STARS and GRI: Tools for Campus Greening Strategies and Prioritizations

White, Gwendolen B.; Koester, Robert J.

doi:10.1089/sus.2012.9978

Cited by 17 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 1 publication

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Course inventories increase awareness of sustainability course offerings and highlight the inherent interdisciplinarity of sustainability [37]. Additionally, SCIs provide a metric to track changes in the amount of focus on sustainability in the curriculum across the university [39] and offer increased access to sustainability education opportunities at institutions.…”

Section: Sustainability Course Inventory Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Expanding Student Engagement in Sustainability: Using SDG- and CEL-Focused Inventories to Transform Curriculum at the University of Toronto

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Expanded Student Engagement Project (ESE) has developed three comprehensive inventories which aim to increase student knowledge of sustainability-related course content and increase student engagement in on- and off-campus, curricular, and non-curricular sustainability projects at the University of Toronto (U of T). The first is a sustainability course inventory (SCI) generated using keyword search based on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This is the first SCI that has been based on the SDGs. The inventory identified 2022 unique sustainability courses and found that SDG 13 had the greatest representation and SDG 6 had the least. The second inventory is a community-engaged learning (CEL) sustainability inventory which found 154 sustainability-focused CEL courses and identified 86 faculty members who teach sustainability CEL. Finally, an inventory of sustainability co-curricular and extracurricular opportunities revealed that U of T has 67 sustainability-focused student groups and identified 263 sustainability-focused opportunities. These inventories are an important foundation for future initiatives to increase student engagement in sustainability on campus and in the community. The ESE will integrate this data into U of T’s course management system and use the inventories to develop a new sustainability pathways program.

show abstract

Section: Sustainability Course Inventory Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Expanding Student Engagement in Sustainability: Using SDG- and CEL-Focused Inventories to Transform Curriculum at the University of Toronto

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This tool takes into consideration the core activities of an HEI (education and research), its economic, environmental and social impacts and the role of its community. Similarly, White and Koester (2012) also combined the use of GRI guidelines with the tool called the "Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System", which was developed by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education to assess curricular and research activities. Most recently, Disterheft et al (2016) developed INDICARE, an indicator-based model that allows assessing participatory processes within higher education's sustainability initiatives.…”

Section: Ijshe 192mentioning

confidence: 99%

Stakeholder engagement in sustainability reporting in higher education

Ferrero-Ferrero

Izquierdo

Torres

et al. 2018

IJSHE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose The purpose of this study is to improve the understanding of stakeholder engagement in the context of sustainability reporting (SR) for higher education institutions (HEIs), together with the materiality principle and stakeholder expectations. Design/methodology/approach This research uses an exploratory approach based on content analysis, a case study and descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings Three key findings come out of this research. First, the results indicate that HEIs use diverse criteria for grouping stakeholders and that stakeholder engagement is a heterogeneous process. Second, the expectations of internal stakeholders align with the material aspects of SR. Finally, among internal stakeholders, students and academics disagree on the prioritisation of some sustainability aspects, with non-academic staff adopting an intermediate position. Practical implications This analysis improves our knowledge of stakeholder engagement in HEIs. It helps to identify the relevant impacts of stakeholder engagement, enhances the quality of reporting and encourages a real dialogue with stakeholders. Originality/value The study examines stakeholder engagement and how the materiality principle is adopted by HEIs through SR. Furthermore, it compares these results with stakeholder expectations, considering the discrepancies between stakeholders. The results open the way to future research to explore the potential conflicts and collaborations between and within stakeholders to advance towards more sustainable institutions in the higher education sector.

show abstract

“…The GRI and STARS sustainability reporting frameworks are instances of disclosure mechanisms that organizations may use to signal to stakeholders their intent to be sustainable. White and Koester (2012) examined the Ball State HEI experience in integrating both the GRI and STARS frameworks to communicate with both internal and external stakeholders. Their findings suggest that while both tools report on similar metrics, they do so in different ways.…”

Section: Literature Review and Hypothesis Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Signaling sustainability: impact that learning how to report has on enrollment, endowment and emissions of North American higher education institutions

Minutolo

Ivanova

Cong³

2021

SAMPJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop an integrated model assessing the frequency and timing between reports on the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS) reporting the framework by higher education institutions (HEIs) and the relationship between the STARS score and reputation (enrollment), finances (endowment) and performance (emissions). Design/methodology/approach The development of the theoretical model is based on learning, signaling and legitimacy theories. This study collects data from the AASHE STARS to indicate the rating level of 202 HEIs, control variables, enrollment, endowments and emissions. The hypotheses were tested using generalized linear models. Findings Findings suggest that as HEIs report on their sustainability activity, they learn to report better but that there is also an “un-learning” aspect if the HEI skips reporting in a period. The results support the main hypothesis that there is a relationship between reporting and engagement with the HEIs in the form of enrollment and endowments. Finally, the findings provide evidence that the HEIs’ reporting is associated with a reduction in emissions. Practical implications The findings suggest that HEIs should develop a reporting strategy on a standardized framework such as AASHE STARs and they ought to codify the approach to learn from prior reporting. Students and alumni are increasingly seeking to engage the HEI in the sustainability process and the report is a mechanism for signaling activities. Social implications The findings suggest that AASHE STARS scores may be used by HEIs as a signaling mechanism to stakeholders of their commitment to sustainability. The signal is a mechanism to reduce information asymmetry between the HEI and stakeholders who may want more information on the institution’s attempts toward sustainability but lack access to information. Further, HEI partners have a mechanism to assess the overall level of commitment of the HEI toward sustainability and can, therefore, engage accordingly. Originality/value There has been significant work on signaling theory and sustainability. However, the relationship between STARs reporting as a signal that legitimates the HEI, learning how to report well and HEI performance has received less attention. The current study demonstrates that the STARS framework as a reporting mechanism signals the HEIs’ level of commitment to sustainability thereby legitimating it resulting in improved performance.

show abstract

STARS and GRI: Tools for Campus Greening Strategies and Prioritizations

Cited by 17 publications

References 1 publication

Expanding Student Engagement in Sustainability: Using SDG- and CEL-Focused Inventories to Transform Curriculum at the University of Toronto

Expanding Student Engagement in Sustainability: Using SDG- and CEL-Focused Inventories to Transform Curriculum at the University of Toronto

Stakeholder engagement in sustainability reporting in higher education

Signaling sustainability: impact that learning how to report has on enrollment, endowment and emissions of North American higher education institutions

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About