| 1. |
- Bautista-Puig, Núria, Postdoc Researcher, 1987-, et al.
(författare)
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Developing a sustainability implementation framework: insights from academic research on tools, initiatives and approaches
- 2023
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Ingår i: Environment, Development and Sustainability. - : Springer. - 1387-585X .- 1573-2975. ; , s. 11011-11031
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Sustainability has been proposed to address societal challenges. A number of efforts have been undertaken to implement sustainability, particularly through frameworks such as tools, initiatives and approaches (TIAs). Most of the research on the implementation efforts has been in the corporate context. This paper is aimed at analysing the implementation of TIAs in academic research. A bibliometric analysis of twenty TIAs during the period 1961–2020 was carried out to analyse their implementation in academic research. The results highlight that there has been research published on all the TIAs analysed. The TIAs have a better balance and interrelations between the sustainability dimensions in their implementation than in the theory. The results show that for a better implementation of TIAs in academic research it is necessary to address sustainability dimensions (economic, environmental, social, and time) in a holistic and balanced way considering alignment of general and specific efforts, i.e. TIAs, and congruence (linking ‘theory’ and ‘implementation’). The results were integrated to propose a ‘Sustainability Implementation Framework’ (SIF), which is divided into three levels (i.e., Initiatives, Approaches, and Tools). The TIAs implementation should follow more strictly the definitions, or, perhaps, the TIAs definitions should be redefined to encompass the insights from their implementation.
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| 2. |
- Blanco-Portela, Norka, et al.
(författare)
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Sustainability Leaders’ Perceptions on the Drivers for and the Barriers to the Integration of Sustainability in Latin American Higher Education Institutions
- 2018
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Ingår i: Sustainability. - : MDPI. - 2071-1050. ; 10:8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Higher education institutions (HEIs) have been steadily progressing towards the integrationof sustainable practices in their structures and operations. Several studies have reported the varietyof drivers of change and the barriers to change that universities have found in the integrationprocess. The present investigation is aimed at further characterizing and ranking the drivers for,and barriers of, sustainability integration in HEIs within their structures and operating functions.Open-ended expert opinion interviews of key sustainability leaders appointed at 45 HEIs from10 Latin-American countries were conducted in order to learn lessons from their diverse experiencesof the process. Additionally, a thematic workshop on HEI sustainability was organized to facilitatefurther discussions between 23 sustainability scholars and/or national coordinators of universitynetworks from 11 Latin American countries. As a result, 15 barriers were identified as hinderingthe institutionalization of sustainability in HEIs. This study also examined the relationship betweenthese reported barriers with 13 main drivers that were identified to be facilitating the integration ofsustainable practices within the organizational and academic structures at the universities. The strongcorrespondence between the several observed drivers for, and barriers to, change highlights theimportance of strategic planning that offers integrated actions. The findings of this paper can serveas a reference to assist HEIs in identifying drivers of, and barriers to, sustainability, so that the formercan be fostered and the latter addressed effectively. This can help identify and plan targeted actionsto make the transition towards sustainability in HEIs more natural and effective.
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| 3. |
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Developing Sustainability Competences Through Pedagogical Approaches
- 2021
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Samlingsverk (redaktörskap) (refereegranskat)abstract
- This book is aimed at developing sustainability competences through pedagogical approaches by comparing 15 case studies from 12 countries in 4 continents (Africa, America, Australia, and Europe) analysing how Sustainable Development (SD) is being taught in their courses, which competences are being developed, and which pedagogical approaches are being used to develop the competences. The book brings together practice-based original research on the connection between developing sustainability competences and the pedagogical approaches used, utilizing a framework aimed at helping educators in creating and updating their courses to provide a more complete, holistic, and systemic sustainability education to future leaders, decision makers, educators, and change agents. Compared to previous works addressing SD in education, which often mostly cover tools for improving the sustainability of campus operations, this approach uses assessment tools to uniquely focus on how courses and programmes (i.e. curricula) incorporate SD. Through the case studies, readers will learn about how the 3 major groups of pedagogical approaches have been used: (1) Universal, meaning broadly applicable pedagogies that have been used in many disciplines and contexts; (2) Community and social justice, which are pedagogies developed specifically for use in addressing social justice and community-building; and (3) Environmental education, which are pedagogies emerging from environmental sciences and environmental education practices.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Lozano, Rodrigo, et al.
