development teaching. Many HEIs have become pioneers in adopting a whole‐institution approach to ESD. Heiss (2021) also identifies a number of challenges to ESD, one of them being that implementing commitments to sustainable development requires coordinated change at multiple levels – in governance, planning, academic programs, facility management, and financial systems. Another challenge is the level of innovative thinking and involvement ESD demands in staff development and across institutions in order to transform curricula and pedagogy.
1.3 Promoting Sustainability in Higher Education
The need for a more holistic approach to ESD in the curriculum emerged with Hopkins and McKeown's (2005, p. 13) emphasis on it in the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) of 2005–2014. Following this, HEIs adopted holistic approaches that were translated into practice with a focus on knowledge, methods, and curriculum change. In terms of a formal ESD curriculum, it takes the form of a new ESD subject and/or the development of ESD as a cross‐curriculum topic. However, a more effective holistic approach is that of curriculum and institutional change contributing to the overall reorientation of education toward sustainability (2005, p. 13).
From the recent past, “Rio+20 People's Sustainability Treaty on Higher Education” is a significant international effort that was jointly developed by over 30 HEIs and networks under the special guidance of the International Association of Universities and the UN University – Institute of Advanced Studies of Sustainability. This treaty promotes eight Evolving Principles (Rio+20 People's Sustainability Treaty on Higher Education (n.d.), p. 4), emphasizing a holistic and transformative perspective for sustainable higher education: (i) to be transformative, higher education must transform itself; (ii) efforts across the higher education system must be aligned; (iii) partnership underpins progress; (iv) sustainable development is an institutional and sector‐wide learning process; (v) facilitating access to the underprivileged; (vi) inter and trans‐disciplinary learning and action; (vii) redefining the notion of quality higher education; (viii) sustainable development as a whole‐of‐institution commitment (Rio+20 People's Sustainability Treaty on Higher Education (n.d.), pp. 4–5).
HEIs worldwide employ institutional sustainability provisions in the form of “sustainability policy,” “sustainability plan,” or “sustainability statement.” What is observable is their lack of shared understanding of what constitutes ESD and the lack of a shared approach to ESD. This brings us back to the question of institutional provisions and the need to find a common ground in ESD.
Harvard University's 2015–2020 Sustainability Plan is “the roadmap for building and operating a healthier, more sustainable campus community” that centers around five core topics: (i) Emissions and Energy, (ii) Campus Operations, (iii) Nature and Ecosystems, (iv) Health and Well‐Being, and (v) Culture and Learning. It is a resolute document that governs key strategic interventions by Harvard in sustainability issues on‐ and off‐campus. What is noteworthy is Harvard's sustainability commitment to employing innovations and solutions developed within the university with the active engagement of its students and staff (Harvard University Sustainability Plan).
Under Emission and Energy, Harvard commits to reduce university‐wide greenhouse gas emissions and energy emissions. Campus Operations aim to design and maintain the built environment and develop cutting‐edge programs to enhance the health, productivity, and quality of life of students and staff. This includes efforts to maintain Green Building Standards, reduce wastewater, maintaining green‐cleaning and sustainable IT standards, reducing campus fleet and shuttle emissions, and developing standards for climate preparedness and resilience. Through landscaping operations, campus design, and conservation and education, Harvard aims to commit to Nature and Ecosystems. By protecting and enhancing the ecosystems and green spaces in the university, Harvard also sets a precedent in enhancing regional biodiversity and personal well‐being. Moreover, Harvard's Health and Well‐Being commitment aims to conserve resources, reduce pollution and enhance personal well‐being through reducing the university community's exposure to toxic chemicals and developing sustainable and healthful food standards. Similarly, under the core topic of Culture and Learning, Harvard employs research and teaching, governance, external partnerships, communications, and community action to combat sustainability challenges (Harvard University Sustainability Plan n.d.). These five core topics show a close affinity with Dover's understanding of sustainability as an intricately connected range of issues covering “resource depletion and degradation,” “pollution and wastes,” “fundamental ecological life support services,” and “society and the human condition” with a number of constituent issues (2005, p. 9). Similarly, the University of Michigan's sustainability plan is centered around six goals that bear a close resemblance to Dover's understanding of sustainability: climate action through greenhouse gas reduction; fuel efficiency; waste reduction; sustainable foods; healthy environments and protecting the Huron river; and community engagement (Sustainability Goals 2021).
The University of Michigan's President, Mary Sue Coleman, emphasizes the crucial role of an environmental focus in adopting sustainability concepts in the university operations and thus acknowledges the urgency of addressing environmental sustainability:
The pressing challenge of environmental sustainability is a huge global concern… From teaching and research, to hand on engagement, we are going to leverage our many strengths to make significant contributions to an urgent and extraordinarily complex problem.
(University of Michigan News, 2009)
A question may arise as to why ESD is urgent. The answer is that the urgency is felt so greatly because of the increasing number of global issues and the incapacity of former and current generations in managing these complex issues. Sustainability is not a destination, rather it is an ever‐continuing state of events that needs to be maintained at the pace of social transformation. The reason why ESD, like other sustainability goals, has failed in its implementation is due to a number of barriers that impede this ongoing sustainability journey.
References
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2 Dovers, S. (2005). Environment and Sustainability Policy: Creation, Implementation and Evaluation. Sydney, NSW: Federation Press.
3 Dvořáková, L. and Zborková, J. (2014). Integration of Sustainable Development at Enterprise Level. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2014.03.043
4 Garcia, J., da Silva, S.A., Carvalho, A.S., and de Andrade Guerra, J.B.S.O. (2017). Education for sustainable development and its role in the promotion of the sustainable development goals. In: Curricula for Sustainability in Higher Education, 1e (ed. J.P. Davim), 1–18. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.
5 Harvard University Sustainability Plan (n.d.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard Office for Sustainability. https://green.harvard.edu/sites/green.harvard.edu/files/Harvard%20Sustainability%20Plan‐Web.pdf.
6 Heiss, J. (2021). The role of higher education in sustainability science for implementing the SDGs. UNESCO. https://en.unesco.org/sites/default/files/panel_3_presentation_juliaheiss.pdf (accessed 16 July 2021).
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