues, risks and

associated sustainable development challenges;

 To contribute to revitalizing the global higher education system and enabling it to

address current sustainable development challenges with emphasis on UNEP’s six

thematic priorities, viz Climate Change, Ecosystems Management, Disasters and

Conflicts, Environmental Governance, Chemicals and Wastes, and Resource

Efficiency;

GUPES activities focuses around 3 key pillars, namely Education (development of curricula

sourcebooks on Green Economy, REDD+, Climate Change Adaptation, etc. and the Greening

Universities Toolkit), Training (over 10 annual training programmes involving over 300 policy

makers annually) and networking (regional networks in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and

the Caribbean). GUPES and its partners has contributed immensely towards ESD programmes

by building stakeholder capacity (curriculum review, training courses and development of

sourcebooks); encouraging, and supporting universities to develop and implement their own

transformative strategies for establishing green, resource-efficient and low carbon campuses

(greening universities initiative); and providing practical relevance of universities to sustainable

development.

(Source Pradhan 2014)

Regional Centres of Expertise in Education for Sustainability

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 The United Nations University (UNU) Regional

Centres of Expertise (RCEs) is an innovative

partnership which works at a regional but global level to

build platforms and spaces for education and

learning for sustainability. The RCE network

aspires to achieve the goals of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable

development through promotion of multi-stakeholder engagement and networking. Since its

launch in 2005 the RCE network has developed regional hubs that help translate global

UNDESD objectives into the contexts of the local communities in which they operate. The

network has grown to 120 as over the last ten years (see map below).

The RCE network has therefore, been strengthened and expanded as a platform for cross-

boundary social learning. The strength of the RCE network is its flexibility and its ability to

adapt to the local context and culture and to truly engage people to take action. RCEs bring

together and mobilize multiple organizations that include higher education institutions to

address local sustainable development challenges using ESD. Higher education institutions are

encouraged to take coordination roles of RCEs. Higher education is a major thematic focus for

49 | P a g e
 RCEs and over 50% of the RCEs are coordinated by higher education institutions.

Anecdotal data from RCE annual reports, global conferences and online discussions indicate

that the RCE network has advanced partnerships across geographic, knowledge and

interdisciplinary boundaries. No evaluation data is yet publicly available but documented case

studies of thematic networks suggest that several collaborative ESD projects have been

implemented (http://www.rce-network.org/portal/node/36). For example, the Asia-Pacific RCE

network is engaged in a variety of collaborative ESD projects notably in the area of biodiversity,

traditional knowledge, youth, sustainable consumption and production. The focus of the African

RCE network has been on strengthening capacities of its members to implement transformative

ESD projects through networked governance mechanisms. Towards this end, a draft course

manual for African RCEs has been developed.

Higher education institution members of RCEs are actively engaged in community-engaged

research projects. For example, worm-enriched soil technology developed by Universiti Sains

Malaysia (USM), a member of RCE Penang has led to significant increase in soil productivity

for the local farming villages. RCE Guatemala, San Carlos University promotes academic

discussions on indigenous knowledge to enrich curricula and introduce indigenous knowledge

into its current academic programme. RCE Cebu in Philippines has been working with the local

community to find alternative means of livelihood for the villages dependent on the only

remaining forest on the island. University of Philippines Cebu provided education about

ecosystem services and biological richness of the area to the villagers. This learning has

contributed to the development of new competencies one forest practices.

(Source Attiti 2013)

Also worthy of note are two other more established UN supported initiatives which have generated

fresh higher education partnerships:

i) 526 institutions of higher education from around the work have adopted the UN-

supported PRME. These Principles commit them to developing the capabilities of

students to promote the sustainable value for business and to work for an inclusive

50 | P a g e
 and sustainable global economy. It has generated a network of Universities and

colleges that promote corporate social responsibility and report on the integration
xxvii
of sustainability into management education. .

ii) Also predating the UN DESD is the UNESCO Chairs-UNITWIN Network

Programme which draws together over 855 institutions in 134 countries. The

institutions participating in the programme have committed to addressing pressing

social challenges and to strengthening North-South-South cooperation. The

Programme promotes inter-university cooperation and networking to enhance

institutional capacities through knowledge sharing and collaborative projects. There

are 22 UNESCO Chairs in ESD and over half of these have a higher education

remit. Evaluation studies suggest that, the Chairs and related networks have

served as think tanks and as bridge builders between academia, civil society, local

communities, research and policy-making (UNESCO, 2006). Information relating

to ESD activities undertaken by UNESCO Chairs suggests that on multiple

occasions Chairs: have shaped policy decisions, established new teaching

initiatives, informed and generated research while promoting intercultural

understanding and cooperation in ESD (UNESCO, 2012).

5.2 Higher education treaties and declarations

Over 15 Higher Education Treaties and Declarations have emerged during the DESD. These

have provided a focus for partnership energies, giving substance and credibility to the activities of

individual institutions and in some cases, sustaining momentum across the sector (Lozano et al., 2012;

Miliutinovic and Nikolic, 2013; Tilbury, 2013). UNESCO ESD Chairs identified these initiatives as the

most concrete and highly successful efforts of the DESD (UNESCO, 2012). Table 6 in appendix

presents a list of the key charters, declarations and statements of action that have been released since the

start of the DESD in 2005 and which have been gaining signatories over recent years. Of course, the

existence of declarations and public commitments by university leaders is not always followed by

tangible changes across the partnership (Bekessy et al., 2007) that will match the aspirations in their

ambition or pace of delivery. However the increasing presence and reach of these statements shows that

51 | P a g e
sustainability is working its way into the mainstream thinking around the purpose of universities and

their societal role.

5.3 So what’s changed and what next?

Partnerships such as GUNI and the IAU have placed sustainability as a core concern of their

activities, bringing sustainability dialogues into the higher education mainstream. The significance of

this development should not be under-estimated as it reflects the beginning of a deeper phase of

engagement between sustainability and the established organizations in mainstream higher education.

Equally, UN-facilitated initiatives such as the UNESCO Chairs in ESD, UNEP GUPES,UNU RCE and

UN-supported PRME, have extended the reach of higher education and the sustainability agenda across

academic, professional and local communities of practice. There have been no evaluation studies that

quantify the extent of this influence; however case studies exist that document how these bodies are

acting to catalyse new developments and new types of partnership opportunity for sustainability within

the sector. The numerous Higher Education Treaties and Declarations that have emerged during the

DESD are also worthy of note, as these have provided a focus for partnership energies, have given

substance to activities and in some cases, have sustained momentum across the sector.

The important challenge ahead will be to find ways to increase the power and co-ordination of

these regional networks so that they can act most effectively to support sustainability in the sector and

to increase the voice and influence of the higher education community within the sustainable

development movement. It will also be critical to build on the steps taken so far in finding channels

for communication and interaction with existing academic networks and mainstream academic

associations concerned with research, education and innovation in higher education.

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Chapter 6 Curriculum and learning: the core challenge

6.1 Pathways for integration and innovation

Terms such as ‘education for sustainability’, ‘sustainability education’ or ‘learning for

sustainable futures’ were mostly absent from mainstream higher education discourses prior to 2005.

Evidence collected by this study suggests that the DESD has served to raise awareness of the ambitions

underpinning ESD processes of learning and has also promoted dialogue and debate about its place in

mainstream higher education. These developments mark the first steps of a complex long term

commitment, as captured by recent PhD studies on ESD in higher education.

‘The data suggested that the DESD had been a strong influence in Vietnam prompting several

universities to rethink their core mission of teaching and learning in ways that meet the requirements of

contemporary times. A key success area, as reflected through this study, entails the many small

initiatives taking place at universities to enhance sustainability learning and skills for future

employability, but it is early days as such initiatives are most often not coherent and not mainstreamed

across the university.’ (Nguyen, 2013)

‘Now in the Netherlands there are on-going discussions on how to integrate ESD into the universities.

Almost each university has something on sustainability, but it's within a small group of people like a

professor in sustainability, or a minor degree, or class, or research group; it's not spreading all across

the university. But it's difficult, some universities have more than 100 tracks; how do we integrate ESD

across all of this?" (Dutch University Professor, quoted in El Zoghbi’s, 2013)

The quotes reflect the challenge ahead, which involves deepening as well as scaling up existing

ESD practice. Champion institutions grappling with whole-of-institutional strategies to ESD have

responded by adopting a range of approaches: some integrate sustainable development concepts in the

curriculum; many develop new programme offerings with a specialism in this area; whilst others seek

deeper change and the reorientation of education processes and systems to align with sustainable

development.

Ceulemans and de Prins (2010) reviewed ESD curriculum practice in higher education and

described initiatives that seek ‘horizontal’ or ‘vertical’ integration of sustainable development concepts

in the curriculum. Horizontal integration strategies incorporate these concepts into existing courses

53 | P a g e
across the curriculum, while vertical integration involves the addition of new sustainability courses into

the existing curriculum. In both these options, sustainable development issues and skills are matched to

the disciplinary or professional orientation of each programme (Abdul-Wahab et al. 2003; Boks and

Diehl, 2006). These often do not challenge the knowledge, social assumptions or pedagogical principles

that reproduce unsustainable relationships with people and planet. As the Association for the

Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE, 2010, p.2) explains:

‘The fundamental problem faced in meeting the goal of education for a healthy and sustainable society

for all students is that the existing curriculum in higher education has not been developed to examine

how we shape a sustainable world. Much of the curriculum has been developed to provide students with

an increasingly narrow understanding of disciplines, professions and jobs and is focused on specific

knowledge and skills employed in a given area’.

The ‘UN Decade in Education for Sustainable Development International Implementation

Scheme’ highlighted this need when it called for the reorientation of education towards more

sustainable forms of living and working (UNESCO, 2005). It acknowledged that this is not simply a

matter of integrating new content or skills into our education programmes or building sustainability

literacy across all subject areas. It requires the unpacking of social, economic, cultural as well as

environmental assumptions which serve the status quo and that are reproduced by our education

systems (UNESCO, 2002).

The review process suggested that the vertical approach remains the most popular, with the

focus on developing new specialist courses on sustainable development which are improving the

sustainability literacy and capabilities of those interested in pursuing careers in this area or assessing

progress in implementing sustainabilityxxviii. Such courses have some overlap with the horizontal

approaches. They are supported by tools that seek to assess the inclusion of thematic concepts (Lozano

2010) and by ‘eco-labelling’ schemes for taught programmes that certify the presence of environmental

content or learning (Borman and Andersson, 2013). However, this means that across the sector, trainee

teachers, architects, accountants, doctors, engineers, policy-makers, scientists and business managers

are still predominantly being schooled into social assumptions and practices which serve unsustainable

development. Multiple strategies need to be pursued to move beyond simply extending expertise in

54 | P a g e
sustainable development and to ensure that students can respond effectively to its challenges throughout

their professional and personal lives (UNECE, 2011). To transform the curricula and pedagogy at the

core of their higher education experiences requires deeper innovation in staff development and across

institutions.

6.2 Academic staff development

Documented experiences suggest that academic staff development must underpin any strategy

for embedding ESD in the curriculum. There are a range of contextual challenges that face educators

engaged with ESD in higher education. These revolve around i) the need develop future-fit curricula, so

that students can manage and shape social, economic and ecological conditions that are characterized by

change, uncertainty, risk and complexity; and ii) the need to facilitate academic change processes at a

programme, departmental and/or institutional level.

Valuable higher education tools and guidance documents have emerged during the DESD years

that can support educators at this level to address different aspects of this challenge. For example, the

Future Fit Framework (Sterling, 2012) has practical guidance on ESD pedagogy to support course

development; the Guide to Quality and Education for Sustainability (Tilbury and Ryan, 2013) identifies

ways that ESD connects with curriculum quality themes; the Virtual University Environment &

Sustainable Development (UVED) (French Higher Education Ministry, 2012) focuses on ESD

resources linked to digital technology; and the ESD Portal (Australian Office of Teaching and Learning,

2011); the Gendai Good Practice Programs (MEXT, 2009) and ESD Innovations course toolkit (MESA

African Universities Partnership, 2006) are among several ESD teaching resource banks developed in

response to government funding.

