IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/endesu/v26y2024i12d10.1007_s10668-023-04046-7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Universities as sustainability champions: the performance of top Canadian institutions

Author

Listed:
  • Joseli Macedo

    (University of Calgary)

Abstract

University campuses are microcosms of urban areas, illustrating the complexity of environmental issues faced by cities. This paper presents an analysis of Canadian U15 universities’ policies and practices and uses sustainability indicators to determine their levels of commitment to implementing sustainable environments. The survey, based on both a quantitative analysis of environmental sustainability outputs and a sustainability assessment model, compares the sustainability levels of the U15 universities with the purpose of ranking them according to their environmental sustainability practices and the institutionalized policies that support these practices. The results indicate that the type of evaluation method used can make a significant difference in which of the U15 universities are deemed to be most sustainable. This work is relevant to university leaders, campus planners, faculty and students who spend their lives on university campuses, and anyone interested in using university campuses as living laboratories for practices that could be adopted citywide.

Suggested Citation

  • Joseli Macedo, 2024. "Universities as sustainability champions: the performance of top Canadian institutions," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(12), pages 30861-30874, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:endesu:v:26:y:2024:i:12:d:10.1007_s10668-023-04046-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s10668-023-04046-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10668-023-04046-7
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10668-023-04046-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Carol A. Adams, 2013. "Sustainability reporting and performance management in universities," Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 4(3), pages 384-392, November.
    2. Clemens Mader, Geoffrey Scott and Dzulkifli Abdul Razak & Carol A. Adams, 2013. "Sustainability reporting and performance management in universities," Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 4(3), pages 384-392, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jesús Mauricio Flórez‐Parra & María Victoria López‐Pérez & Antonio Manuel López‐Hernández & María Lourdes Arco‐Castro, 2024. "Determinants of the dissemination of economic, social and environmental information at the university level in the context of commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(3), pages 1925-1939, June.
    2. Volkan Göçoğlu, 2025. "Strategic intentions of higher education for sustainable development goals: Qualitative evidence from universities in Türkiye," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(1), pages 1575-1587, February.
    3. Şenay Çetin Doğruparmak & Simge Çankaya & Murat Efgan Kibar & Beyhan Pekey, 2025. "Assessing the environmental performance of a university campus using a life cycle assessment approach," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 27(1), pages 645-664, January.
    4. Jeng-Bang Wang & Guan-Hua Wang & Chung-Ya Ou, 2023. "The Key Factors for Sustainability Reporting Adoption in the Semiconductor Industry Using the Hybrid FRST-PSO Technique and Fuzzy DEMATEL Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-19, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:endesu:v:26:y:2024:i:12:d:10.1007_s10668-023-04046-7. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.