Universities are the key to driving a sustainable future

In the wake of the devastating findings of the federal 2021 State of the Environment Report, it is time for every sector in the Australian community to step up and work together to halt environmental decline.

Universities should be pivotal in creating a sustainable future, as they are the knowledge keepers and creators, with enormous potential to create impact by forging commercial partnerships that turn good ideas into sustainable reality.

Technical and scientific innovation is moving at such a rapid pace – and needs to if it is to solve the problems the world currently faces – that the best way to harness this innovation is to create strong partnerships between universities, governments and industry.

Universities undertake the ground-breaking research that can provide the foundation for the new knowledge, technologies and practices needed to solve the world’s climate emergency and biodiversity crises.

Governments supporting universities

Both the Queensland and Federal Governments are supporting tertiary institutions to extend their research capacity and commercialisation opportunities through a series of grants.

Recently the Queensland government allocated $17 million to the university sector to turn scientific research into new business, export and job opportunities.

This funding follows a surge in the number of businesses launching to commercialise university research. Many of these businesses are breaking into new fields made viable by the drive towards sustainability.

These fields include sustainable energy production and storage, new ways to recycle or repurpose waste, sustainable agriculture practices and green urban planning.

Businesses are finding new ways to use university research to create sustainable solutions, as well as working with the tertiary sector on ways to extend existing research, or to take it in new directions to drive a sustainable future.

Partnering with industry allows universities to maximise their impact by scaling up their research from lab scale to pilot scale to commercial scale. Examples of this are QUT partnerships with BlockTexx and Lava Blue. ?

QUT partnering with industry

Using QUT research, Logan-based textile recovery company BlockTexx is the first textile recycling plant capable of separating and recycling blends of cotton and polyester fibres on a large scale, work that will divert more than 50,000 tonnes of textiles from landfill over the next four years. ?

Lava Blue has worked with QUT for four years to find a way to extract minerals for the battery industry from mining waste products. With the help of a $5.24 million boost from the Federal Government in April, Lava Blue is now setting up a pilot plant at Redlands Research Facility.

Universities can also help the wider community to adopt greener practices, either through partnerships, or through walking the talk on sustainability in operations and in teaching.

Barcaldine Regional Council established a memorandum of understanding with QUT in 2020 to explore ways to increase sustainability while diversifying industry into clean energy and green agriculture in central west Queensland.

Increasingly, universities are leading the way in being earth-conscious corporate citizens, committing to achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. From things as simple as water-bottle refill stations on campus, to recycling stations, to large-scale commitments to source renewable energy or to build energy-efficient buildings, universities are practising what they preach.

Walking the talk

At QUT we’re planning an entire Sustainability Week from 22 to 26 August to showcase what we do and to inspire staff and students to take action.

Embedding sustainability in all courses, from pharmacy, to town planning, to teaching, will help create a generation that considers the impact of their decisions on other people and their world, no matter where they work. The impact of each graduate is multiplied as they pass on their perspectives to their circle of friends, family and future employers. Plus, it is important to note that in the real world, students educated in sustainability become job-ready graduates, as the jobs of the future are going to be green.

All this has the potential to create a ripple effect, because politicians follow public sentiment. And, as we have seen at the recent federal elections, the public sentiment is that the time to act is now. Universities can, and must, rise to that challenge and be part of the solution to the climate crisis.