The last ten years has also seen a rise in the number of professional development programmes

for teaching staff in higher education. Some of these offerings are discipline-based or run by

institutions, whilst others bring academics together with the professional bodies that accredit their

courses. A recent UNESCO International Conference on the DESD held in the Russian Federation

captured the examples from Buryat State University and the Belarusian State Economic University that

had made advances in these areas. At a more regional level, international collaborative projects, such as

the Mainstreaming Environment and Sustainability in African Universities (MESA) ITP programme

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and the University Educators For Sustainable Development (UE4SD) project are seeking to understand

and address staff training needs to support systemic change across the curriculum (Figure 11).

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Figure 11 Supporting staff development needs

1. Mainstreaming Environment and Sustainability in African Universities (MESA) ITP

programme

UNEP’s key contribution to the DESD has been the Mainstreaming Environment and

Sustainability in African Universities initiative established in 2003, otherwise known as the MESA

partnership (Togo and Lotz‐Sisitka, 2009; UNEP, 2010). MESA has a membership spanning over 90

universities in Africa, all with a declared commitment to embed environment and sustainability

concerns into higher education including the curriculum. MESA’s efforts are driven by its International

Training Programme (ITP) that seeks to ESD innovations across the University by providing a broad

orientation on sustainable development issues for university teachers. It also supports University

managers planning ESD changes showcasing successful innovations at this level. This Programme is

developed in partnership between Swedish International Development Agency, UNEP, Stockholm

University, Gothenburg University, Uppsala University; Rhodes University and Tonji University. The

focus of the programme is on change processes in higher education institutional settings. It goal is

enable participants to better conceptualize, understand and engage with change processes in their

institutions. It follows a 5-phase model:

MODEL

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In total, 261 university educators and managers have participated in MESA’s ITP. Participants have

come from 35 different countries (23 African; 12 Asian) and involved 121 institutions across Africa and

Asia. A total of 142 change projects have resulted from this initiative (Source Lotz-Siskita, 2013).

2. UE4SD – University Educators for Sustainable Development

UE4SD is a new Copernicus Alliance initiative funded by the European Commission in 2013. It

is providing professional development opportunities, guidance and support to European universities to

enhance teaching and learning quality through ESD innovations. The project is underpinned by a

partnership of 55 higher education institutions and associations from 34 countries, all of whom are

seeking pathways for progressing ESD in the curriculum.

Little is known of the how ESD competences of university educators are supported and

developed. This is because research, and practice in HE have mainly focused on student rather than staff

learning in the area of sustainability. UE4SD is closing this knowledge gap through mapping

opportunities for university educators to develop ESD competences and identifying how competences

can be best developed. The project will result in an online platform of resources to support changes to

curriculum development and academic provision in universities. The network is also trialing a change

58 | P a g e
academy for ESD to provide guidance to universities on how to plan and manage change in ESD in

higher education institutions. (Source Mula 2013)

https://mapsengine.google.com/map/viewer?mid=zf4INE1dLRAI.k9egU6ZqZCYk

6.3 Institutional change in ESD

University educators seeking programme change within higher education need skills to embed

ESD into the institutional mainframe and not just in their own courses. This institutional level of

engagement is critically important if all students are to have the opportunity to engage with ESD and

brings another set of challenges. To reshape and renegotiate existing organizational contexts and

implement the complex transformational agenda of ESD requires a distinctive set of strategies and

capabilities, not just tools or examples of good practice. New approaches to bring ESD into university-

wide thinking are now appearing in the sector, for example the Green Academy programme (HEA,

2012, 2013) which brings together teams of educators and academic managers from an institution to

59 | P a g e
plan and deliver change processes for embedding ESD across faculties and departments, including the

use of co-curricular and informal learning.

The African MESA programme has studied these change processes in order to fast-track and

support the on-going transformation of higher education programmes and practices (Lotz-Sisitka et al.,

2013). A recent study identifies emergent properties that ‘drive’ and ‘shape’ changes in HEIs towards

sustainability and map the outcomes of the change projects. Table 7 in the appendix presents a sample

of these summative results. The results are categorized into existing and catalytic level changes and are

recorded as having personal/professional, institutional and/or community impact.

6.4 Differentiated approaches across the regions

Regional reports compiled by UNESCO to inform evaluation of the DESD have captured

differences but also patterns in the strategies adopted across the regions. For example, Latin America

and Caribbean, Middle East and Africa have wrestled with how to root ESD within existing policy

frameworks or communities of practice, given the already strong presence of environmental education

initiatives. The higher education sector in Oceania, Asia, North America, and Europe (including

Eastern and Central Europe) shows a stronger overall trajectory in this respect thanks to the financial

support and clearer mandates from provincial or national governments.

Ryan et al. (2010) present evidence that the Asia Pacific region has played an important role in

directing attention to pedagogy and leaning for sustainability across education, including higher

education. The UN DESD originated in the region with the proposal from the Japanese government and

NGOs at the World Summit for Sustainable Development (Nomura and Abe, 2009). The Asia Pacific

Regional Bureau of Education, is one of many agencies that has provided much strategic guidance and

practical tools in ESD and capacity building for curriculum development in higher education (see for

example Elias, 2006; Elias and Sachathep, 2009; Tilbury and Janousek, 2007; UNESCO, 2005). In

parallel, the UNEP-Tongji Institute of Environment for Sustainable Development (IESD) has been

supporting capacity building in education and training for university educators and students during the

DESD years. Universities and colleges have been quick to respond to ideas promoted by national

agencies and international organizations as reflected in the range of initiatives that have emerged across

60 | P a g e
the region. Figure 12 documents the range of curriculum development efforts under way for ESD in

China, as an example.

Figure 12 Sustainability literacy and education for sustainability offerings across China

Niu et al. (2010) reported that general introductory courses on sustainable development were

being offered in more than 300 universities across China. Whilst undergraduate electives such as

“Introduction to cleaner production,” “Industrial ecology,” “Risk assessment,” “Introduction to

environmental law” and “Energy and environment” are slowly being incorporated across the

curriculum. The BELL Project initiated by World Resources Institute in collaboration with Peking

University, has worked to integrate sustainable development concepts into business, environment,

learning and leadership for graduate students, In the ESD regional centre, at Inner Mongolia Normal

University, courses on “Ecological travel and sustainable development” have been developed during

2009 and at Jining Teachers College in Inner Mongolia, courses on travel resource management and

environment protection have already been offered. Courses at Jining have also been integrated with

projects on energy-saving and emissions reduction in a powerplant (Wang, 2009).

Niu et al. (2010) reports that almost all universities in China have begun to address the need

for curriculum reorientation in line with ESD is increasingly under discussion and the focus of recent

publications and conferences has been on the exploration of what SD could mean for education

systems, and on research to develop theory and evaluation methods that support the aims of ESD.

UNECE has also played an important catalytic role in promoting ESD internationally. UNECE

brings together 56 countries located in the European Union, non-EU Western and Eastern Europe,

South-East Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States and North America. In 2005 UNECE

developed a strategy for promoting the integration of ESD into all education systems (UNECE, 2005).

The strategy is supported by a Steering Committee and working groups which bring a strong

government as well as higher education focus to this work. With the support of the Dutch government,

UNECE released an ESD competence framework for educators, which has proven to be a powerful tool

for introducing colleagues to the process of transforming the higher education curriculum towards

sustainability (UNECE, 2012).

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 Similarly ambitious initiatives have been driven by the Australian Research Institute in

Education for Sustainability (ARIES) with seed funding from the Australian Government. The work of

ARIES in teacher education (see Ferreira et al., 2007, 2009; Steele, 2010) and business education (see

Martin and Steele, 2010; Thomas and Benn, 2009; Tilbury et al., 2005) has challenged dominant

assumptions within existing programmes, developed inter- and intra- university partnerships to support

systemic change, built staff confidence and expertise in sustainability, addressed the professional

capacities as well as responsibilities of the students and embraced the dual challenge of pedagogical and

curriculum development for sustainability. This has been evidenced through independent evaluations of

this work.

In a similar vein, Swedish, UK, Australian, Canadian, Japanese and Dutch aid agencies have

played an important role in funding curriculum development for sustainability in Africa, Asia as well

the Pacific Islands (e.g. AusAid, 2010, MedIES, 2010; MEXT, 2012; SIDA 2011). Also notable are the

contributions of the European Commission in supporting the embedding of learning and education for

sustainability across higher education. It has not been possible to quantify this contribution or levels of

investment over the last ten years across multiple funding initiatives as these figures are not publicly

available. However, reviewing the literature and web-resources in ESD points to the high levels of

financial support that have been made available across the European region for international

collaboration in this area during the DESD years. Figure 13 presents a case study from the

Mediterranean documenting North-South collaboration to advance learning for sustainability in higher

education as a Japanese international collaboration programme with similar intentions and a different

partnership approach.

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Figure 13: Building capacity through international collaboration

MEXT’s International cooperation initiative.

Since 2008, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) -Japan

through the International Cooperation Program has been supporting ESD developments in higher

education. Japanese Universities have been reaching out through international support to develop the

projects including:

Mie University

The Development of Community-based Medical Education

Module Incorporating and Promoting the Concepts of ESD)

Country: Thailand, Tanzania, Laos,

Hokkaidou University of Education

ESD model module development for Basic Education in

Zambia

Country: Zambia

Ehime University

Development of ESD materials aimed to form global

ethics under the collaboration between Mozambique

and Japan

Country: Mozambique

Miyagi University of Education

Alternative University Appraisal based on ESD

Country: Asia-Pacific region

Perhaps, the most systemic of these efforts have taken place through the Education for Sustainable

Development in Africa EDSA initiative 2008-2011 supported the development of ESD in African

countries through training of professionals at the graduate school level. The programme recognized

the role of planners, organizers, instructors, field development agents and practitioners in the

attainment of sustainable development in these countries. It aims to multiply efforts through a ‘train-

the trainers’ approach and exposure to international as well as local issues in sustainability.

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Underpinning these efforts is the UNU’s network of higher education institutions in Africa and Japan

as well as international organizations active in this area, such as UNESCO, UNEP and UN-

HABITAT. (Source MEXT 2011)

MIO-ECSDE: A Mediterranean Residential Training Programme

MIO-ECSDE is a federation of 112 NGOs from 26 Mediterranean countries. Its core goal is to

'promote sustainable development in a peaceful Mediterranean' with funding from European

Commission and Swedish International Development and cooperation Agency.  Mio-ECSDE office

which is located in Greece supports residential training workshops for university educators in ESD

across the North and South Mediterranean. In April 2013 it convened, in Rabat 55 educators from 7

universities from across Morocco. The focus was on the hidden as well as formal curriculum: the

development of ESD standards and competences; ESD pedagogies and learning approaches; planning

whole institutional approaches and instigating cultural change in universities.

Mio-ECSDE has caused ripples across Mediterranean region as a result of the scale of interventions.

It has facilitated dialogue between the North and Southern Mediterranean countries bridging concerns

and sharing good practice. It has also established strong inter-regional partnerships through

workshops and developing collaborative opportunities. For example in 2010, it held a residential ESD

training workshop in Amfissa Greece bridging together the concerns of 48 lecturers and academics

from 19 countries from the Baltic and Mediterranean regions. (Source MIO-ECSDE 2013)

The development of regional networks across the globe, for example being UN PRME Regional

Chapters (UN PRME, 2013) or Prosper.Net (UNU, 2012), provide educators with a platform for

dialogue, learning, and action. These types of academic networks can support capacity building and

help generate strategies for curriculum change for sustainability.

6.5 So what’s changed and what next?

Tackling the ESD challenge in the higher education curriculum is a complex and long term

ambition. Not surprisingly, there are few universities, if any, that can claim to have attained this

ambition. Significant progress has been identified, in a number of areas thanks to government and

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regional investment. Responses to the 2014 UNESCO questionnaire capture how ESD is increasingly

seen as a central ingredient for the renewal of teaching and learning to face cotemporary social

challenges. ESD is recognized by many in higher education as a movement that creates synergies with a

range of sub-fields of education and thematic areas with the intention to reorient pedagogy towards

critical-reflective and participatory approaches (UNESCO, 2014). The last ten years have seen an

increase in the quantity and diversity of tools, staff development programmes and incentives available

to support the transition to towards higher education. The DESD period has also seen some innovation

at the more complex institutional level, to attempt to change the thinking of universities and colleges

about how they can address ESD more widely, as part of their approaches to education strategy and

graduate outcomes.