(författare)
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Analysing the factors affecting the incorporation of sustainable development into European Higher Education Institutions' curricula
- 2019
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Ingår i: Sustainable Development. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0968-0802 .- 1099-1719. ; 27:5, s. 965-975
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- There has been an increase in sustainable development (SD) integration into Higher Education Institutions' (HEIs) curricula. Several tools have been developed to assess SD in HEIs; however, only a few have focussed on curricula assessment, such as the “Sustainability Tool for Assessing UNiversities' Curricula Holistically.” Curricula assessment can provide an overview on how courses and programmes incorporate SD. This paper analyses the factors affecting the incorporation of SD in curricula using a survey sent to a database of 4,099 European contacts, with a response rate of 9.85%. The responses were analysed using descriptive statistics, t test, ANOVA, and correlations. The analyses showed that (a) teaching in European courses covers many issues of sustainability in a fairly good balance, with the exception of social issues that are the least addressed; (b) there are correlations between the economic, environmental, social, and cross‐cutting themes; (c) females tend to teach SD in a more balanced way than men; (d) the HEIs types have no influence on how SD is being taught, but the education level has; and (e) some countries, in the case of this research, Italy and Spain, may show more interest, yet the average results tended to be lower than those others, in this research, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands. Curricula assessment provides a diagnostic of SD incorporation and the factors that affect it. This can help educators improve their courses and provide students with better SD skills and insights
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Lozano, Rodrigo, et al.
(författare)
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Corporate Sustainability Initiatives : Their use and results
- 2019
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Corporate leaders and employees have been increasingly recognising their role in contributing to sustainability. In this context, different voluntary tools, approaches, and initiatives have been developed by and for corporations to engage with sustainability. Each initiative has advantages with respect to scope and focus for the sustainability dimensions and the company system’s elements, but it has certain disadvantages when it comes to dealing with the complexity and broadness of sustainability. Relying on one initiative can result in a limited and narrow contribution to sustainability and curtail coverage of the company’s system and using too many tools wastes resources and energy due to duplication in tasks. The paper provides an analysis of the use of twenty-four of the most widely used initiatives (e.g. life cycle assessment, eco-design, cleaner production, corporate social responsibility, and sustainability reporting) by companies. A survey was developed for investigating the importance of how sustainability has been embedded in organisations. Most of the questions were on a five-point scale (extremely important to not at all important or completely agree to completely disagree) and rankings. The survey was applied using the online survey tool Qualtrics (2018). The survey was sent to a database of 5,299 contacts from different organisations (of which 3603 were companies) obtained from the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) database, and personal contacts. Of the responses 215 were from companies, but only 189 provided useable responses for the tools and approaches used, of which 27 were from Sweden.The tools most widely used were Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Sustainability, and GRI reports (in the top quintile) by all companies, and Corporate Sustainability, Corporate Social Responsibility, Eco-efficiency, and Socially/Sustainable Responsible Investment by Swedish companies. The tools least used (in the lowest quintile) were Factor X, The Natural Step, SA8000, and ISO 26000 by all companies, and Factor X, SA8000, Industrial ecology, ISO 26000, EMAS, AA1000, and The Natural Step by Swedish companies. For all the companies, 5.6 tools in average provided good results, 6.5 some results, 2.5 no perceived results, and 0.1 negative results. There are some initiatives that are well known and provide results (some and good) when used, such as corporate social responsibility, corporate sustainability, GRI reports, and eco-efficiency). There are some initiatives that are not known/not used (e.g. Factor X, The Natural Step, SA8000, and ISO26000). The most widely know initiatives focus mainly on management and strategy, and assessment and reporting with a broad sustainability perspective. In general, the four more widely known initiatives have a good ratio of results versus no results. The cluster and analysis and PCA groups can serve as guides to decide which initiatives to combine in order to address the company system and sustainability dimensions. A combination between four to six initiatives should provide the most efficient way to address sustainability. There have been many initiatives proposed to contribute to sustainability by and for corporations. To better achieve this, the initiatives need to be combined efficiently in a holistic way to address the company and sustainability dimensions.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Lozano, Rodrigo, et al.
