Going beyond the rhetoric: system-wide changes in universities for sustainable societies

In October 2008, the 5th Environmental Management for Sustainable Universities (EMSU) international conference was held in Barcelona, Spain. It dealt with the need to rethink how our higher educational institutions are facing sustainability. This special issue has been primarily derived from contributions to that conference. This issue builds upon related academic international publications, which have analysed how to use the critical position of universities to accelerate their pace of working to help to make the transition to truly SUSTAINABLE SOCIETIES!This issue focus is on the ‘softer’ issues, such as changes in values, attitudes, motivations, as well as in curricula, societal interactions and assessments of the impacts of research. Insights derived from the interplay of the ‘softer’ issues with the ‘harder’ issues are empowering academic leaders to effectively use leverage points to make changes in operations, courses, curricula, and research. Those changes are being designed to help their students and faculty build resilient and sustainable societies within the context of climate change, the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD), and the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).The overall systems approach presented by Stephens and Graham provides a structured framework to systematize change for sustainability in higher education, by stressing on the one hand the need for “learning to learn” and on the other hand by integrating leadership and cultural aspects. The “niche” level they propose for innovative interactions between practitioners such as EMSU is exemplary developed by all of the other documents in this special issue. To highlight some of the key elements of the articles in this issue, there are proposals for new educational methods based in sustainability science, a set of inspirational criteria for SD research activities, new course ranking and assessment methods and results of psychological studies that provide evidence that participatory approaches are the most effective way to change values within university members in order to facilitate the development and sharing of new sustainability norms.     

Sustainability in higher education: what is happening?

This special issue focuses upon diverse facets of Education for Sustainability. The 33 documents within it are from authors in institutions of higher education from Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, South America, Central America and North America. Some authors use discipline-specific foci to foster inclusion of sustainable development (SD) within their educational programs. Many other authors report on their experiences in working within interdisciplinary teams to re-focus education, research and outreach to help accelerate the rate at which educational institutions foster and underpin the values, knowledge and actions to help their students transform society from unsustainable to sustainable patterns.The authors of these articles underscore the importance of the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development that began on January 2005 to be an important framework and a catalyst for increasing SD educational, research and outreach efforts within all academic institutions, worldwide.The developers of this special issue hope that the lessons learned by the authors of these articles will help all in envisioning the way forward and in overcoming the resistance to change within and outside of academia as we work together on our joint journey toward sustainable societies.     

Critical perspectives of sustainable development research and practice

Sustainable development has been intensely debated for more than twenty years, but real progress of our societies to become more sustainable is very slow. Therefore this special issue provides a forum for critical perspectives of Sustainable Development Research and Practice. The papers are grouped into three clusters: a. Sustainability Science, b. Economic Problems and c. Corporate Contributions to Sustainable Development.Although a single special issue cannot address the entire array of issues pertaining to progress of sustainability related research, the selected papers highlight special aspects of sustainability research either due to their theoretical contributions or because they report on valuable empirical evidence. The main goal of sustainability research should be to contribute to our understanding of sustainability problems and to develop and help to implement solutions to solve them. This can be described as the relevance of sustainability research. A precondition to gain relevance is the rigor of sustainability science: it has to be based on solid scientific principles and methods. Additionally it has to be regarded that Sustainable Development is dynamic and that it has both normative and practical aspects. It is concluded that sustainability science and practice should be based upon these four central aspects: rigor, relevance, normative aspects and dynamic     

The roles of academia in Regional Sustainability Initiatives

Sustainability initiatives at the regional level play an increasingly important role in the implementation of the principles of Sustainable Development (SD) around the world. These activities successfully combine a wider ‘systems’ perspective with the benefits of the more ‘humane approach of the sub-national scale.’ The potential for academic institutions to play an important role in the success of these initiatives is significant, yet institutions of higher education need encouragement. This article outlines the most important factors which determine the roles of academic institutions in RSIs based on both a review of the literature and research findings from two questionnaires directed to people active in RSIs and higher educational institutions (HEIs). Results confirm the existence of widespread faculty interest in engaging in work within RSIs and also highlight the most important barriers to engagement.     

Local agenda 21; articulating the meaning of sustainable development at the level of the individual enterprise

While there are examples of good practice the engagement of business in Local Agenda 21 has been restricted. This is certainly true in the UK experience. ‘Missing’ the supply side of the economy in this way is clearly unsatisfactory. This problem has been addressed by the Centre for Sustainable Development from a particular perspective, which follows the multi stakeholder principles of sustainable development (SD). This paper analyses a project to make a simple clear communication tool, without jargon, to communicate the meaning of SD in different dimensions to small and medium sized businesses. The project produced a business workbook directly useful to business and that can be utilised by local authorities in the business interaction parts of their Local Agenda 21 programmes. The paper examines further what is involved in a particular aspect of the process of SD, in the regional context, and seeks to underpin the understanding that SD is a process. As part of this issues relevant to culture change are examined. A consideration of the stakeholder relationships and dynamics is central.     