This complexity of shifting higher education curriculum and pedagogical means we need multi-

strand approaches which connect with academic leadership needs and student expectations in this area

as identified in other sections of this report. Also important, will be efforts to clarify the ambitions of

ESD to re-orient higher education academic policies and systems to support sustainable development

and innovate teaching and learning practice in ways that connect ESD to mainstream agendas such as

community outreach; digital learning; employability and internationalization.

Going forward, the Global Action Programme on ESD should prioritise professional

development opportunities for programme leaders, lecturers and tutors as well as senior managers that

have responsibility for curriculum, quality and academic development. Efforts underpinning the Global

Action Programme on ESD should also go beyond horizontal and vertical approaches to embed ESD in

the organizational learning cultures of higher education institutions. Investment of time and resources in

academic leadership development and efforts that connect academic strands with the student

engagement agendas may well prove catalytic in the quest to reorient higher education towards

sustainable development

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Chapter 7 Tools for measuring progress: appraisals, rankings and

benchmarks

7.1 Emergence and effects of performance data

As the Rio+20 Higher Education Treaty for Sustainable Development reminds us, the transition

of the higher education sector towards sustainability needs to be underpinned by information and

decision-making tools (Treaty Circle, 2012). Information systems are needed that can capture and

benchmark progress and thus inform strategic investment and management decisions. These tools are

also important mechanisms to assist in building bridges between strategy, academic development and

operational issues in the area of sustainability.

When the DESD was launched in 2005, there were no systematic mechanisms for monitoring

the implementation of sustainability within a higher education institution or benchmarking progress in

this areaxxix. Senior managers could turn to ISO 14001 to assess environmental management systems in

universities, but bespoke indices, benchmarking or whole-of-institutional appraisal tools on

sustainability were not yet available.

Significant changes have taken place in this arena and there are now multiple tools for

measuring progress in sustainability across an institution; most of these have been developed in the last

5 years, which may explain why they have not yet been widely adopted. The year 2013 saw the creation

of an international Platform for Sustainability Performance in Education which brought together

organizations that have developed the most common type of these mechanisms: self-assessment or

appraisal tools (Table 7). These evaluation instruments are assisting universities and colleges to map

and progress their actions towards attaining the sustainability milestones they consider to be most

important for their institutions.

These self-assessment tools seek to promote whole-of-institutional approaches to sustainability

and often present opportunities for independent validation or certification of performance. They

measure what is calculable in terms of eco- or carbon efficiency and the aspects that are most

comparable in terms of curriculum and academic development. They also recognize policy and

structural changes across the institution and often assess the processes and motivations that have

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underpinned institutional change. A close review of these tools reveals some regional variations

underpinning the self-assessment processes and criteria used by these different tools. A handful of other

auditing tools are currently in use, such as the Eco-Campus Scheme xxx or STAUNCHxxxi, which are

more narrowly focused on particular aspects of the higher education system but which have attracted

significant interest.

Rankings and benchmarking systems that generate public information on the comparative

performance of different institutions have proved to be equally important, although they serve a

different purpose. Key informants suggest that they have been effective in raising the profile of ESD

and sustainable development amongst opinion leaders and key stakeholders who had not previously

engaged with this agenda. However, they are often controversial, as the sector has struggled to agree on

criteria for assessment. Some stakeholders have pointed to the negative effects of the ‘naming and

shaming’ game that accompanies these kinds of publicly listed ranking schemes, arguing that this can

serve to de-incentivise or disengage senior managers in institutions that perform badly overall or that

experience downturns in their positioning. Louise Hazan (2013) from People and Planet, who created

the Green League of Universities, offers a different perspective:

‘By introducing a very public element of competition and by working with students and sustainability professionals

within institutions to gradually raise the bar for a 'pass' each year, the Green League has managed to put climate

change and human rights issues firmly on the desk of every Vice-Chancellor in the country.’

The Green League of Universities was established in 2007 and seeks to offer an independent

ranking of UK universities based on their environmental and ethical performance. It is published

annually in a higher profile national newspaper, attracting the attention of politicians, Vice-Chancellors

and governing bodies, as well as journalists and other higher education stakeholders.

This benchmarking initiative has been a proven to be a powerful tool for raising awareness

about the role of universities and colleges in assisting the transition towards more sustainable futures.

Although the Green League does have blind spots (e.g. it favors higher education intuitions with smaller

campuses and the less science-intensive universities, it also has a minimalist approach to the assessment

of matters relating to curriculum or research). It has been recognized for ‘dragging environmental

issues from the fringes and making them a more central concern for many Vice-Chancellors’ (WWF,

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2007) and ‘throwing a spotlight onto the work being done by universities to cut carbon emissions’ (Rt

Hon Chris Huhne, Secretary of State for Environment and Climate Change 2010-12).

Table 7: Self-assessment approaches across the platform for sustainability performance

in education

Tool Stakeholders Key Information

Alternative University Appraisal Asia Pacific Region AUA is a self-assessment tool in ESD

(AUA) (2009) across the institution.

Hokkaido University The AUA system consists of three

(secretariat for the AUA components:

project), Asian Institute  Self-Awareness Questions

of Technology, TERI (SAQs)

University, Universiti  Benchmarking Indicators

Sains Malaysia, Yonsei Questions (BIQs)

University, the  Dialogue

www.sustain.hokudai.ac.jp/aua University of SAQs and BIQs serve as a data source and

Tokyo, UNU-IIST, UNU make up the foundation for dialogue

-IAS among universities. HEIs consult and

share concerns, as well as best practice,

via the medium of AUA

Learning In Future Environments UK and Australia The LiFE Index is a comprehensive

(LiFE) (2010) performance improvement system

Environmental developed specifically to help HEIs to

Association for manage, measure and improve their

www.thelifeindex.org.uk Universities and Colleges sustainability performance.

(EAUC) – UK secretariat Each institution can tailor the tool to its

specific needs, incorporating their own

In partnership with approach and initiatives. The system

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 Higher Education offers HEIs the opportunity to

Funding Council for demonstrate real value from their

England (HEFCE) and activities, by gathering pockets of good

University of practice that are already taking place and

Gloucestershire bringing them together as a cohesive

whole, for maximum impact and benefit.

Australasian Campuses

Towards Sustainability

ACTS) - Australia and

New Zealand
Sustainability Tracking, North America The Sustainability Tracking, Assessment

Assessment & Rating System & Rating System™ (STARS) is a

(STARS) (2007) Association for the voluntary self-reporting framework for

Advancement of HEIs to measure progress toward

Sustainability in Higher sustainability and be recognized for

Education sustainability leadership.

STARS®:

Higher Education  Provides a framework for

Associations understanding sustainability in

Sustainability higher education

Consortium  Enables meaningful comparisons

over time and across institutions

 Creates incentives for continual

improvement toward
www.stars.aashe.org/
sustainability

 Facilitates information sharing

on sustainability practice and

performance
Assessment Instrument for The Netherlands AISHE has a modular structure. The five

Sustainability in Higher Education modules are: Identity, Education,

(AISHE) (2001) DHO, the Dutch Research, Operations, and Societal

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 Foundation for Outreach.

Sustainable Higher

www.eauc.org.uk/theplatform/aish Education

e Each module consists of six indicators,

Development input from that all are assessed making use of a five

a small number of point scale derived from the European

partners in Sweden, Foundation for Quality Management

Austria, and Spain (EFQM) approach, indicating the level of

organizational development.

Universities or their departments can be

awarded the ‘Certificate of Sustainable

Higher Education’, based on a star

system, enabling universities to acquire 1,

2, 3 or 4 stars.

La Conferencia de Rectores de las Spain The Indicators of Sustainability at

Universidades Españolas (CRUE) University tool consists of a system of

(2007) CRUE indicators used to assess the progress of

Spanish universities in their contribution

Environmental Quality, to sustainability and social responsibility

Sustainable Development

and Risk Prevention During 2010 -11 the tool was used to

Working Group benchmark 31 institutions and has been

www.crue.org/Sostenibilidad/
(CADEP) refined based on this experience.

The Green Plan (TGP) (2010) France TGP consists of a Green Plan Outline and

a Green Plan Framework:

Conference of University

Presidents (CPU) The Outline was designed to indicate

objectives for each establishment, along

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 Conference of Grandes with actions that can be implemented.

Écoles (CGE)

The Framework is a tool for assessing the

A joint initiative with the progress and relevance of the sustainable

Ministry of Ecology, development actions identified in the

Sustainable Development outline. It includes a self-diagnosis

www.developpement-
and Energy scorecard and strategy guide and is a basis
durable.gouv.fr/Green-Plan.html
for certification.
Unit-Based Sustainability Africa and Sweden, and The tool focuses on the different

Assessment Tool – (USAT) (2009) expanded to Asia functional units in a university (e.g.

www.pnuma.org/educamb/ departments,

Developed within MESA research units, management units), and

framework under the how they are integrating sustainability

Swedish/Africa concerns into their core functions of

International Training teaching, research and community

Programme (ITP) on engagement and university management

‘Education for operations.

Sustainable Development

in Higher Education’ Using a unit‐based assessment tool allows

for ‘building the picture’ of the whole, as

Funded via SIDA well as concentrating on specific units.

(Swedish International The tool was developed through the PhD

Development Agency) research of Muchaiteyi Togo and has been

Rhodes University, used by 120 institutions in the Africa-Asia

Tongji University, China MEA ITP programme to assess current

practice and to design change projects.

7.2 So what’s changed and what next?

In 2005, when the DESD was launched, there were no systematic mechanisms for monitoring

sustainability implementation at institutional level. In 2013, a range of self-assessment tools are in use

which promote whole-of-institutional approaches to sustainability and often present opportunities for

independent validation or certification of performance. However, it is important to acknowledge that the

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types of assessment tools that have been developed to date cannot themselves lead or navigate the

change management processes involved in improving sustainability across the institution.

These early initiatives to develop measurements and appraisals of performance are helping to

indicate whether – and where – tangible changes or improvements are being registered. They are also

helping to stimulate deeper understanding of sustainability and engagement with it as a management

priority among university leaders, in ways that are in some cases public and provocative. They have the

potential to help build bridges between strategy, academic development and operational issues in the

area of sustainability Although some of these tools and approaches are in their infancy, the development

of international dialogue and collaboration should help to advance their development and to refine their

sophistication, so that they become more widely adopted and help point to the next steps in the

transition of higher education towards sustainability.

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Chapter 8 Leadership and governance for sustainability: driving the change

8.1 Identifying challenges and capabilities

Recent literature has pointed to the fact that leading change for sustainability within and across

the sector requires more than knowledge of sustainability or a commitment to transforming higher

education. This is not surprising, given that sustainability requires a rethink of complex institutional

structures and practices and therefore presents a significant leadership challenge (Bawden, 2004;

Corcoran and Wals, 2004).

Many University leaders have made ‘in principle’ commitments by signing public charters and

declarationsxxxii, but only a handful of Presidents, Vice-Chancellors and Deans have demonstrated

leadership by taking significant steps towards change in their institutions. As the literature points out,

translating signatures on international declarations into institutional responses requires adjustments at

several levels, to reorient academic priorities and organizational structures, as well as governance,

planning, financial and audit systems (Bekessy et al., 2007; Ryan et al., 2010; Sharp, 2002).

Tackling these challenges will require leaders with the power, vision and capability to steer

their organizations through a change journey that is complex, uncertain, slow and political. These were

also the findings of an international study funded by the Australian government that analyzed the

experiences of 188 higher education leaders from the Asia-Pacific, North America and Europe seeking

change for sustainability. The ‘Turnaround Leadership’ (Scott et al., 2012) study concluded that

building this type of leadership capability will be necessary to achieve systemic and deep change across

universities and colleges of higher education (see Figure 14).

The study calls for recognition of the distinctive leadership challenge that underpins the

reorientation of higher education towards sustainability and the complexity associated with embedding

ESD through a whole-of-institutional approach. This unique investigation was informed by capability

frameworks used to study change leadership in higher education and developed a detailed framework to

explore the leadership challenges specific to sustainability. One of its central recommendations was the

need to review position descriptions for leadership roles to clearly reflect these change management

capabilities that will be needed to respond effectively to the sustainability challenge.

