Sustainability in Higher Education is on the Rise

I had the pleasure of taking part in the Times Higher Education Events - Global Sustainable Development Congress 10-13 June in Bangkok. Bringing together 3,000 university sustainability leaders from across the world the congress highlighted the great efforts and role universities are playing to shape a more sustainable future.

The congressed opened with a drive for optimism, in recognition of uncertain climates (war, climate change, economic, ethics etc) that the Higher Education (HE) sector is cornerstone in developing a sustainable future driven by UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) framework. On a global level we are significantly behind on achieving the SDG’s (2023 report ) and need to accelerate our efforts bridge the growing gaps in achieving a more sustainable and equitable planet. For example, based on the current rate of improvement, gender equality (SDG’s 5) will be achieved in 300 years.?

To bridge the gap, universities need to enhance the curricula, actively engage staff, students and community through a process of change (enhanced and continual learning).

Highlights from the many discussions and sessions at the Congress include: ?

• To succeed in delivering on the SDG’s institutions, industry, policy and community need to shape a collective climate change and sustainability mindset.??
• Universities need to stop talking and actively listen to their community. Engaging in long-term dialogue that align with long-term outcomes beyond research goals. ??
• Universities are key drivers of sustainability impact through building curiosity, and play a crucial role in building curiosity, collective learning and creating trust.
• We need to expand the green skills market across our ecosystem to support, collaboration across multiple stakeholders and see every job is a ‘climate change’ job.
• The mindset of the labour market is changing. Young people change roles more often but also choose organisations based on their social purpose (ESG credentials). ??
• Corporates are always managing transformation projects and sustainability is the biggest project a corporate should do.?
• Academic research is often hidden from the wider world and can have a far greater impact if communicated across policy, industry and community. ?
• The SDGs (and impact rankings) provide a valuable tool for understanding sustainability and it is important that universities integrate SDGs across ecosystem.
• THE Impact Rankings were seen as a recognition embedding sustainability across a university’s strategic leadership and right through to its operations and global ecosystem. Highly ranking universities acknowledge they are in the early stages of their journey.

Nurturing a change culture

Education is a key to drive change, but it is not the only answer. Institutions should consider developing core values and engagement that represent their identity. Education methods also need to change to meet the needs of a changing world. Some examples that were highlighted include: ?

• Transformative learning should be at the heart of each course and across a university’s operations.
• Foundation learning of SDG/Sustainability included for all students and staff

-Sustainability matters (foundation)

-Promoted to all Deans/faculty leads

-Micro-credentials to continually develop

• Co-authors should also consider the inclusion of student and non-academics
• Measure collaboration. This is difficult but by measuring universities can start to map wider outcomes and may also address more long-term impacts. ??? ?

Carbon emissions

Carbon emissions continue to grow across the world, and we are nearing a critical period with parts of the planet experiencing 2c+ well beyond the 1.5 2050 limit. Carbon levels in the atmosphere continue to increase 35 trillion p/yr with 419ppm in the atmosphere with the critical level being 450ppm where oceans will be too acidic and coral reefs will collapse. AI has enabled for new structures to be developed to capture carbon (CO2).

Decarbonisation

Across the world we are starting to see national budgets align to carbon accounting. Universities need an ecosystem plan to understand their role in this field. SME’s represent up to 90% of carbon impact in ASEAN areas and universities have an important role to support and innovate solutions in this area.

Alternative fuels are gaining traction and 80% of emissions could be reduced from aviation if the market switched to more sustainable fuels. Innovation in this area is rapidly evolving with new energy ecosystems coming forward that include Small Modular Reactors (SMR) and hydrogen. New skills and system wide change are required to enable the alternative fuel market to scale, with the UK and US leading the way.

Green Skills

The SDGs can be a greater driver for cross sector collaboration. There is ambition to leave no one behind but there are still huge gender inequalities (SDG 5). For example, it will take 300 years based on the current rate of improvement before gender equality is met. A sign we need new skills to do things differently to accelerate this change.