东北亚中亚区域可持续发展——首届“东北亚中亚区域可持续发展国际论坛”在北京举行

首届"东北亚中亚区域可持续发展国际论坛"在北京召开。与会专家围绕着"全球气候变化背景下东北亚和中亚区域可持续发展"主题展开充分讨论,并形成重要研究结论。来自中国、俄罗斯、蒙古国、乌兹别克斯坦和以色列等国20多个研究机构的7位科学院院士、9位研究所所长和200多位专家学者讨论认为,面对积极应对全球变化的国际态势,加强东北亚中亚可持续发展国际合作研究具有重大战略意义,并向东北亚和中亚地区各国政府和专家学者发出共同倡议。此次国际论坛对加强东北亚和中亚地区在全球变化背景下资源生态环境与可持续发展科学问题与规律的国际合作研究具有重要推动作用。     

Restructuring teacher education for sustainability: student involvement through a “strengths model”

In responding to the demand for major review of teacher education to meet the needs and challenges of the twenty-first century, the Faculty of Education at Griffith University in Queensland, Australia is in the throes of a major review of its primary teacher education program. This review is taking place in the midst of University wide debate on the nature and scope of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). While consensus exists of the importance of ESD, debate continues regarding programs, policies, and practices.Education staff members feel strongly that new programs should encompass knowledge, issues, perspectives, skills, and values central to ESD, but remain uncertain about how this could best be achieved. The “strengths model” where every discipline and every staff member and student can contribute is being utilised by the working parties and is likely to be adopted as a means of ESD.To determine a benchmark for inclusion of components of ESD, and as one stage of including students in the decision-making process, a survey was conducted in February 2004 that sought to determine general environmental attitudes, specific practices and perceptions of a need to change.The survey indicated that a large portion of the students enrolled in preservice teacher education at this University were very concerned about environmental issues and felt that their preparation as teachers should include aspects of teaching about sustainability. The survey also indicated however, that the knowledge base regarding environmental issues was minimal and insight into the social, cultural and economic complexities of ESD was quite superficial. Students openly expressed a lack of confidence in their ability to make wise decisions or take appropriate action.This paper describes the context and strategies of the current restructure/reorientation of the preservice teacher program, highlighting the current and potential impacts of student involvement in the process.     

Sustainable development: ten years of experience at ITESM's graduate level

This paper presents the experiences of a multidisciplinary team of professors during the design, implementation and evolution of a core course on Sustainable Development, at the graduate level for all Masters programs within the Monterrey Tec System (ITESM). During the last ten years, the SD course evolved and we tried several teaching techniques, methods and platforms from a traditional classroom to a distant teaching/learning, up to an on-line course. The most important changes have been the content and the impact of the course upon the personal and professional lives of the students. Initially it was mostly an informative course about the most important environmental issues and their social and economic consequences. The next step evolved to a mixture of informative and formative course with a holistic approach. Nowadays, the students leave this course as empowered ‘agents of change’ knowing how their everyday actions and choices have an impact on the environment, our society and the well-being of the future generations.     

Institutionalizing sustainability: an empirical study of corporate registration and commitment to the United Nations global compact guidelines

Drawing upon institutional and stakeholder theories, we explore the ‘causal’ mechanisms of institutionalization and their influence on Sustainable Development initiatives. To test our arguments, we study the registration patterns of 394 large corporations from 12 Western European and Latin American countries into the United Nations Global Compact. Results indicate that the normative and mimetic mechanisms of institutionalization (i.e., academe and peer influence) are better indicators of Sustainable Development initiatives than the coercive one (i.e., government regulation). The implications of these findings are consequential if SD practices continue as an ethical choice, and not a mandated obligation, for corporate decision makers.     

华东六省可持续发展水平的综合评价

随着资源和环境问题的日益凸现,经济和社会的发展必然要走可持续发展的道路。可持续发展是全面的、和谐的发展,其发展的能力和水平与经济、社会、资源、环境等多方面因素有关。本文采用灰色关联投影法,考虑人口、能源、资源、环境的压力程度、占全国GDP的份额、教育经费投入、高技术产业总产值、登记失业率等多方面因素,对华东地区的山东、河南、江苏、浙江、安徽、福建六个省份的可持续发展水平进行了综合评价,可为政府决策部门调整经济结构、缓解社会压力、改善环境质量提供一定的科学依据。     

Development of regional sustainability indicators and the role of academia in this process: the Portuguese practice