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 Figure 14 Turnaround Leadership For Sustainability in Higher Education

This study has sought to define the capabilities that characterize an effective leader in

sustainability across universities and colleges in Australasia, North America, the UK and

Europe. It found that effective leaders have the ability to ‘listen, link and lead’ – in that

order. This is underpinned by a number of key capabilities summarized below. Effective

higher education leaders for sustainability:

a) understand that change is not an event but a complex learning (and unlearning)

process for all concerned;

b) are capable of negotiating the complex processes of change across all institutional

levels;

c) have well developed emotional intelligence and the contingent way of thinking

necessary to lead and engage a wide diversity of staff in deep change across disciplinary

‘silos’ and ‘tribes’;

d) are effective in assisting their staff to learn how to make a desired change work in

practice;

e) understand that leadership is most tested when things go wrong and exercise

judgment that is aligned with the principles of fairness, long-term vision and

inclusiveness;

f ) are decisive and committed to halting unsustainable practice and structures; are

transparent, accountable and lead by example.

(Scott et al., 2012)

One of the most important implications of these findings is in the area of leadership training, as

the Turnaround Leadership study not only identified the profile of an effective higher education leader

for sustainability but suggested that effective agents of change currently operating in the sector have

developed their capabilities ‘on the job’ and without targeted professional development. The study fell

short of reviewing existing leadership development opportunities but it did identify the most appropriate

approaches which might underpin these.

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 A desktop review reveals that there are a small number of leadership for sustainability

programmes developed for change managersxxxiii but none are tailored to the needs of higher education.

Emerging practice may well change this scenario: for example, a recently established Sustainable

Development Education Academy (SEDA) at York University is supporting Canadian teams engaged in

teacher education to plan and implement academic and programme level change for sustainability. At

another level, the Sustainable Futures Leadership Academy (SFLA), recognizing the criticality of

leadership in the transition towards more sustainable universities, has academic offerings and senior

management processes firmly in its sight and seeks to progress this through North-South partnerships

that can embed sustainability into the core business of universities and colleges (Sharp et al., 2010).

The seeds for senior management leadership for sustainability are being sown towards the end

of the DESD, with research evidence suggesting that efforts to provide training and professional

development in this area are much needed. Recognizing the extent of the challenge, CRUE established a

Commission on Environmental Quality and Sustainable Development (CADEP) which has come

together to map and drive change across the sector (see Figure 15).

Other recent developments include an initiative from the Ministry for Higher Education in

Malaysia that focused on sustainable development and national building for university leaders. The

2012 training programme offered by the Higher Education Leadership Academy (AKEPT) included

sessions on ‘Leadership for a Sustainable Future’; ‘Leadership in Community Engagement’ and

‘Turnaround Leadership for Sustainability’. Over 120 participants from 20 universities attended these

workshops to learn about succession planning, talent management and leading change for sustainability

(Sanusi, 2013). The programmes build upon the ‘living sustainability’ principles and distributed

leadership model that was embodied in the work of the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) since 2001

(Razak, 2013). A similar initiative entitled ‘Environmental Leadership Initiatives for Asian

Sustainability’ (ELIAS) was supported by the Japanese Government during 2008-09. ELIAS funded to

support the implementation of the DESD focused mostly on grounded rather than executive university

leadership. It supported over 12 leadership building projects based in Japanese higher education

institutions (Ministry for Environment, 2011).

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Figure 15: Senior leadership across the sector: Case study from Spain.

In Spain, CRUE brings together 75 Spanish public and private universities. In 2011 it

established a CADEP to improve the sustainability performance of its member institutions.

CADEP has promoted co-operation and exchange of good practice. Approximately 40

universities are members of this commission and over 85% of Spanish universities have taken

part in its activities, meetings and events.

The Commission has ten active working groups on: embedding sustainability into curricula,

environmental participation and voluntary work, risk management, evaluation of

sustainability policies, environmental improvements of buildings, application of sustainable

contracting, community engagement, university urban planning and sustainability, sustainable

mobility and healthy universities. Commission members review activity and reflect on

leadership needs and challenges associated with progressing these agendas at Spanish

Universities.

Another key activity for the Commission is the drafting of institutional declarations on

specific themes which are subject to approval by the Plenary. An example of this is the

declaration on embedding sustainability in curricula, on preventive culture or sustainable

procurement measures.

(Translated and adapted from Benayas and Alba, 2013).

Academic leadership is an important component of any change management process that seeks

to reorient higher education towards sustainability. Specific leadership challenges involved in ESD

bring encounters with high level academic strategy and innovation, including institutional approaches to

learning and teaching and graduate outcomes, as well as issues around quality, standards and

professional regulations. This is new territory for ESD and the earliest attempts to explore this arena

have needed to engage both the sector and pioneering institutional in the identification of strategies and

possibilities. The HEFCE Leadership Governance Management Fund financed a two year project

entitled ‘Leading Curriculum Change for Sustainability’ project (Ryan and Tilbury 2013) to uncover

leadership pathways for ESD at five English universities whilst working in collaboration with the UK

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Quality Assurance Agency to locate ESD to uncover the challenges for professional practice and

institutional development.

In parallel to these modest but important developments to understand and fill the gap in

leadership development and training, there are new moves under way to share the sustainability

leadership task across institutional systems. In the examples that are emerging, these moves are

designed to involve key staff in corporate measures to improve governance for sustainability within

higher education institutions. The research undertaken to inform this report captured a growing trend to

identify a senior executive lead (e.g. Deputy President or Pro-Vice Chancellor or Deputy Rector) with

responsibility for including sustainability into high level planning and decision-making. This member of

senior management often chairs a cross-institutional committee that advises, monitors and/or reports on

sustainability performance. A small number of universities have also identified a member of their

governing body (e.g. University Council or Court) as responsible for oversight of the sustainability

agenda, ensuring that higher level governance decisions and thinking are increasingly informed by these

considerations.

These recent developments mark step changes in an area which has been deprived of attention

and which forms an important piece of the transformation puzzle. Their significance in helping to drive

real change cannot be underestimated and this is underlined by the fact that such moves are increasingly

reflected in the rankings and self-assessment tools that capture the depth of institutional commitment to

sustainability in the sector.

8.2 So what’s changed and what next?

As the social contract of Universities evolves, university executive teams are now being held

accountable for their institution’s corporate social responsibility performance. Many point to the

Johannesburg Summit as the key to awakening stakeholder interest in this area. The result is that

university leaders have responded by supporting outreach activities and making ‘in principle’

commitments to institutional sustainability. Evidence suggests, however, it has proven easier to

contribute to change for sustainability across social groups than to make advances in leading

universities and colleges towards sustainability. The Turnaround Leadership study documented the

complexity of the change management process involved in whole-of-institutional responses to

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sustainability. It identified the profile of an effective higher education leader for sustainability but

suggested that effective agents of change currently operating in the sector have developed their

capabilities ‘on the job’. This is not surprising, given the lack of leadership development opportunities

in sustainability suited to the specific challenges of the higher education system.

However, seeds are being sown towards the end of the DESD with modest but important

developments to understand and fill the gap in leadership development and training, for example in

Malaysia and Japan. There are also new moves under way to share the sustainability leadership task

across institutional systems. In the examples that are emerging, these moves are designed to involve key

staff in corporate measures to improve governance for sustainability and to take responsibility for

oversight of the sustainability agenda, ensuring that higher level governance decisions and academic

thinking are increasingly informed by these considerations. The examples of innovative work in these

areas serve as path-finding initiatives to light the way for further work to develop this critically

important area of leadership for sustainability in higher education. The significance of this area in

helping to drive real change cannot be underestimated and is underlined by the fact that leadership

changes are increasingly reflected in the rankings and self-assessment tools that capture the depth of

institutional commitment to sustainability in the sector.

Going forward, the Global Action Programme on ESD should acknowledge the need for

leadership development for senior university executives and governors. Its significance in the

transformation process towards sustainability cannot be underestimated as underlined by the fact that

such moves are increasingly reflected in the rankings and self-assessment tools.

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Chapter 9 Concluding remarks

This report has reflected upon the available evidence, to capture trends and tensions that

characterize the advances made in towards sustainable development in higher education during the

DESD. The last ten years have seen a sharpening of agendas and greater clarity on the scale and the

urgency of changes required for higher education to reorient itself towards sustainability. This has

happened against a backdrop of uncertainty and change: some regions have been burdened with the

introduction of more stringent quality measures and the push for more quantifiable research outcomes

and other regions have wrestled with political instability and new and social change agendas which

influence higher education provision. Many institutions have experienced funding cuts, increasing

regulation and the streamlining of higher education services xxxiv; others have experienced the effects of

long term underfunding, with academic and infrastructure related issues manifesting themselves more

acutely in recent yearsxxxv. In parallel, access to higher education has widened and student numbers

increased; these institutions are thus confronted with the dilemma of how best to balance growth with

quality, access and excellence, given a shrinking resource pool. These important concerns have diverted

attention away from the sustainable development agenda, which may explain why HEIs are perceived to

be lagging behind the private sector in responding to one of the most significant challenges of the 21st

century (Lozano et al., 2013). This study has nevertheless captured great strides towards sustainable

development across the sector.

9.1 What have been the documented trends and changes over the last ten years?

The DESD years have seen:

- a deeper understanding of the complexity underpinning the higher education transition towards

sustainable development;

- whole-of-intuitional or connected approaches to sustainable development gaining in importance

within institutional strategy and national policy agendas

- the potential for student leadership, with modest numbers of students taking the first steps to

implement changes in universities and colleges;

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 - numerous Higher Education Treaties and Declarations, giving substance to HEI activities and in

some cases, sustaining momentum across the sector;

- significant efforts and investment in lowering the carbon footprint of the higher education

sector;

- the value of outreach activities in gaining trust amongst stakeholders and reinstating higher

education as a platform for social change;

- large scale efforts to introduce sustainability into the curriculum and glimpses of good practice

in the reorientation of learning and teaching processes, curriculum design and quality systems

towards ESD;

- the momentum that has arisen from international frameworks, Higher Education Treaties and

the signing of Declarations with a focus on sustainable development;

- the catalytic impact of interagency approaches, higher education partnerships and government

investment;

9.2 What has been the value and impact of the DESD?

The report sought to capture the diversity of activities that have been initiated in the course of

the DESD, as well as those that have been inspired or catalyzed by the DESD itself. It has proven

difficult to establish the distinct contribution of the DESD to changes mapped by the study with clear-

cut empirical evidence, given timelines and limited resources allocated to this study. What is evident is

that there have been tangible benefits from specific activities supported by the DESD, such as the

development of international networks and online resource platforms, as well as overarching effects

from the presence and influence of the DESD, for example in enabling the release of national and

regional funding through governmental and higher education agencies.

A review of the comments and reflections collated by key informants support the premise that the

impact of the DESD has varied across countries and regions. The UNESCO DESD Questionnaire

(2014) documented how 27% of respondents believe that higher education has made significant

progress in ESD with respondents from Costa Rica, Denmark, Italy, Kuwait, Pakistan and Qatar

recording the greatest gains in this area since the start of the DESD. Evidence from the regional

workshops suggests that the Asia Pacific, Oceania and UNECE nations have benefited most from the
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existence of this international platform. Selected quotes below capture the varying degrees of influence

of the DESD across some of the key initiatives showcased in this study:

1) The award winning 'YES Australia' project was chosen as a case study to illustrate the potential

impact of University outreach activities on the communities they serve. Professor Geoff Scott,

who was instrumental in establishing RCE Greater Western Sydney and the partnerships

underpinning the YES Australia initiative reflects how the DESD has supported this and similar

initiatives:

The DESD has directly influenced key players in education and public engagement in Australia. It has

been the key trigger for large scale projects addressing the distinctive issues of sustainability facing this

country. A good example of a successful ESD action project is YES.

The RCE-GWS is a DESD initiative endorsed by the United Nations University and hosted by the

University of Western Sydney. The DESD platform helped link and leverage the key players in this

project, including the NSW Department of Education and the Sydney Olympic Park Authority both of

whom are partners in RCE-GWS. This collaborative work has resulted in widespread impact in schools

across the Region with the YES initiative receiving a NSW Green Globe Award in 2013.’

