IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/sustdv/v33y2025i5p6985-7004.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Driving SDG15: The Role of HEIs in Biodiversity Conservation Through Digitalization and Reporting

Author

Listed:
  • Assunta Di Vaio
  • Elisa Van Engelenhoven
  • Anum Zaffar
  • Luigi Lepore
  • Francesco Paolone

Abstract

Education, research, and public engagement are key strategies guiding European higher education institutions (HEIs) in advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Through stakeholder, legitimacy, and resource‐based view theories, this study examines the contributions of HEIs to saving Life on Land (SDG15), focusing on the role of digital technologies and Partnerships (SDG17) in biodiversity conservation. Despite interest in biodiversity conservation and the adoption of digital technologies in HEIs, knowledge about SDG15 issues is still limited. A double‐level content analysis through Leximancer v.5 and manual analysis was performed on 653 documents (191 sustainability reports and 462 website pages) from 50 European HEIs published between 2018 and 2024. The results highlight the key role of SDG17 and digital technologies in supporting biodiversity conservation efforts but also reveal a lack of standardized reporting frameworks, underscoring the need for a unified European approach to biodiversity disclosure to ensure more consistent and impactful contributions toward the SDGs. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to address knowledge gaps on biodiversity practices supported by digitalization and partnerships, as adopted and shared through sustainability reporting by the top 50 universities leading in land conservation in the Times Higher Education (THE) 2024 ranking.

Suggested Citation

  • Assunta Di Vaio & Elisa Van Engelenhoven & Anum Zaffar & Luigi Lepore & Francesco Paolone, 2025. "Driving SDG15: The Role of HEIs in Biodiversity Conservation Through Digitalization and Reporting," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(5), pages 6985-7004, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:sustdv:v:33:y:2025:i:5:p:6985-7004
    DOI: 10.1002/sd.3504
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.3504
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/sd.3504?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
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:wly:sustdv:v:33:y:2025:i:5:p:6985-7004. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-1719 .

    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.