(författare)
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Teaching Sustainability in European Higher Education Institutions : Assessing the Connections between Competences and Pedagogical Approaches
- 2019
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Ingår i: Sustainability. - : MDPI. - 2071-1050. ; 11:6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- There has been considerable progress in the incorporation of sustainable development (SD) into higher education institutions’ curricula. This has included research on competences for SD and pedagogical approaches used; however, there has been limited research on the connection between how pedagogical approaches are used and how they may develop sustainability competences. A survey was developed, based on the ‘connecting sustainable development pedagogical approaches to competences’ framework, to investigate sustainability being taught, sustainability competences developed, and pedagogical approaches used in European higher education institutions. The survey was sent to a database of more than 4000 contacts from which 390 complete responses (9.80%) were obtained. The results show that the social dimension was the least addressed at 18% of responses, while the economic, environmental, and cross-cutting dimensions were addressed almost equally. The correlation analyses showed a relation between the contribution to sustainability and the strength of competences, and between the strength of competences and the strength of pedagogical approaches. The results from the survey helped to update the theoretical framework, which provides a more precise perspective on how sustainability competences can be better developed in class, and how to better develop all the sustainability competences
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| 10. |
- Lozano, Rodrigo, et al.
(författare)
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Teaching Sustainability in European Higher Education Institutions: Assessing the Connections between Competences and Pedagogical Approaches
- 2019
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- There has been considerable progress in the incorporation of SD into the curricula of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), where European HEIs have been leaders. This has included research on competences for sustainable development, and how to deliver such competences through pedagogical approaches; however, there has been limited research on the connection between how courses are delivered (pedagogical approaches) and how they may affect sustainability competences. A survey was developed to investigate sustainability being taught, sustainability competences delivered, and pedagogical approaches used in European Higher Education Institutions. The survey was sent to a database of more than 4,000 contacts of teachers and professors in Europe from which 390 complete responses (9.80%) were obtained. The social dimension of sustainability was the least addressed at 18%, while the other dimensions (economic, environmental, and cross-cutting) were addressed almost equally at between 27% and 28%. A correlation analysis was done between a) the Contribution to sustainability, b) Strength of competences, and c) Strength of pedagogical approaches, which show a stronger correlation between Strength of competences to Contribution and Strength of pedagogical approaches to Strength of competences than between the Strength of pedagogical approaches and Contribution was lower. A correlation analysis was then carried out between the sustainability STAUNCH® dimensions (economic, environmental, social, and cross-cutting themes) and the competences. The analysis showed that the correlations are stronger in the cross-cutting themes, followed by the social, the environmental, and the economic ones. Finally, a correlation analysis was carried out between the competences and the pedagogical approaches. The results obtained were between 0.0426 and 0.5555. A comparison of the survey results and the theoretical framework (see Lozano et al., 2017) was carried out to detect the differences. Three pedagogical approaches deliver the most competences (Eco-justice and community, Project and/or problem-based learning, and Community service learning). The updated framework shows that there is a general perception that the pedagogical approaches may deliver the sustainability competences, with some particular exceptions, such as Case studies, Supply chain/Life cycle analysis, and Lecturing. The updated framework provides a more precise perspective on how sustainability competences can be better delivered in class, and how to better deliver the ‘Full Monty’ of sustainability competences.
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