2) The report showcased the Restorative Justice Circles initiatives from Jamaica. Since it proved

difficult to establish contact with the leaders of this project, Lorna Down (2013) a key

informant from Jamaica, provides some reflections on the influence of the DESD on this, and

similar, initiatives taking place in the region:

‘The DESD has made ESD a focal point for the reorientation of curriculum. As a result some

colleagues have incorporated a sustainability perspective in their environmental education

courses. Others have recognized the work that they are doing as including sustainability

through a disciplinary approach. However the distinction between work in sustainable

development in contrast to education for sustainable development is in general not recognized

or understand. The holistic approach of ESD is yet to be fully realized in our region even

though universities may be very involved in sustainability. This may be seen in campus

initiatives such as waste and energy management but the 'educational' aspect of ESD is yet to

make its way to the core of these institutions.

An achievement of the DESD has been the incorporation of ESD in the curriculum in teachers'

colleges and in the School of Education, University of the West Indies, Mona. At the teachers'
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 colleges ESD became a core elective. At the School of Education, sustainability themes were

integrated into some undergraduate and graduate courses as well as into the MEd in Teacher

Education. A new MEd course on ESD was developed namely Literature and ESD. Additionally,

the pedagogy changed to emphasize critical and systemic thinking as well as transforming

communities in these teacher education offerings. Human resource limitations and the limited

access to funding have, however, stifled possibilities and the progress of the work.’

3) The student leadership theme documented the influential work of the NUS in the UK in

instigating sector-wide interest in student engagement for sustainability. Jaime Agombar, NUS

(2013) lead for sustainability, clarifies the role of the DESD in initiating collaborative projects

and securing resources to support programmes in this area:

‘Much of the NUS’s recent activity on sustainability has been in response to the DESD, and the

high levels of activity in the tertiary education sector resulting from it. For example, it was the

key driver for the NUS HEA reports that sought to capture student interests and promote

changes across the UK. This project came about from discussions that took place at a DESD

launch event. As a student-led organization, these reports have been instrumental in building

consensus for our work in this area by demonstrating that, consistently, 60% of students want to

learn about sustainability, and 80% want their institutions to embed it in their operations. The

findings greatly helped us make our case for the £5m Students’ Green Fund, which has since

been an important catalyst to our work engaging and empowering students in sustainability and

ESD.’

4) The last ten years has seen the emergence of student associations with a primary remit in

sustainable development. Nickson Otieno (2013) from Kenya and President of the World

Student Community for Sustainable Development (WSCSD) reflects on the influence of the

DESD on supporting the work of the associations and shifting thinking and practice of higher

education across the African region:

‘The DESD inspired WSCSD's annual Student Sustainability Summits, GreeningU and the

Sustainable Village Initiatives through which students are actively engaged in hands-on

projects aimed at environmental education, greening their campuses and empowering

impoverished communities. Students are no longer regarded as 'spectators' but key

sustainability players.’                     
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 5) The report captured how HEIs have responded to climate change concerns and political

commitments in this area by signing charters, adopting carbon reduction strategies, employing

specialists to measure improvements and engaging staff and students in carbon reduction

activities. Universities in North America have been at forefront of these developments.

Professor Stephen Toope, (2013) President and Vice Chancellor of the University of British

Colombia, Canada, comments on these developments and how they reach beyond the

University walls:

‘Sustainability has been an essential part of the University of British Columbia's mandate, and

in the last ten years we have integrated our academics and operations to an unprecedented

degree. We met and exceeded our Kyoto targets five years early, and we're aiming for zero

emissions by 2050. Our campus is a Living Laboratory-how we live and how we learn is

research. And the research outcomes are scalable and exportable-to companies, to

communities, and to whole cities across the globe. The implications reach far beyond our gates,

and our generation.’

6) Perhaps the most visible ESD development across and within regions has been the expansion

and presence of higher education networks. The report showcases ARIUSA - La Alianza de

Redes Iberoamericanas de Universidades por la Sostenibilidad y el Ambiente - which has given

momentum to higher education agendas across the region. Orlando Saenz (2013), the

Coordinator of ARIUSA points to variable receptiveness to the DESD xxxvi in Latin America:

‘In the last ten years, the concept of sustainable development has been an important reference point

for higher education institutions in Latin America. In some cases, the ideal is supported without

much questioning; in other places it is subject to strong and critical debate. The position of Latin

American universities is not unanimous on the matter. Many have welcomed the guidance of the

Decade of Education for Sustainable Development because they are supportive of its ambitions or

simply because it has been officially incorporated into public policies on environmental education.

Others, including notable groups of academics, researchers and Latin American intellectuals, have

questioned deeply the concept of sustainable development that underpins the Decade. These

positions are predominant in public debates but not in the discourses and practices of Latin

American universities. This situation is reflected across the ARIUSA network; some members do

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 engage in critical analysis of the concept. The term ARIUSA, however, acknowledges the importance

of sustainability and environment. It would be true to say that a large number of universities that

form part of this network of networks do explicitly address sustainable development goals in their

work’

7) The curriculum theme captured a diversity of initiatives from across the globe and showcased

the efforts of International Training Programme offered by the Mainstreaming Environment and

Sustainability Partnerships across Africa. Professor Heila Lotz-Sisitka (2013), who shaped this

programme, reflects on the influence of the DESD on higher education initiatives in the region:

‘The DESD, especially through the efforts of UNEP and the African Association of Universities

have developed MESA as a flagship programme for the UNDESD and created a mechanism for

African universities to work together, to co-define the meaning of ESD in African universities,

and to obtain significant practical outcomes. The concept has found strong traction in those

institutions where academics have had the opportunity to deliberate on and reflect on the

meaning of ESD for Higher Education in Africa. This has required on-going professional

engagement and support, most often facilitated by UNEP, and in the latter half of the UNDESD

by the UNEP/SIDA/NIRAS International Training Programme that linked African and Asian

universities with Swedish partnership into a valuable North-South-South dialogue on ESD in

Higher Education.‘

8) The study captured a recent interest in self-assessment tools, rankings and benchmarking

schemes for higher education. Featured in the report was the AUA initiative developed

collectively among several universities in Asia Pacific with the main aim to promote

collaboration and a move away from a focus on ‘rankings’ and ‘league tables’. Prof Dzulkifli

Abdul Razak (2013), Founding Vice Chancellor of Albukhary International University who

played a key role in the framing of the AUA and is the Convener of RCE Penang, comments on

the value of the DESD on influence on efforts in the region.

‘DESD has enabled the creation of a unique broad based platform to think-out-of-the-box in

conceptualizing, collaborating across the conventional boundaries, and more importantly

implementing new and creative ideas to further promote sustainability to wider audience across

the all sectors locally, regionally and globally. The AUA and RCE are just two examples among

many to give ‘sustainability’ more impact and meaning.’

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 9) The report suggests that the seeds for senior management leadership for sustainability are being

sown towards the end of the DESD years. It showcases the work of CRUE and its efforts to

map and drive change across the sector (CADEP). Leading this work is Professor Ana Maria

Geli (2013), Rector of the University of Girona. She recognizes the DESD has created a

platform for international collaboration that can fuel change at the senior management level but

registers its limited reach in Spanish policy or structural frameworks (Geli 2013). Nevertheless,

she points to some indicators of latent change:

‘The majority of Spanish universities are familiar with the documents and initiatives of the

DESD and there is some evidence of influence on university decisions and administration

(Baranano et al., 2011). Universities recognize that the DESD is seeking to promote SD

objectives and emphasizes intra-institutional co-operation and fuels new models of education.

In Spain, the concept of sustainable development has been linked to the implementation of

strategic plans and accountability frames at the University level. The DESD years have seen

some universities taking sustainable development a step further and using it as an indicator of

institutional quality. Also influencing implementation is the economic crisis which has shaped

university contributions to sustainability around technology transfer and business development.

The DESD has had a tangible influence on CRUE which resulted on the creation of a

sustainable development working group and a plan of action (CADEP).CRUE cites the DESD

in its working documents and adopts the approaches it promotes. The DESD has been an

indispensable reference point for progressing ESD in universities.’

These comments confirm the perspectives of key informants that the DESD has been successful

in raising the profile of ESD and creating platforms and partnerships for international collaboration. It

has given a mandate to key stakeholders committed to this agenda and helped them to mainstream its

ideas, reaching beyond their immediate circles of influence. In some regions the DESD has influenced

policies and generated resources and incentives for ESD in higher education at the national level, which

has been critical to the launch of some of the most innovative initiatives launched during the DESD xxxvii.

The DESD has served to raise overall awareness of good practice projects and provoked international

debate about the role of higher education in change for a sustainable future xxxviii. In regions such as Asia

Pacific and Latin America, the DESD has served as a backdrop for the unpacking of complex

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relationships and perceptions of stakeholders with strong environmental interests xxxix. In others, for

example Africa and Oceania, the DESD became a focal point for re-examining socio-political and

environmental rights and making the people and development issues underpinning ecological efforts

more explicit. Whilst in the Arab Region, ESD has begun to align with access, quality and gender

equality issues.xl These debates have also touched on the inter-connections between ESD and other

global agendas such as the MDGs as well as international education priorities such as Education for All.

Extending relationships with these non-environmental strands of ESD needs to be a consideration of the

Global ESD Programme.

9.3 What next? Global action programme on ESD

Early in 2013, UNESCO announced plans for a Global Action Programme on ESD to follow

the end of the DESD. Its communication affirmed the contribution of the DESD but recognized that

sustainable development cannot be achieved by political agreements, financial incentives or

technological solutions alone. Sustainable development, it argued, requires changes in the way we

think, work and live (UNESCO, 2013a). Education and higher education in particular, plays a crucial

role in bringing about this change.

Higher education is uniquely placed to inform the construction of a global vision and pathway for

sustainable development. The last ten years have witnessed higher education stepping up its efforts in

this area. The Global ESD Programme should build upon this legacy and carve pathways for change in

key areas:

 Recommendation 1: Recognize that higher education agencies and funding bodies have been key

change agents. The Global ESD Programme should recognize and celebrate this important

contribution. It should collect data and map investment in ESD as well as giving visibility to the

changes that resulted from this work. The Programme should also encourage the building of

relationships across this government and regional bodies in member states that have yet to harness

the catalytic effect of this work.xli

 Recommendation 2: Promote initiatives that support students as agents of change and challenge

those that see students as recipients of knowledge or behavior change measures. The goal of raising

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 student leadership levels is a critical one. The Global Action Programme on ESD should support

game-changing efforts and call for the major investment that is required in this area.

 Recommendation 3: Give consideration to ways of sharing knowledge on how best to measure and

reduce indirect carbon emissions; this will be important as the sector continues to grow. The ESD

Global Programme should encourage the envisioning of future higher education provision and

locate these debates in relation to new higher education models that will be supporting online,

distance and transnational education alongside traditional campus-based offerings.

 Recommendation 4: Capture the diversity of good practice in outreach activities, as well as the

outcomes and economic impact of these efforts in the sector and beyond. Global Action

Programme on ESD should continue to promote partnerships between researchers, community

stakeholders and university staff, and to call for quantifiable assessments of the value of higher

education ESD activities to the communities they serve. The recent study from the New Economics

Foundation provides an example of how this could be done.

 Recommendation 5: Promote the wider adoption of self-assessment tools and utilize the data

collected by rankings and benchmarking schemes to capture milestones across the sector. The

transition of the higher education sector towards sustainability will need to be underpinned by

information systems that can capture and benchmark progress. Post 2014 efforts should raise

awareness of their value in informing strategic investment and management decisions within the

sector.

 Recommendation 6: Acknowledge the critical need for leadership development for senior

university executives and governors. The Global Action Programme on ESD should call for major

investment in this area as well as international collaborative platforms on coaching, action learning,

change academies and mentoring support for those responsible for the governance of universities.

Its significance in the transformation process towards sustainability cannot be underestimated, as

underlined by the experiences of emergent ESD leaders and the reflection of this aspect of the

change process in rankings and self-assessment tools.