There are several different approaches to evaluate regional environmental and sustainability performance, where regional indicators are an emerging issue. Academia could play an important role in many sustainable initiatives, giving credibility, scientific and technical support and contribute to increasing public participation. This paper intends to trace the Portuguese profile on regional Sustainable Development Indicators (SDI) initiatives and contribute to an understanding of the key factors related to the role of academia in those processes. A national survey was conducted to obtain data on SDI initiatives on a regional scale and the Portuguese profile was defined. Overall results show that SDI implementations are concluded in one region and are being implemented in three of the total of seven regions, despite a significant lack of institutional guidelines and policy guidance from national authorities. The particular approach conducted in the Algarve, the most southerly region of Portugal, was analysed. The indicators developed for this region are a practical example of how academia and regional public authorities can cooperate efficiently, involving multi-stakeholders, to obtain the desired outcomes.     

Introduction to the special issue on Advances in Life-Cycle Approachesto Business and Resource Management in the Asia-Pacific Region

This special issue of the Journal of Cleaner Production was initiated as a result of the 5th and 6th meetings of the Asia Pacific Roundtable for Sustainable Consumption and Production (APRSCP), which were held in Melbourne, Australia and Hanoi, Vietnam, respectively. A need identified at those meetings was to create another means of communicating the best ideas and papers being presented, to a wider audience. The Asia Pacific region has special development needs given its rapid emergence as a global production hub, but coupled to that are also the rapid social adjustments and shifts in patterns of consumption and production which aren't positive for the environment. This special issue contains eight papers covering the implementation of cleaner production and life cycle principles at the systems and regional planning level. These articles cover urban development, corporate CP programs, supply chain management, eco-industrial networks, and industrial parks, recycling, and understanding the role of human factors in bringing about environmental change.     

Sustainable development in practice

The semi-annual European Environment Sustainable Conference in Aalborg, Denmark brought together from primarily Europe, but also other parts of the world. The Conference focused on sustainability but one panel focused on practical applications for public policy and private industry. The papers from this panel are presented in this special issue of the journal. They cover topics ranging from corporate sustainable programs to government plans including "feed in laws".Some papers are more academic oriented but clearly derived from practical political experiences such as those of the California energy crisis. These theories argue the need for "agile energy systems" whereby regions, cities and communities must have combinations of on-site or distributed energy generation like combined heat and power (CPH) along with central grid power generation. Finally, there is a clear message in all the papers that "market forces" alone do not develop, monitor or even provide "level playing fields" for communities. In short, there needs to be continuous "government" or public involvement in the sustainable communities.     

Sustainability in Mexican Higher Education: towards a new academic and professional culture

This article focuses on institutions of higher education and the introduction of sustainability in the curricula of these institutions. It states that a very important part of developing new curricula is the focus on a new academic and professional culture. The key argument is as follows. Normally institutions of higher education build upon the training that students received in previous phases of education. That is why institutions of higher education can focus on education in highly specific and specialized knowledge and skills. Education for sustainability, however, cannot follow this ‘normal’ pathway because much of what students learned in their previous education does not fit into the paradigm of sustainability. That is why sustainability education should include a partial ‘re-education’ and ‘re-programming’ of students. The article presents a framework for such a new academic and professional culture focussing on sustainability. It shows how this framework is developed within the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Unidad Azcapotzalco (UAM-A) in Mexico. The article also shows how the development of this framework is embedded in various initiatives on a national and international level. First of all the framework is developed as part of the design and implementation of an environmental plan for the whole university. The making of this plan is encouraged by the Mexican National Association of Universities and Higher Educations Institutions. Since the year 2002 this Association stimulates all major universities in Mexico to develop and implement such an environmental plan. These activities on their turn fit very well into the “United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development” that started in January 2005. Finally the article presents the first promising results of the new course “The environmental challenges” that is based on many elements of the framework. It was started in 2005 in the Division of Basic Sciences and Engineering of UAM-Azcapotzalco, Mexico.     

《2019年实现可持续发展目标所需转变及其指数和指示板全球报告》分析与政策建议

联合国可持续发展解决方案网络与贝塔斯曼基金会联合发布的《2019年实现可持续发展目标所需转变及其指数和指示板全球报告》评估了162个国家和地区17项可持续发展目标(SDGs)的实现情况,在全球具有影响力。本文分析了该报告的SDG指数和指示板构建的方法学变化及新增的SDG Trend评估情况,重点针对国别、区域层面的SDGs实施进展以及中国的进展状况进行深入分析,认为OECD、东亚、拉丁美洲、非洲等区域可持续发展目标实现进展各有特征,中国总排名上升但各项SDG子目标实施进展差异大,生态环境领域仍面临严峻挑战。提出中国要加快推进构建本土化的国家和地区可持续发展目标体系、对接"一带一路"倡议与联合国2030年议程等政策建议。     

