Collaborations, connections and change: the UNGC, GRI, PRME & GRLI (plus business school accreditation)

1. Improving the sustainability of UniversitiesAustralian International Education Conference 2013Dr Carol Adams Director, Integrated Horizons Professor, Monash Sustainability InstituteTwitter @ProfCarolAdams www.drcaroladams.net www.integrated-horizons.com

2. Collaborations, connections and change: the UNGC, GRI, PRME & GRLI (plus business school accreditation) www.drcaroladams.net www.integrated-horizons.com • Increasing corporate take up of the UNGC Principles requires know how and aptitude • UNGC signatories can comply with COP requirements with a GRI report • Education is material to a University’s sustainability performance (adopting a materiality approach to sustainability performance management) • PRME approach becoming more significant in business school accreditation • GRLI developing the tools for implementing PRME • Practical Guide to the UNGC for Higher Education suggests using GRI • See Adams and Petrella (2010), Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal

3. Why should Universities care about sustainability? • Pressing local and global issues with far reaching consequences – Universities have a key role in solving them • Influence future leaders and parents • The sector should be leading – not lagging • (International) students like it • Provides a reason for working across functions and disciplines • Reputation • Reduce costs and risks www.drcaroladams.net www.integrated-horizons.com

4. How do Universities become more sustainable? • President/VC and Board/Council support and involvement • (Pro-active) leadership • Buy-in from responsible senior managers • Engage with stakeholders – especially staff, students and local communities • Define and communicate your sustainability vision and mission • Goal and target setting, planning, culture, policy www.drcaroladams.net www.integrated-horizons.com

5. Cultural and institutional challenges • Inertia, resistance (from lack of know-how and resources) • Unimaginative leadership • Lack of opportunity/expectation to make cross boundary/discipline connections • Those wanting change have difficulty influencing the decision makers (making the business case) • Aligning values • Funding mechanisms, performance measurement systems, planning processes, recruitment processes www.drcaroladams.net www.integrated-horizons.com

6. The context – sector benchmarking and policy • University sustainability reports available from university websites and www.corporateregister.com • People and Planet’s Green League table of UK universities http://peopleandplanet.org/greenleague • College Sustainability Report Card for North American Universities www.greenreportcard.org • Association for Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education www.aashe.org • Environment Association for Universities and Colleges www.euac.org.uk • Australian Government’s National Action Plan for Education for Sustainability www.environment.gov.au/education/nap/index.html www.drcaroladams.net www.integrated-horizons.com

7. Target Setting www.drcaroladams.net www.integrated-horizons.com • Short, medium, and long term • Targets aim to promote continuous sustainability improvement • Quantified targets established against KPIs • Actions to be undertaken in order to achieve the targets Report extracts in this presentation are from La Trobe University’s Creating Futures report

8. Targets for change www.drcaroladams.net www.integrated-horizons.com • Sustainability KPIs • environmental, social and economic • operations, curriculum and research • tool for measuring, and being accountable for, sustainability progress

9. Environmental quantified targets www.drcaroladams.net www.integrated-horizons.com

10. Actions and follow up • All targets require clear actions with nominated person(s) responsible • Regular reporting on actions www.drcaroladams.net www.integrated-horizons.com

11. Award winning reports www.drcaroladams.net www.integrated-horizons.com • UNGC COP at Advanced Level • Global Reporting Initiative’s sustainability reporting guidelines • Externally assured to AA1000AS • Include educational and research measures

12. Awards for Responsible Futures & Creating Futures • Best First Time report’ award - ACCA Sustainability Reporting Awards 2011 • Best First Time sustainability report - CorporateRegister.com Awards 2011 • Finalist – Australasian Reporting Award, Sustainability reporting award. Judges comment: • clearly demonstrate that sustainable development is a core business strategy • gives specific targets for the short term, medium term and long term • identifies areas of poor performance • Creating Futures ranked 5th in the CorporateRegister.com Awards 2012 beating experienced MNC reporters plus 5th for relevance and materiality, 8th for honesty and openness and 2nd for credibility through assurance. www.drcaroladams.net www.integrated-horizons.com

13. The PRME SIP report www.drcaroladams.net www.integrated-horizons.com • Educational and research components • Includes actions against each of the PRME initiative’s Principles which adds in detail processes used as well as outcomes achieved. • Measures must reflect actual achievements; otherwise will the report will be seen as “greenwashing”. • Reporting leads to actions which drive change. SIP = Sharing Information on Progress

14. Why PRME is important www.drcaroladams.net www.integrated-horizons.com • a framework for continual improvement. • a forum for discussion of educational values. • an important link to integrate processes to outcomes of responsible management. • a framework to drill down into how responsible management can be achieved.

15. Important reporting issues www.drcaroladams.net www.integrated-horizons.com • Identify key issues for your institution, sector, country • Negative impacts • SMART targets (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-based) • Process • Assurance (incl. approach, benefits, response) • Short hard copy report with better use of web technology for detail

16. The role of reporting guidelines or regulation and audit www.drcaroladams.net www.integrated-horizons.com • Not required to report and not audited = not important • If not reported, data is not collected and/or performance is not monitored • If not reported, there is no accountability and no incentive to improve performance. • If not audited, data collection systems remain basic/inadequate

17. What is sustainable procurement? Sustainable procurement is the process of acquiring goods and services that: • Meet users’ needs • Deliver long term value for money • Maximise social and economic benefits • Minimise damage to the environment and health. Buying a Better World Forum for the Future (2007) www.drcaroladams.net www.integrated-horizons.com

18. What is sustainable procurement? Sustainable Procurement is a process whereby organisations meet their needs for goods, services, works and utilities in a way that achieves value for money on a whole life basis in terms of generating benefits not only to the organisation, but also to society and the economy, whilst minimising damage to the environment. Procuring for the Future UK Govt. Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (2011) www.drcaroladams.net www.integrated-horizons.com

19. Where are you at on sustainable procurement? • Is your boss committed to strengthening sustainable procurement? • Does your university have an agreed focus on sustainable procurement? Is it part of an agreed operational plan? • Is it included in your position description in any way? • Is it included in a procurement policy? • Does it encompass goods, services, infrastructure and energy? • Do you publicly report targets, actions and achievements against them? www.drcaroladams.net www.integrated-horizons.com

20. What can HR do? Reinforcing the message and improving performance through: • Job descriptions • Job advertisements • Internal cultures, leadership styles • Staff induction/ Training • Performance appraisal www.drcaroladams.net www.integrated-horizons.com

21. Thank you@ProfCarolAdams www.drcaroladams.net www.integrated-horizons.com