1. Workshop: Measuring sustainability in higher education
An Taisce Green Campus Network Meeting, Dublin, 2nd Feb 2017
Dr Bernadette O’Regan, Professor Richard Moles, Dr Maria Kirrane, Dr Susan Byrne, Mr William Horan

2. Developing the Potential of Third Level Campuses as Change Agents in Transition Toward Sustainable Communities
2-year project commenced in January 2016.
Centre for Environmental Research at University of Limerick (PI: Dr Bernadette O’Regan) and project participants, An Taisce, and LIT Tipperary.
Aims:
Identification of resource efficiency opportunities.
Evaluation of the feasibility of implementation of policies and actions.
Assessment of potential of HE sector to act as a change agent in community sustainability.

3. The sustainable university
The seven steps
Campus Sustainability
Education
Research
Outreach
Operations
Governance
Green Campus Committee
Environmental Review
Action Plan
Monitoring and Evaluation
Linking to learning on campus
Informing and involving
Green Charter

4. Monitoring and Evaluation
Why?:
“What gets measured gets managed”.
Opportunity identification and prioritisation.
Continuous improvement.
Communication and engagement.
Continuous improvement cycle

5. Monitoring and Evaluation
Requires:
A vision of what you wish to achieve (ambition).
Targets to achieve vision
Stretch goals and intermediate goals (time).
Indicators that measure success.

6. Ambition Onsite electricity generation (EPFL, Switzerland)
Birkenfeld “Zero Emissions Campus”
Onsite electricity generation (EPFL, Switzerland)
Onsite Wastewater treatment (Emory University)
University of Nottingham GSK Carbon Neutral Laboratory

7. Targets
Focus?
Based on improvements to campus baseline (inward focus).
In response to regional, national, global needs, goals, targets (outward focus).
(ISCN, 2014)

8. UN Sustainable Development Goals
“End poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all.” 
The Paris Agreement (Article 4)
Global peaking of greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible, undertake rapid reductions thereafter. Each Party’s nationally determined contribution should reflect its highest possible ambition.
Ireland’s Transition to a Low Carbon Future (Government White Paper)
“The transition will see the energy system change … citizens and communities will increasingly be participants in renewable energy generation, distribution and efficiency.”
EU, 7th Environment Action Programme
“In 2050, we live well, within the planet’s ecological limits… low-carbon growth has long been decoupled from resource use, setting the pace for a safe and sustainable global society.”
National Strategy on Education for Sustainable Development.
“Need to support learners to acquire the knowledge and develop the key skills and dispositions to enable them to make informed sustainable choices.”

9. Indicators Indicator selection – Indicators can be
“provides the foundation for developing shared meanings of sustainability, the role of indicators, and how they will function” (Mc Cool and Skanky, 2004).
Indicators can be
Quantitative (directly measurable) – operational.
Qualitative (indirectly measurable) – governance, outreach, education.
Indicators should address more than just “efficiency” (UNEP, 2013).
Prioritisation – can model the impact of a specific action/policy on an indicator…

10. Sustainability Evaluation Metric for Policy Recommendation (SEMPRe)

11. Indicator selection Robustness: full information for key targets.
Inclusive process: inclusion of range of stakeholders selecting indicators.
Continual improvement: should allow for repeated measurement, and be adaptive to change.
Relevance: should consider capacity for data collection, maintenance and documentation. Meeting the needs of audience and users.

12. Indicator selection Baseline Review Committee Action Plan
Monitoring and Evaluation
Linking to Learning
Informing and Involving
Green Charter
Fig. 1. The Seven Steps of the Green Flag Programme and relevance to indicator selection (red)

13. “What get’s measured gets managed”Do
Target 
Should
Target
Target
Can’t
Can’t
Should Do
Manage
(Adapted from University of Gothenburg Sustainability Report, 2015)

14. Core indicators for sustainability assessment (UNEP, 2013)
Element
Metric
Units
Energy, carbon and climate change
Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions
tCO2e/capita
Electricity consumption
kWh/m2
kWh/capita
Natural gas consumption
GJ/m2
GJ/capita
Transport energy consumption
kL fuel, Passenger kilometres
Water use
Potable and non-potable water consumption
kL/m3, kL/capita
Wastewater production
Kl/capita
Land use
Proportion of certified green buildings per floor area %
Proportion of pervious to impervious surfaces
Vegetation cover
Material Flows
Solid waste disposal
kg/capita
Solid waste recovery
kg/kg
Material use

15. Discussion Additional indicators for Irish campuses?