 Recommendation 7: Recognize the catalytic potential of higher education associations and

networks and continue to mobilize support around collaborative efforts such as Treaties and
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 Declarations. There would be value in convening international and regional forums to raise the

profile of this work to higher education institutions (who are potential partners) and to funding

agencies that can extend the reach of the networks. xlii

 Recommendation 8: Connect ESD higher education efforts with platforms that seek the rethinking

and transformation of education systems. Strengthening connections with poverty reduction; social

inclusion; intercultural understanding and other non-environmental led strands of ESD will be

important going forwardxliii. The Global Action Programme on ESD should make explicit links to

the EFA targets; Millennium Development Goals (MDGS) and the yet to be defined Sustainable

Development Goals (SDGs)xliv.

 Recommendation 9: Assess overall progress as well as global variation in higher education for

sustainable development. Funding should be sort for a longitudinal and meta-analysis study to be

undertaken at the start and during the Global Action Programme on ESD. It will be important to

identify key indicators to map global progress in higher education for sustainability and build an

evidence base at the start, mid and end points of Global Action Programme on ESD. Longitudinal

and meta-evaluations are needed to capture impact and to build the business case for further

investment in this area.xlv

The above recommendations reflect key thematic findings of the study. It is anticipated that

investment of time and resources in these areas will lead to incremental changes and outcomes.

However, achieving a global rebooting of higher education towards sustainable development will

require more than the alignment or scaling up of existing good practice. The heart of the sector’s impact

is through education and to truly realize the ambition of ESD, systemic curriculum change is needed at

the institutional level as well as across the sector xlvi. Key to realizing this ambition is academic

leadership.

Key Recommendation: The Global Action Programme on ESD should prioritize efforts and

professional development opportunities for programme leaders, lecturers and tutors as well as senior

managers and sector leaders who have responsibility for curriculum quality and academic development.

Building capability and academic networksxlvii in this area may well prove catalytic in the quest to

reorient higher education towards sustainable development.

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89 | P a g e
Appendix 1: Acknowledgements

This global report was researched and written during October 2013 and revised in Jan 2014. The task of

drawing together key evidence from across the regions, mapping trends and identifying good practice would not

have been possible without the collaboration of colleagues from around the world. The author reached out to

higher education and sustainable development practitioners through elists and many were quick to respond to

questions and requests for data. Key informants also made a contribution through providing detailed case studies

or supplementary data specific to their region. In addition, the UNESCO DESD Secretariat supported the data

collection process through collecting empirical evidence and providing documentation to inform the trends

captured in this report. Others who have contributed have done so as expert reviewers assessing the findings or

playing a key role in assuring validity (and representation) of this research. I am grateful to all these colleagues

for shaping the report:

Prof Carol Adams, Pro Vice Chancellor, Sustainability, La Trobe University, Australia

Jamie Agombar, Ethical and Environmental Manager, National Union of Students, UK (2013)

Dr Kazi Anis Ahmed, Vice President, University of Liberal Arts, Bangladesh, Board of Trustees,

Bangladesh

Vikas Ahuja, Australian Technology Network and Sustainability Manager, Royal Melbourne Institute of

Technology (RMIT), Melbourne, Australia

Belinda Allison, Monash University, Victoria, Australia

Manrique Arguedas, Earth Charter University, Costa Rica

Dr Abel Attiti, Research Fellow for Education for Sustainable Development, UNU

Prof Javier Benayas, Executive Secretary, Committee for Environment, Sustainability and Risk at CRUE,

Commission of Spanish University Rectors

Ricardo Bravo, Faculty of Oceanic Science and Natural Resources, University of Valparaiso, Chile

Carolee Buckler, UNESCO Programme Specialist, and Coordinator of the Final DESD Global Report,

Paris, France.

Ian Cleland, Sustainability Facilitator and Publisher, Towards Sustainable Futures, NSW, Australia.

Dr Jana Dlouha, Prague Environment Centre, Charles University, Czech Republic

Dr Lorna Downe, School of Education, University of the West Indies, Trinidad (2013)

Prof Ana Maria Geli, Vice Chancellor, University of Gerona, Spain

Louise Hazan, People and Planet, UK

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 Tove Holm, Environmental coordinator, Novia University of Applied Science, Finland

Cathy Horan, The Northern Sydney Institute, TAFENSW, Sydney, Australia

Dr Wim Lambrechts, Centre for Research Coordination, Leuven University College, Belgium

Prof John Chin Kin Lee, Chinese University of Hong Kong. China

Professor Hiela Lotz-Sisitka, Murray & Roberts Chair of Environmental Education and Sustainability,

Rhodes University, South Africa.

Dr Rodrigo Lozano, Assistant Professor, Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht

University, Belgium

Dr Clemens Mader, Visiting Professor for Environment and Sustainability in the Region, Leuphana

University, Luneburg, Germany

Prof Gerd Michelsen, UNESCO Chair, Leuphana University, Luneburg,, Germany

Karel Mulder, Sustainable Innovation Researcher, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands.

Phuong Nguyen, Vietnamese PhD Student, University of Gloucestershire, UK

Darren O’Connell, Leader Environmental Sustainability, TAFE NSW, Wollongong, Australia

Toyin Oshaniwa, Executive Director of Nature Cares and UNESCO Consultant, Nigeria

Nickson Otieno, President, World Student Community for Sustainable Development (WSCSD)), Nairobi,

Kenya (2013)

Rsoauro Pimentel, Technology Institute of Santo Domingo (INTEC), Dominican Republic

Mahesh Pradep, Chief of Environmental Education and Training Unit, UNEP, Nairobi, Kenya

Dzulkifli Abdul Razak, Vice-Chancellor, Albukhary International University, Malaysia

Dr Marco Rieckmann, Institute for Environmental and Sustainability Communication, UNESCO-Chair

“Higher Education for Sustainable Development. Leuphana University, Luneburg, Germany

Orlando Saenz, UDCA, Colombia, Chile

Prof Geoff Scott, Co-Chair of the Sustainable Futures Leadership Academy, Sydney, Australia

Prof Michael Scoullos, Director of Environmental Chemistry, National and Kapodistrian, University of

Athens, Greece

Leith Sharp, Faculty Staff Harvard University and Co-Chair of the Sustainable Futures Leadership

Academy, US

Judi Shils, Executive Director, Teens Turning Green, US

Prof Overson Shumba, Associate Professor, Science Teacher Education, Copperbelt University, Zambia

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 Christopher Silva, Director of housing and Student affairs, Qatar Foundation, Qatar

Felix Spira, Rootability, Berlin, Germany

Shafia Sucar, Universidad de Guanajuato, Mexico

Associate Professor Ian Thomas, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), Melbourne,

Australia

Emily Thompson-Bell, Students' Green Fund Programme Manager, National Union of Students, UK

Alain Tord, President, Reseau Francais des Etudiants pour le Development Durable, France

Xiangrong Wang, Professor at Fudan University, Shanghai

Dongying Wei, Professor of Education Management, University of Beijing

Ruth Williams, Distance Education Centre, Victoria, Australia

Prof Chris Willmore, University Academic Director of  Undergraduate Studies, University of Bristol, UK

Dr Said Zaid, Engineering Technology College of the North Atlantic Qatar, Qatar

Dr. Zainal Abidin Sanusi, Deputy Director, Centre for Leadership Training (CELTRA)Higher Education

Leadership Academy, Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia

Dr Mona El Zoghbi, Lebanese PhD Student, University of Gloucestershire, UK

A special note of thanks goes to Dr Alex Ryan, Kierson Wise and Dr Ingrid Mula for their detailed

review of the early drafts of the report and to Barbara Rainbow for revising the final version to meet

UNESCO Guidelines for referencing.

The author would like to acknowledge: i) the respondents of the UNESCO questionnaire on the DESD and ii)

participants at the UNESCO Regional Consultation Workshops on Post 2014. Both groups have also indirectly

contributed to this report. The author is grateful for their input and valuable reflections. It is also important to

acknowledge the contribution of expert reviewers who participated in international blind-peer review process.

The final version of the report incorporates the valuable feedback and suggested changes emerging from this

process which were diligently collated by Carolee Buckler, (UNESCO Programme Specialist, ESD Secretariat,

Paris) and in ways which assured the anonymity of reviewers.

Finally, the author is grateful to Dr Alexander Leicht, Chief of ESD at UNESCO for commissioning this study and

supporting research-informed strategies and approaches to ESD.

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 Appendix 2

Table 1: Examples of higher education student-led organzations (and) groups with a

primary focus on sustainable development.

Network/Group Established Scale Focus Flagship Projects Number of

(national or regional) Members

World Student 2002 International Student Ongoing Projects Estimated

Community for Established in (100 engagement in at 10,000

Sustainable Switzerland countries) multi- Nyakongo Water

Development and Uganda disciplinary and Sanitation

activities that projects

improve the Adopt a river

www.wscsd.org lives and Adopt a forest

communities Youth encounter

around the on Peace

world.
Sustainable Living 2009 National Educating Recycle Mania 600

Ambassadors Established at students in the

Hamad bin residence halls Green Cleaning

Khalida Education

University,

Qatar Sustainable

Building Tours
PRISM 2008 International Research and Student Summer 90

(mostly alternative camps

Postgraduate Established in European research Conferences

Researchers Interested UK membership) methods Sharing of

in Sustainability Information via

Matters elists

www.glos.ac.uk/prism
GeoJunvenil Awaiting info Latin Awaiting info Awaiting info Awaiting

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 America and info

Youth organization the

involving HE students Caribbean

OIKOS International 1987 Global Oikos is an Oikos Winter 1.000

(mostly international school

Established in European student-driven

www. oikos- Switzerland membership) organization Oikos Future Lab,

international.org for sustainable

economics and Oikos PhD

management. Fellowship

Programme

Oikos

Development

Academy
Rootability 2012 European Social Coaching of 100

Union Enterprise in student-driven

www.rootability.com Established in HE change projects

Holland Establishing and programmes

and supporting Workshops and

student-driven seminars

sustainability

teams and

projects
Teens Turning Green 2002 US To educate and Project Green 15,000

inspire young Challenge<http://p

Youth organization Established in adults to rojectgreenchallen

Involving HE students the US promote ge.com>,

environmentall

y conscious Green University,

and socially the Conscious

responsible College Road

choices Tour<http://www.

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 To mobilize teensturninggreen.

peers to org/programs/pgc-

advocate for a conscious-college-

healthy and road-tour/>

just planet. The Conscious

Kitchen<http://ww

w.teensturninggre

en.org/the-

conscious-

Kitchen/
Sneep – student 2003 Germany To support Sneep academy, 27

network for ethics and sustainable summer academy

economics in practice Established in practices in and autumn

Germany theory and meetings;

management.
REFEDD (French Established in France A sharing, - National 7000

student’s network for 2007 supporting and Meeting (subscribed

sustainable promotional - to support through 105

development) platform of HE students with their associations

students projects by )

initiatives in offering them free

www.refedd.org SD tools and trainings

"Campus

d'avenir / Campus

of the future"

initiative students

envision the

campus in 2050.

- dialogue

interface between

associations and

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 academic and

institutional actors

-bi-annual surveys

of students

perceptions

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Table 2: Understanding carbon emissions (Source: WRI 2010)xlviii

Carbon Emissions (or GHG Consists of:

emissions)
Scope 1 Direct emissions that occur from energy sources owned or controlled by

the HEI.

This includes emissions from: direct fuel or energy use; transport fuel

used in HEIs own vehicles.

Scope 2 Indirect emissions from the purchase of electricity consumed by the

organization.

This includes emissions from: centralized electricity generation plants

including transmission losses through the electricity distribution system

Scope 3 Other indirect emissions which are a consequence of activities of the

organization but not owned by the organization.

This includes emissions from: water consumption, waste water treatment,

waste, procurement and travel.

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Table 3: USA 2013 Top Earth Day Champions in Higher Educationxlix.