• Universities need to focus on developing skills for a changing and changed world.
• Building resilience to adapt to change
• Developing self-awareness (empowerment) to develop

Sustainability consulting is also a growing market and forecast to be worth $48bn in the next five years and 40 million new jobs with 150 million upskilled roles globally. Growth in this market is influenced by:

• Increasing regulation and disclosure. However, organisations are strong on reporting but struggling to implement actions.
• Business and products transitioning to low-carbon and sustainable future
• Changing legal landscape with climate change influencing on supply chains and ethics.

Example: Local laws often do not protect workers who die in overheated factories and ethical supply chain questions are then raised as to the legal responsibility but also the transparency of these issues. ?

Financing Sustainability

Climate change is reshaping the risk profile for insurance and financing markets, especially when considering long-term projects (development, infrastructure, business). Collaboration across ecosystems was highlighted as a solution for gaining finance as sustainability impacts were realised across multiple stakeholders and also deliver on long-term outcomes.

Example: A community solar project in India was scaled to a level that created an ongoing fund to ensure wider returns for community programmes.

Nature Based Solutions (value of nature)

Protecting and valuing nature is a growing area of research and often interlinks with longer term local community (indigenous) outcomes. In addition, the carbon credit market is growing globally and could have significant value for protecting nature and local communities. This market is also becoming more regulated and increasing research in this area. Further considerations that were discussed include:

• Researchers may need to be retrained to ensure real impacts beyond a solely research driven programme.
• Additionality of research in this area should also be considered. Links with policy on a local, national and global level were highlighted and may require additional support or training for academics to realise this.
• Scientists (research) needs to be more socially engaged.
• Long-term community engagement and continual engagement built on active listening (not talking).
• Local communities (indigenous) are the most sustainable and resilient but also most knowledgeable on natural systems. ??

Sustainable Cities

$5 trillion is needed annually to fund measures to fund measures to fight climate change, reduce CO2 by 90% and limit global warming. Most cities are focusing on clean energy with electrification as the main priority, however based on current investment there is a 92% funding gap for this transition. This is also compounded by a lack of awareness into how we can make cities green and thriving.

• Social economic awareness and reporting is not mature and limits the delivery of deep societal impacts.
• Funding climate transition across cities and industries would benefit from aggregated funding models where organisations collaborate to deliver transition solutions at scale but also where benefits are shared across a larger area to enable market transformation. ?
• SME’s often fall outside of regulation and also have limited capacity to report on their sustainability (ESG/climate risks)
• SME’s make up a large proportion of CO2 outputs. 70% across EU, 97% across ASEAN and 67% across China.
• ISO developing a new climate standard or framework to better support SME’s ?
• Organisations should see climate risk as a business opportunity to be carbon competitive.
• Need for greater funding for climate innovation and supporting incubators, start-ups to scale and deploy impactful solutions. In most cases current funding limits innovation?

THE Impact Rankings 2024

The THE Impact Rankings were announced during the Congress with 2,152 Universities from 125 countries taking part. There has been a significant increase in submissions for the the top 10 rankings counties largely represented by Australia, Canada and the UK. Western Sydney University who came top of the league table and has done so for the past 3 years highlighted that embedding a culture of sustainability and holistically engaging with the ESGs across their institution has allowed them to lead the way.

Summary

The congress brought forward that Universities are increasingly focusing on sustainability and that the SDG’s are playing an important role in driving engagement in this area. With the SDG’s concluding in 2030 there is an increasing gap between practice and impact which is increasing the pressure and importance of regulation and global action. Some final considerations from the congress as highlighted by the final speakers:

• 2030 is very close and we can’t wait for government to act
• No one size fits all approach and no organisation is too small or to large to act
• Solutions and impacts need to be localised with long-term outcomes
• Time to go beyond reporting and double down on operational sustainability
• Engagement needs to be driven by an inclusive and universities have an important role in connecting society (diversity of thought and impact)
• Collaboration needs to be measured and tracked (long-term impacts and far reaching outcomes).
• Youth are not the future but the present (engagement across society at all levels)
• NGO’s will play an increasingly important role to link research and collaboration with impact.

Progress is being made and the SDG’s provide a valuable mechanism to drive change however, the next phase of the SDG’s will likely see a more stringent approach, highlighting that collaboration and cocreation will be key to driving a more sustainable future. A model that University of East London and the Royal Docks Centre for Sustainability (RDCS) are already embedding.

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