12 sustainability teaching resources about green campuses
Many academic publications on sustainability in higher education exist, but they are often highly conceptual and cost money to access. Check out our list of 12 sustainability teaching resources (in English and German) go get practical insights on how to create a green campus and sustainable university. Educators can use these readings for their classes, and practitioners to get new project ideas.
Sustainability teaching resources: Introducing green campuses ideas to your students
The sustainability teaching resources in this post can help your students learn more about sustainability
These sustainability teaching resources provide a good introduction into the topics of green campuses and sustainable universities:
- Sustainable development and universities: The Flemish government commissioned a concise introduction about the fundamentals of what sustainable development means in the context of universities, education and research (38 pages).
- Greening Universities Toolkit 2.0: If you read – and remember – this massive 164-page document by UNEP, then you’re an expert on sustainability in higher education.
- Getting started with SDGs in universities: You wonder what your university can do to help advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? This 55-page publication describes five actionable steps on how to take a whole-university approach towards the SDGs. (Also read our blogpost on 10 project ideas to engage students on the SDGs.)
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Case studies and project overviews
You will find many case studies in the other sustainability teaching resources provided throughout this post. However, we still highly suggest you check out these two documents:
- Case studies: Learn from 30 universities on their whole-institution approach towards sustainability. The publication also includes examples of how to embed sustainability in education or research. (74 pages)
- Good practice guide (In German): The German NGO netzwerk n compiled an overview of 27 good practice projects on how to advance sustainability in education, research, operations and governance. So far, the overview is in German only.
Curriculum change
Below we have listed two sustainability teaching resources on how to embed education for sustainable development in the curriculum:
- Global citizens for sustainable development: What do students need to learn to address the social, economic and environmental challenges of the 21st century? Many frameworks exist to define the competencies that students need, but it was only after we read this UNESCO publication that the light in our heads went on (34 pages). Especially pages 8-14 are insightful.
- From Art to Zoo Management: The sustainability team of the National Union of Students UK compiled a great overview of how different UK universities embed sustainability into courses (31 pages).
Governance, reporting and assessment
Read these three sustainability teaching resources on governance, reporting and assessment:
- Sustainability governance: The Environmental Association of Universities and Colleges (EAUC) compiled an excellent overview of sustainability governance approaches. (30 pages)
- Green Office Model: Leuphana University Lüneburg and rootAbility published an e-Book on the Green Office Model. This is a useful resource for everyone who is looking for a way to improve sustainability student engagement.
- Assessment and reporting tools: This EAUC publication is useful for everyone who wants to get an overview of what tools are out there that you could use to assess sustainability at your university and report about it. Be prepared: there are a lot! (50 pages)
Operations
Many publications exist on how to improve the environmental footprint of running any organisation. Below you will find two sustainability teaching resources specifically developed for green campus projects:
- Green Guide for Universities: The International Alliance of Research Universities compiled a 148 pages guide that covers just about everything, from buildings, laboratories, purchasing, and transportation to student and staff engagement.
- Campus Green Fund Toolkit: Financing sustainability initiatives is often a challenge and setting up a revolving loan fund can be a great way to do it. Savings from reduction programmes are funnelled back into the fund. Those are then reused to finance new efficiency projects that generate new savings (30 pages).
Resource hubs
You’ve skimmed through the publications above and still want to learn more? Then explore these resource hubs, to find more sustainability teaching resources on the topic of green campuses and sustainable universities:
- Sustainability Exchange: The EAUC collected over 4,000 resources on sustainability in higher education and made them accessible to everyone for free.
- Campus Sustainability Hub: This is the US-American equivalent to the Sustainability Exchange. A downside is that in order to access many resources you need paid AASHE membership.
- Portal: The International Association of Universities maintains a resource base with different readings on sustainable higher education.
- Mediathek (in German): This resource hub is interesting for all German-speaking students and staff.