Carbon Reduction (metric Equivalent Forest

Higher Education Earth Day Champions tons) Acres*

University of Massachusetts Amherst 41,270 33,828
Missouri State University (Springfield, Mo.) 16,066 13,169
Lone Star College (Houston, Texas) 12,376 10,144
Youngstown State University (Youngstown,

Ohio) 10,723 8,789

Tulane University (New Orleans, La.) 7,654 6,274

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 Table 4: The Revolving Green Fund

The Revolving Green Fund (RGF) was established in 2008 and is an innovative national source of funding from

the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). It is 'revolving' in the sense that the money saved

due to greater energy efficiency is subsequently re-paid back into the fund, to then be made available for other

carbon reduction projects. HEFCE have awarded £30.8 million through this fund since 2011, which includes £4

million recycled from the first round. An independent evaluation of the first round of the RGF demonstrated that

the funded projects made a major contribution to reducing carbon emissions. All are designed to reduce harmful

carbon emissions and are collectively predicted to reduce CO2 emissions by around 18,500 tonnes per year.

Examples of funded projects include:

The University of Exeter project focuses on Cornwall House, an energy-wasteful 1960s building on the

university campus. Retrofitting will radically improve the energy rating of the building. The project will focus

on 12 kinds of retrofit, including fabric improvements, metering and ventilation improvements.

The University of Derby project is to install Light-Emitting Diode (LED) lighting throughout the campus.

Fluorescent lamps will be replaced with LED lights and controls will ensure that lights are only illuminated

when needed, significantly reducing electricity consumption.

The University of Bradford project is transforming the library from an energy-intensive 'E' rated building to an

'A' rating that will deliver a service for future generations with minimal environmental impact. The space will

also be altered to provide greater flexibility of use.

(Source: http://www.hefce.ac.uk/whatwedo/lgm/sd/rgf/)

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Table 5 : Institutional responses: Staff and student actions

Blackout!

On April 2012, 255 students and staff at the University of Southampton, UK, completed the first campus-wide

equipment energy audit and switch-off event. The aims were to deliver carbon savings and raise the profile of

sustainability issues across the University. In less than four hours and across 34 buildings, student and staff

groups audited 5570 computers, plus printers and lights. The volunteers switched off all non-essential office

equipment left on for the weekend, including 1741 computers. This saved 7 tonnes of carbon and over £1,600 in

electricity costs compared to a typical term-time weekend. This is believed to be the biggest single student and

staff sustainability event of its kind in the UK higher education sector. The University of Southampton has set a

scope 1 & 2 carbon emissions reduction target of 20 per cent by 2020 (against 2005 baseline). The achievement

of carbon reduction targets requires not only capital investment on the part of each institution, but staff and

student buy-in.

(Source: Kemp, 2013)

Carbon Compensation!

In 2007, the University Autonoma of Madrid initiated a project to compensate for University carbon emissions.

Its efforts included planting over 25,000 trees across its campus (the equivalent of one tree per student) and

implementing strategies to reduce the CO2 emissions generated annually by students and staff travelling on

university business.

(Source: Benayas , 2013)

Table 6: Higher Education Treaties and Declarations Since 2005 (adapted from Tilbury,

2011)

Year Declaration or Partners involved Scope Summary

Charter
2005 Graz Declaration on COPERNICUS Global Stresses the key opportunities,

Committing CAMPUS, Karl- which the Bologna Process creates

Universities to Franzens for embedding sustainability across

Sustainable University Graz, higher education.

Development Technical Keywords: give status to

100 | P a g e
 University Graz, sustainability in universities’

Oikos strategies and activities;

International, sustainability as a framework for

UNESCO the enhancement of the social

dimension of European higher

education
2005 Bergen European Union Regional EU universities should build upon

Communiqué (EU) education (Europe) sustainability principles. For the

ministers, first time since 1999, made a strong

European reference to the Bologna Process as

Commission and a key mechanism to establishing a

other consultative European Higher Education Area

members by 2010 and promoting the

European system of higher

education worldwide. The process

should be based on the principle of

sustainability.

Keywords: university reform

supporting education for

sustainability; interdisciplinarity;

innovation to address social

challenges; sustainability skills and

learning objectives; employability.

2008 Declaration of the UNESCO Regional CRES was intended to be a

Regional (Caribbean and contribution to identifying the

Conference on Latin major issues of Latin America and

Higher Education in American) the Caribbean, looking toward the

Latin America and UNESCO World Conference on

the Caribbean Higher Education in 2009.

(CRES) Keywords: sustainability for social

progress; cultural identities; social

101 | P a g e
 cohesion; poverty; climate change;

energy crisis; culture of peace;

democratic relations and tolerance;

solidarity and cooperation; critical

and rigorous intellectual ability.

2008 G8 University G8 University Global The aim was to develop common

Summit Sapporo Network recognition of the need for global

Sustainability sustainability, to discuss

Declaration responsibility of universities and

provide messages to G8 leaders

and societies.

Keywords: universities working

closely with policy-makers,

leadership for sustainability; re-

orientation of education and

curriculum; dissemination of

information; training leaders;

interdisciplinary perspective.
2008 UNU-IAS Regional An alliance of several leading

Promotion of (Asia-Pacific) higher education institutions in

Sustainability in Asia and the Pacific Region that

Postgraduate committed to working together to

Education and integrate Sustainable development

Research Network into postgraduate courses and

(ProSPER.Net) curricula.

Charterl Keywords: networking, work

together to reorient curricula and

research towards sustainable

development.
2009 World Conference UNESCO Global Called on governments to increase

on Higher investment in higher education,

Education encourage diversity and strengthen

102 | P a g e
 regional cooperation to serve

societal needs.

Keywords: advancement of

understanding of multifaceted

issues and our ability to respond;

interdisciplinary focus; critical

thinking; active citizenship; peace,

wellbeing, human rights; education

for ethical citizens.

2009 Turin Declaration G8 University Global The aim was to acknowledge the

on Education and Network pivotal role that higher education

Research for institutions and scientific research

Sustainable and organizations should play in

Responsible supporting sustainability at global

Development and local levels.

Keywords: new models of social

and economic development

consistent with sustainability

principles; ethical approaches to

sustainability; new approaches to

energy policy; focus on sustainable

ecosystems.
2010 Declaration German Rectors’ National Contribution to the UN Decade of

“Universities for Conference, (Germany) Education for Sustainable

Sustainable German Development.

Development” Commission for Keywords: higher education for

UNESCO sustainable development,

sustainable universities, UN DESD

2010 UNICA Green UNICA Network Regional Emphasized the unique position of

Academic Footprint (Capitals of universities at the different capitals

Pledge Europe) of Europe.

Keywords: role and purpose of

103 | P a g e
 universities; develop campuses as

living laboratories in the area of

sustainability
2011 Declaración de las Inter-American Regional Commitment of Universities of the

Américas “Por la Organization for (Inter- OUI to assume institutional

sustentabilidad de y Higher Education American) responsibility to the global

desde la IOHE /OUI environmental crisis and encourage

universidad” other social actors to do the same.

Keywords: new models of social

and economic development

consistent with sustainability

principles; whole-institutional

commitment; cooperation and

networking.
2012 Higher Education UNESCO, UNEP, Global Declaration developed in the lead-

Declaration for PRIME, UNU, up to Rio+20 and supported by

Rio+20 Academic Impact several UN agencies

Keywords: research, education,

campuses, global footprint,

international frameworks
2012 The People’s Treaty Copernicus Global Treaty developed to influence

on Sustainability for Alliance and 35 international negotiations and

Higher Education HE agencies, dialogues. It is a formal voluntary

associations and commitment of Rio+20.

organizations Keywords: transformation of

systems and structures; four stage

action plan; education for

sustainable development;

partnerships

104 | P a g e
Table 7 : Summative results table: Africa 2011 ITP change projects

Universities Existing Existing Existing Catalytic Catalytic Catalytic

involved (via Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 1 Level 2 Level 3

2 course Change: Change: Change: Change: Change: Change:

participants) Personal Institutiona University – Personal Institutional University

Profession l social- Professional –social-

al ecological ecological

environmen environme

t relations nt relations
Botswana: Improved Two revised ELM and Participant is After Senate Future ECD

University of ESD modules ECD the Deputy approval, and ELM

Botswana knowledge integrating Education Dean of the ECD and students

[Faculty of and practice ESD in the Faculty Faculty; can ELM will

Education] (participant Education Programmes potentially modules will undertake

Participants: s are both Faculty require support be used in applied

Tsayang leaders in (ELM and contextual others to on-going ESD

Gabatshwane their ECD and integrate ESD teaching assignments

Dr Kabita disciplinary Modules) community into modules programmes that focus

Bose areas in the engagement at Faculty in Faculty of on

Education around SD level. Education. community-

Faculty). issues. based SD

issues in

relation to

their core

discipline.
Ethiopia: Improved New ESD Programme Potential Senate Ongoing

Haramaya ESD Module for alignment ongoing Approval and alignment

University knowledge university- with inter- use of with faculty

[Faculty of and wide use national disciplinary module for programmes

Education) practice. developed policy collaboration. training with

Participants: Inter- and imperative lecturers national SD

105 | P a g e
 Tassew disciplinary internally for SD and from all policy

Mezgebu knowledge reviewed. local SD faculties in imperatives

Anteneh and practice concerns. ESD and local

Balayneh gains SD

concerns.
South Africa: Expanded New (more Student Knowledge New student Ongoing

Nelson knowledge sustainable) contribution of student structure, (varied) student

Mandela of ESD; structure for s to Green mobilization, with contributions to

Metropolitan Green student Campus green campus evaluation local and

University Campus mobilizatio management management and reporting campus based

[Sustainability developmen n , and and student- instruments sustainable

Unit t strategies; established, sustainable led can continue development.

Participants: and student with development sustainability to facilitate

Ms Bianca mobilizatio succession through can be used ongoing

Curry & Ms n plans, community more widely student-

Anerie Vlok approaches. procedures, engagement in ongoing driven

Improved evaluation improved development contributions

knowledge strategy and and on campus. to

of access to extended. sustainability

institutional funding. on campus in

structures the local area.

amongst

student

body.
Swaziland: Expanded A ‘model Closer links Expanded Extended Expanded

University of knowledge case’ of between approaches to mainstreamin university-

Swaziland of SD and how to Faculty of mainstreamin g of ESD into stakeholder

[Faculty of ESD mainstream Commerce g in other all faculties at relations

Commerce] approaches; environmen and faculties UNISWA, and

and t and SD Business supported by drawing on knowledge

Participants: approaches into a and Industry the university the case of exchange

106 | P a g e
 Mr Nathie to faculty was re: MESA the regarding

Maskeo & Dr mainstream developed sustainabilit committee. commerce sustainabilit

David ing ESD for the y issues was faculty. y issues in

Manyatsi into one UNISWA established. the

faculty. MESA Commerce

Inter- initiative. Faculty, but

disciplinary also in other

knowledge faculties.

exchange.
Uganda: Expanded Cross Stronger Process in Cross cutting Stronger

Buisitema knowledge cutting links place to course to be links

University of ESD and course on between the support other implemented between the

[Faculty of ESD ESD for the Bachelor of lecturers to after Senate university

Science & pedagogical Bachelor of Science strengthen approval. programmes

Education) processes Science Education ESD Science , and local

Participants: (e.g. service Education curriculum, knowledge Education SD issues,

Dr Edward learning) Programme local SD and expertize graduates university

Andama & Dr developed. issues, and in the Faculty exposed to, policy and

Margaret national of Education and national

Uyejo ESD policy. and Science. participating ESD policy

in practical and

ESD strategy.

programmes Expanded

in their university-

degree. stakeholder

Additional relations on

courses curriculum

integrate and

ESD. community

engagement

issues (via

107 | P a g e
 RCE)
Zambia: Increased Sustainabilit Relationship Potential for Future M.Sc Potential for

University of SD y concepts between the more faculty graduates further

Zambia knowledge integrated course and members in will be expansion

[Faculty of and ESD into 5 national the exposed to of course-

Science) knowledge; modules of level Geography sustainability and societal

Participants: including the M.Sc. in sustainabilit department to literacy SD issues to

Dr Enoch knowledge Environmen y questions work more through the emerge as

Sakala & Dr of ESD t and and issues with course more

Douty pedagogical Natural enhanced. sustainability modules; but lecturers get

Chibamba approaches Resources Stronger concepts and also through involved in

and Managemen links issues in the the course teaching

principles t Degree. between SD M.Sc pedagogical sustainabilit

Increased Programme policy of Programme processes. y literacy

inter- approved by Zambia and and to and using

disciplinary Senate the M.Sc develop their ESD

knowledge Programme. knowledge of pedagogical

exchange these practices in

expertise concepts. the teaching

of the

modules.
Source:
ITP Follow up & tracking
Lotz-Sisitka, H.; Hlengwa, A.; Agbedahin, V. 2013. Seeding Change. Reflexive Professional Development in the

Higher Education for Sustainable Development International Training Programme. Unpublished Report. Rhodes

University Environmental Learning Research Centre, Grahamstown, South Africa.