Hydrogen for a sustainable global economy

The topic of this special issue of the Journal of Cleaner Production is “Sustainable Hydrogen from Biomass.” It is of interest to practitioners in the energy sector, governmental policy makers, researchers, educators, as well as to the general public. The purpose of this special issue is to increase public awareness and to stimulate exchange of information among actors expected to play important roles in making hydrogen available for the sustainable energy system of the future.Hydrogen as a biofuel, that is, hydrogen produced from biomass in a sustainable way is recognised as an important component of the fuel market for the future low or non-carbon based energy systems. In this special issue, the main focus is on hydrogen produced from vegetable biomass by fermentation. The development of a two-stage bioprocess for the cost-effective and environmentally friendly production of pure hydrogen from multiple biomass feedstocks is elucidated by a collection of papers presenting preliminary results of Integrated Research Project HYVOLUTION supported by the 6th Framework Programme of the European Union. The attention is turned to:- the over-all concept and characteristics of the two-stage hydrogen fermentation process,- key technological issues of fermentative hydrogen production,- the availability of vegetable feedstocks including agricultural byproducts that suitable for fermentative processing,- prospects of societal integration and sustainability of the fermentative hydrogen production technology.Other papers included in this special issue are devoted to:- simultaneous production of hydrogen and methane by fermentation of lactose-containing feedstocks derived from byproducts of milk processing,- hydrogen gas generation from organic material by electrohydrogenesis, that is, a bioelectrochemical process performed in reactors known as a microbial electrolysis cells,- the ideas for Europe-wide effort on education of hydrogen users and training of skilled staff needed for facilitating the transition to the future hydrogen economy.     

区域持久性有机物的健康风险评价方法研究

随着城市和工业的发展,工业点源和机动车排放了大量有毒污染物,加剧了城市居民的健康风险.在传统的健康风险评价的基础上,提出了区域持久性有机物的健康风险评价思想,并对研究方法进行了初步探讨.在GIS的环境中,集成了ISCST3(复杂工业源扩散模型)和传统风险评价中的多种风险源累积的风险评价模型,建立起以GIS为基础的RHRA(区域健康风险评价方法).以上海市杨浦区为例,根据当地的气象条件和区域污染源的分布情况,对由该区域固定源和移动源排放的有毒污染物引起的区域人类致癌风险和非致癌风险进行了研究.结果表明:杨浦区的致癌风险值为500～1.0×104,非致癌风险指数为1.32～85.70.模拟得到有毒污染物产生的健康风险等值线图显示,区域中健康风险的大小与道路机动车流量和工业点源的分布高度相关.      

Education for sustainable development and the Young Masters Program

Education is the foundation for achieving sustainable development. The United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development declared from January 2005 to December 2014 demands a concerted effort to expand environmental education around the world. The Young Masters Program (YMP) is an international education course, which utilises the Internet to connect students, teachers, and tutors in different parts of the world. The YMP is designed for 15–18 year old students and for their teachers. It was developed by and continues to be coordinated by the International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE) at Lund University. The focus of the Young Masters Program is preventive environmental strategies in the context of sustainable development. More than 2300 students and teachers in 109 countries have participated in the Young Masters Program since 1998.     

Environmental management accounting (EMA) as the next step in the evolution of management accounting

Why should organizations and accountants care about environmental issues? Environmental performance and disclosure pressures from the supply chain, finance providers, regulatory agencies, and other stakeholders result in ever-increasing environment-related costs for organizations, but there is also an increasing recognition of the potential monetary benefits of improved environmental performance. There is also growing consensus that traditional accounting practices do not adequately provide the information required for environmental management and the strategic decisions related to it.Environmental Management Accounting (EMA) has been promoted by the Working Group on EMA of the United Nations Division for Sustainable Development UN DSD EMA WG and the publications commissioned by it [UNDESA/DSD, 2001. United Nations Division for Sustainable Development. Environmental Management Accounting, Procedures and Principles. United Nations Publications, New York/Geneva, http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/sdissues/technology/estema1.htm; UNDESA/DSD, 2002. United Nations Division for Sustainable Development. Environmental Management Accounting: Policies and Linkages. United Nations Publications, New York/Geneva, http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/sdissues/technology/estema1.htm]. Recently, IFAC has published a guidance document on EMA [International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), 2005. International Guidance Document of EMA. IFAC, New York, http://www.ifac.org] that will further promote its application among accountants.This special issue of the Journal of Cleaner Production on EMA focuses on this methodological background as well as upon experiences from case studies from Australia, Austria, Argentina, Canada, Japan and Lithuania.