Targeting a Low-Carbon University: A Greenhouse Gas Reduction Target for the Australian Technology Network of Universities

Carbon footprint in Higher Education Institutions: a literature review and prospects for future research

“…In addition to the measures reported in Table 2 , there are other strategies that affect specific aspects of the institutions. At the buildings level, strategies, such as designs for low-energy buildings are proposed by Baboulet and Lenzen ( 2010 ) and Ozawa-Meida et al ( 2013 ), infrastructure interventions are carried out using techniques and materials with a low carbon footprint by Varón-hoyos et al ( 2021 ) or minimising the construction of new buildings by Jung et al ( 2016 ) and Riedy and Daly ( 2010 ). Moreover, establishing a structured sustainability office/group responsible for monitoring, tracking and advocating for sustainability initiatives is proposed by Riedy and Daly ( 2010 ) and Bailey and LaPoint ( 2016 ), and integrating an environmental management system, is proposed by Rodríguez-Andara et al ( 2020 ), since it will facilitate the calculation of emissions and their mitigation.…”

“…At the buildings level, strategies, such as designs for low-energy buildings are proposed by Baboulet and Lenzen ( 2010 ) and Ozawa-Meida et al ( 2013 ), infrastructure interventions are carried out using techniques and materials with a low carbon footprint by Varón-hoyos et al ( 2021 ) or minimising the construction of new buildings by Jung et al ( 2016 ) and Riedy and Daly ( 2010 ). Moreover, establishing a structured sustainability office/group responsible for monitoring, tracking and advocating for sustainability initiatives is proposed by Riedy and Daly ( 2010 ) and Bailey and LaPoint ( 2016 ), and integrating an environmental management system, is proposed by Rodríguez-Andara et al ( 2020 ), since it will facilitate the calculation of emissions and their mitigation. In specific HEI, which use animals for teaching or research purposes, Butt ( 2012 ) proposed decreasing the number of grazing animals and increasing the per animal productivity or decreasing the amount of dung and urine added to the pasture through restricted grazing.…”

Reflections of a green university building: from design to occupation

“…Using occupancy data collected by the university, the building uses 0.05 kWh/m 2 / occupant, whereas the campus mean is 13.4 kWh/m 2 /occupant. When compared to a similar (Riedy and Daly, 2010). This significant difference between predicted and actual energy consumption and associated carbon dioxide emissions has been found in other university buildings and presents an ongoing challenge for developers of building assessment tools and stakeholders who use these tools to design and operate academic buildings (CarbonBuzz, 2016).…”

“…This shift to more sustainable universities is also occurring in Australia. For example, a group of five prominent universities (known as the Australian Technology Network) announced a joint commitment in 2009 to collectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions from a base year of 2007 by 25 per cent by 2020, reducing greenhouse gas emissions intensity to 105 kg CO 2 -e/m 2 /year (Riedy and Daly, 2010). Furthermore, Charles Sturt University in New South Wales was recently awarded Carbon Neutral Status, the first such instance in Australia, through a combination of energy efficiency improvements and the purchase of carbon offsets (Charles Sturt University, 2016).…”

“…This is in line with what is expected by other building types over the next few decades (BZE, 2013). There are also other elements of environmental sustainability which are being addressed in universities such as waste reduction, transport (both of those attending the campus and of staff travelling for work) and improving space efficiencies (Glover et al, 2017;Mason et al, 2003;Riedy and Daly, 2010;Weenen, 2000). A sustainable university is also one which is financially and socially sustainable.…”