108 | P a g e
i

Footnotes
This is a key recommendation from the Global DESD Survey (UNESCO, 2013b) which identified the development of educators as
the top priority for a post-2014 plan of action.

Questionnaire 1 survey captured responses from: 97 member states; 545 key stakeholder; and, 36 UN Agencies. This wide
consultation process received input from Ministries of Education, Environment, Sustainable Development, UNESCO National
Commissions, national and international NGOS, networks, youth organizations, universities, research centres, businesses, ESD
Regional Centres of Expertise, education and learning practitioners and other concerned individuals. (UNESCO 2013d).
Questionnaire 2 survey captured responses from 64 member states, 394 key stakeholder, and 29 UN Agencies. This broad
consultation received input from Ministries of Education, Ministries of Environment/Sustainable Development, UNESCO National
Commissions, national and international NGOs and networks, youth for a and organizations, universities, research centres, the
private sector, ESD Regional Centres of Expertise (RCE), education and learning practitioners and other concerned individuals
(UNESCO 2013e)

ii

These reports are cited as follows: Asia Pacific - Shaeffer (2013); Africa - Yao et al. (2013); UNECE –Hoffner and Tilbury (2013); Arab
States - Sulieman and Karam (2013); Latin America and the Caribbean - UNESCO Regional Bureau of Education for Latin America
and the Caribbean (2013) .

iii

Please visit Appendix 1 for list of expert contributors.

iv

This database is cited as IAU. 2012

UNESCO Regions: The Africa region, The Arab States region, The Asia and the Pacific region, The Europe and North America region,
The Latin America and the Caribbean region.

vi

There is no separate strand for research, as the research trends and contributions are captured under each of the themes
presented.

vii

See see for example New York Times (Schuetze, 2013).

viii

The review undertaken in October 2013 was informed by publicly available government and NGO reports as well as academic
publications written in UN official languages (English, Spanish and French) and released between Jan 2003 and Sept 2013.
ix

The review identified the following themes dominating the academic literature on students in higher education for sustainability.
They appear in rank order; 1. Assessment of students behaviors and identification of factors which influence these; 2. Evaluation of
sustainability literacy levels and needs; 3. Defining student learning outcomes , competences and/or graduate attributes; 4. Case
studies of engaging students in practical sustainability initiatives

x
 These are national higher education awards for sustainable development. See www.eauc.org.uk/green_gown_awards
xi

10,030 your people responded and 9,612 were higher education students in 2011; According to INSEE (2011), 2,319,627 higher
education students in France in 2011.

xii

Studies such as these collect data mostly from Europe and North America. The author this HE report was unable to locate similar
large scale studies from the developing world.
xiii

xiv

The UK NUS studies being the exception. These are documented in the case study section of this report.

As documented in Lotz-Sisitka (2011); Lozano (2007); Mochizuki and Fadeeva (2008); Ryan et al. (2010); Tilbury (2011).
xv

IAU (2012)
xvi

IAU (2012)
xvii

Several key informants commented that SD initiatives are adding to the quality and relevance of HE in developing countries where
Universities are often labelled ‘ivory towers’.
xviii

The document capturing UNESCO’s regional consultation in Asia Pacific (Shaeffer, 2013) points to the lack of engagement with this
agenda in the region
xix

The term ‘Carbon footprint’ is used to refer to scope 1, 2 3 emissions under the classification of the WRI/WBCSD Greenhouse Gas
Protocol Gas Protocol Corporate Standard.
xx

Source: HEFCE (2010). This was also documented in the grant letter from the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills to
HEFCE for 2009-10 and is in line with the legally binding UK national targets - https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/reducing-
the-uk-s-greenhouse-gas-emissions-by-80-by-2050

xxi

It is important to note that these expectations relate to absolute emissions creating extra difficulties for HEI’s that are growing
student numbers or expanding their campuses.
xxii

From 2011, HEFCE capital allocations was linked to the achievement of agreed carbon reduction targets. HEIs in England are
required to develop individual carbon reduction strategies, targets and associated carbon management plans to meet these targets
(HEFCE, 2010).
xxiii
They noted that social science and humanities have a significantly lower carbon footprint per student compared to natural science
or engineering students or faculty of medicine (Larson et al., 2013).

xxiv

There is a similar initiative In the UK where many of the larger universities fall under the remit of the Government Carbon
Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC) which is a mandatory carbon monitoring and reporting scheme aimed at
improving energy efficiency and cutting emissions in large public and private sector organization. The CRC imposes significant
financial penalties for non-compliance and/or missing carbon emissions allowances.
xxv

See GUNI ‘Higher Education in the World’ Vol 4 2011. Sustainability was a key strand of the 2011 and 2013 GUNI International
Conferences.
xxvi

For example, IAU Special Edition of Horizons (June 2012) and the IAU 2012 International Conference, at which sustainability was
identified as a core thematic.
xxvii

http://www.unprme.org/the-6-principles/index.php
xxviii

For example, in the Kyrgyz Republic, the American University of Central Asia (AUCA)’s grant-funded cooperative agreement with
the Norwegian University of Life Sciences to support and develop new curricula in the environmental and sustainability sciences
(IAU, 2012).

xxix

With the exception of AISHE which was being piloted at the time.

xxx

A leading environmental management and award scheme for higher and further education. This scheme is popular in Europe and is
aligned with ISO 14001 and BS8555 of the British Standards Institution. In the UK, for example, 30% of the HE sector is registered
for the scheme. In Spain, the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid adopted their own model of Eco-campus as a driving force for
change across the institution.

xxxi

STAUNCH, or the Sustainability Tool for Auditing Universities Curricula in Higher Education, provided conceptual descriptions for
sustainability in the curriculum, to enable course leaders and tutors to audit their curricula to identify where key sustainability
themes were included. The tool was developed in Wales and supported by the Welsh government, who provided funding in 2008
for all Welsh universities to use the tool to map sustainability provision across programmes.
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/documents/nations/wales/ESDGC_Wales_June_2009.pdf

xxxii

see figure 4 in Carbon Reductions p.30 or Figure 9 in HE Partnerships and Networks p.42

xxxiii

For example the Cambridge Leadership Programme for Sustainability and Leadership for Environment and Development
International Programme (LEAD) which have been developed for corporate, government and NGO leaders. In the absence of
bespoke programmes, Higher Education senior managers are known to have participated in these programmes.
xxxiv
 The economic crisis of recent years has had an impact on many Universities in Souethern Europe. Some Greek Universities, for
example, have had to close down temporary as they were unable to pay salaries; Some Spanish Universities have seen significant
budget cuts which have resulted in several environmental or green offices having reduced capacity to operate. The crisis has also
changed strategic lines of operation with reductions in energy consumption seen as important, A recent report conducted by the
Instituto para la Diversificación y Ahorro de la Energía (IDEA, 2012) in Spain indicates that the energy consumption of Spanish
Universities has reduced from 1.350 Kwh en 2008 a los 1.150 in 2011; almost a 20% reduction.

xxxv

Key informants from Africa and Pacific were quick to point to this.

xxxvi

The DESD Questionnaire (UNESCO, 2014) captured some of the tensions underpinning the DESD. One third of respondents from
Latin America and Carribean region describe as their major challenge the clarification and definition of ESD concept in the region
and define it relationship with EE as problematic.

xxxvii

Where there has been high level political commitment or national action plan for DESD or ESD there has been a more visible
relationship or impact (Shaeffer, 2013).

xxxviii

These were the conclusions of the DESD regional consultations (Hoffner and Tilbury, 2013; Shaeffer, 2013; Sulieman and Karam,
2013; UNESCO Regional Bureau of Education for Latin America and the Caribbean, 2013; Yao et al., 2013) and align with the findings
of the desktop research undertaken to inform this report.

xxxix

This is captured across numerous documents including the reports from the DESD regional consultations (Shaeffer, 2013; Yao et al.,
2013). Orlando Saenz’s (2013) personal reflections on the DESD also sums up this position.

xl

Sulieman and Karan (2013)

xli

The need these ‘grant alliances’ was made in all DESD regional consultations facilitated by UNESCO in early 2013 (see Hoffner and
Tilbury, 2013; Shaeffer, 2013; Sulieman and Karam, 2013; UNESCO Regional Bureau of Education for Latin America and the
Caribbean, 2013; Yao et al., 2013).

xlii

This is a key conclusion of this report which aligns with the recommendation of the DESD regional consultations see Hoffner and
Tilbury, 2013; Shaeffer, 2013; Sulieman and Karam, 2013; UNESCO Regional Bureau of Education for Latin America and the
Caribbean, 2013. The African regional consultation document stated the importance of this action repeatedly throughout.

xliii

This was a recommendation from the regional consultations undertaken during 2013 to identify priorities for a post-2014 ESD
programme (see Hoffner and Tilbury, 2013; Shaeffer, 2013; Sulieman and Karam, 2013; UNESCO Regional Bureau of Education for
Latin America and the Caribbean, 2013). Respondents of the Global Post-2014 Survey call for a broadening of the scope of ESD
beyond environmental concerns to embrace poverty, peace and intercultural education.

xliv

Respondents of the Global Post-2014 Survey support this action. In addition, 45% of survey respondents identify poverty as a key
priority area for ESD with respondents from Arab States, Europe, North America and Latin America as well as Caribbean highlighted
poverty as their top sustainability challenge.
xlv

This was also a priority consistently identified by the DESD regional consultations (see Hoffner and Tilbury, 2013; Shaeffer, 2013;
Sulieman and Karam, 2013; UNESCO Regional Bureau of Education for Latin America and the Caribbean, 2013). The Asia Pacific
consultation documented and qualified, in some detail, needs in this area (Shaeffer, 2013). For example:

‘A post-2014 ES Programme framework should further focus on the development of indicators to assess ESD implementation at
local, national, sub-regional and regional levels in Africa. It appears that at present there exist many uncoordinated ESD activities.
Defining terms of references and indicators for monitoring and evaluation at different levels would help assessing the status of ESD
implementation at all levels and feed into the global monitoring and evaluation of ESD progress African Regional Consultation (Yao
et al, 2013, p.5)

‘If M&E of ESD is to serve as a tool for both learning from and improving current ESD, then it needs to support the clarification of
what are effective interventions for improving ESD. In other words, from a policy standout, the only clear way to validate
effectiveness is to be able to demonstrate a correlation between ESD inputs/outputs and resulting outputs/outcomes. The inclusion
of the M&E mechanisms that can identify such correlations in the post-2014 ESD framework would be an important way to start
achieving a clear knowledge of what supports transformative learning approaches’ (Shaeffer, 2013, p.6)

xlvi

This is a key recommendation of all DESD regional consultations. All regional reports draw attention to academic development
specifically calling for actions associated with teacher education, business and government education as well as the development of
capacity for University educators and academics (see Hoffner and Tilbury, 2013; Shaeffer, 2013; Sulieman and Karam, 2013;
UNESCO Regional Bureau of Education for Latin America and the Caribbean, 2013; Yao et al., 2013).

xlvii

This is a key recommendation of respondents of the Global DESD Survey (UNESCO, 2013b) which identified development of
educators as the top priority for a post-2014 plan of action.

xlviii

There are various carbon calculators which sit alongside the WRI standard. The Clean Air Cool Planet, for example, is also used
quite widely in North America, Europe and Africa.

xlix

equivalent amounts of carbon dioxide emissions they are saving annually through projects with Johnson Controls

ProSPER.Net is more than a Charter. It has evolved into a capacity building network and research development programme. A
review of the ProSPER.Net activities from 2008-2013 can be found in:

http://www.ias.unu.edu/resource_centre/Final%20ProSPER%20Booklet%20Low%20Res.pdf