Search Results (19)

In this study, we provide, to our knowledge, one of the first multidimensional, data-driven evaluations of green education performance in Turkish higher education, combining the THE Education Score, THE Impact Score, and the UI GreenMetric Education & Research Score (GM-ED) with institutional characteristics, and situating the analysis within SDG 4 (Quality Education). While universities worldwide increasingly integrate sustainability into their missions, systematic evidence from middle-income systems remains scarce. To address this gap, we compile a dataset of 50 Turkish universities combining three global indicators—the Times Higher Education (THE) Education Score, THE Impact Score, and the UI GreenMetric Education & Research Score (GM-ED)—with institutional characteristics such as ownership and student enrollment. We employ descriptive statistics; correlation analysis; robust regression models; composite indices under equal, PCA, and entropy-based weighting; and exploratory k-means clustering. Results show that integration of sustainability into curricula and research is the most consistent predictor of SDG-oriented performance, while institutional size and ownership exert limited influence. In addition, we propose composite indices (GECIs). GECIs confirm stable top performers across methods, but mid-ranked universities are volatile, indicating that governance and strategic orientation matter more than structural capacity. The study contributes to international debates by framing green education as both a measurable indicator and a transformative institutional practice. For Türkiye, our findings highlight the need to move beyond symbolic initiatives toward systemic reforms that link accreditation, funding, and governance with green education outcomes. More broadly, we demonstrate how universities in middle-income contexts can institutionalize sustainability and provide a replicable framework for assessing progress toward SDG 4. Full article

This paper presents TwinP2G, a software application for optimal planning of investments in power-to-gas (PtG) systems. TwinP2G provides simulation and optimization services for the techno-economic analysis of user-customized energy networks. The core of TwinP2G is based on power flow simulation; however it supports energy sector coupling, including electricity, green hydrogen, natural gas, and synthetic methane. The framework provides a user-friendly user interface (UI) suitable for various user roles, including data scientists and energy experts, using visualizations and metrics on the assessed investments. An identity and access management mechanism also serves the security and authorization needs of the framework. Finally, TwinP2G revolutionizes the concept of data availability and data sharing by granting its users access to distributed energy datasets available in the EnerShare Data Space. These data are available to TwinP2G users for conducting their experiments and extracting useful insights on optimal PtG investments for the energy grid. Full article

The UI GreenMetric World University Ranking has become a widely adopted instrument for benchmarking institutional sustainability performance; nevertheless, empirically grounded evidence from universities in diverse regional contexts remains scarce. This study undertakes a rigorous appraisal of the extent to which Mahasarakham University (MSU) has institutionalized the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within its pedagogical offerings, research portfolio, community outreach, and governance arrangements during the 2021–2024 strategic cycle. Employing a mixed-methods design and guided by the 2024 UI GreenMetric Education and Research indicators, this investigation analyzed institutional datasets pertaining to curriculum provision, ring-fenced research funding, 574 peer-reviewed sustainability publications, student-led community initiatives, and supporting governance mechanisms; the analysis was interpreted through a Plan–Do–Check–Act management lens. The number of sustainability-oriented academic programs expanded from 49 to 58. Student participation in community service activities strongly recovered following the COVID-19 pandemic, and MSU’s GreenMetric score increased from 7575 to 8475, thereby elevating the institution to the 100th position globally. These gains were facilitated by strategic SDG-aligned investment, cross-sector collaboration, and the consolidation of international partnerships anchored in Thailand’s Isaan region. The MSU case provides a transferable model for universities—particularly those operating in resource-constrained contexts—endeavoring to align institutional development with the SDGs and internationally recognized quality benchmarks. The findings substantiate the capacity of transformative education and applied research to engender enduring societal and environmental benefits. Full article

University campuses face significant challenges in balancing energy efficiency, renewable energy adoption, and sustainable transportation while meeting budgetary constraints and sustainability goals. While existing optimization approaches typically address these as separate problems, this study presents an innovative multi-objective optimization framework that integrates building efficiency, renewable energy, electric vehicle charging, and sustainability scoring criteria into a unified model. The approach formulates a mixed-integer non-linear programming model with three competing objectives: minimizing primary energy consumption, minimizing investment cost, and maximizing sustainability metrics, addressing the critical need for comprehensive campus energy management tools. The optimization model was applied to the R&D Park Building of Erciyes University, utilizing actual building parameters, time-variable electricity pricing, and commercially available renewable energy technologies. Our analysis of the Pareto-optimal solutions reveals distinct trade-offs between the objectives, with primary energy consumption ranging from 1,317,860 to 4,642,770 GJ/year, investment costs between $25,735 and $485,674, and sustainability scores between 366 and 1034. Most significant for practical implementation is the balanced performance solution ($127,064), which achieves minimum energy consumption (1,367,010 GJ/year) while securing a substantial sustainability score of 538 points. The results demonstrate that while inherent trade-offs exist between competing objectives, significant sustainability improvements are achievable at intermediate investment levels, making meaningful environmental progress accessible to a broad spectrum of higher education institutions. This comprehensive optimization framework provides campus administrators with a practical decision-support tool for aligning energy systems with institutional priorities, budgetary constraints, and sustainability commitments. Full article

Universities, as hubs of economic, technological, and social knowledge development, have increasingly adopted metric-based strategies to guide resource management and monitor their growth. The Sustainable University World Ranking, UI GreenMetric, is widely applied for this purpose, measuring performance across six categories aligned with the United Nations Agenda 2030—Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study focused on assessing information concerning the water category of this ranking, or the five water management indicators, at the School of Arts, Sciences, and Humanities of the University of São Paulo, to estimate its classification. The methodology involves assessing the current situation of the university in terms of each indicator, and classifying it according to the ranking guidelines. The information obtained is treated as evidence for posterior validation with the ranking. The findings indicate satisfactory performance in the indicators of water 1, 3, and 5. Notably, the implementation of rainwater collection and storage systems has been successful, alongside maintaining potable water parameters for consumption within the campus, as well as the use of efficient water-saving devices. Indicators 2 and 4, related to effluent treatment and water reuse, are expected to achieve higher classifications with the reactivation of the wastewater treatment system’s operation. Over the period from May 2023 to June 2024, the average daily water consumption was measured at 52.89 ± 25.23 m³ day⁻¹, with a per capita consumption rate of 10.28 L consumer agent⁻¹ day⁻¹. An anticipated 20% reduction in water consumption is expected upon the incorporation of water reuse initiatives. The use of the UI GreenMetric framework has been found strategic and useful as a diagnostic tool, facilitating the identification of areas requiring improvement and guiding efforts toward enhancing the sustainability of the institution. Full article

As acceleration toward the transition to a carbon-neutral energy production becomes an urgent imperative, universities are called to play a multifaceted role: to produce knowledge and cutting-edge research for the pursuit of energy transition; to transform infrastructures to promote circular economy practices and a more sustainable use of their building stock; and to promote energy citizenship through formal and informal education. The authors aim to move from these considerations to critically present some actions and programs in education, research, and campus operations in which the University of Bologna is engaged. The first part presents an overview of the role of universities in this transition, with a focus on the UI GreenMetric international standard for assessing the different dimensions of sustainability. In the core section, an empirical focus is provided on Bologna and its Cesena campus through three directions: the University’s multicampus sustainable strategy (campus operations), the relevant research–action projects on energy justice and the energy transition (research), and the EN-ACTION project to foster energy citizenship and behavioral change in students and citizens (education). This study concludes that the comprehensive approach of the University of Bologna in integrating sustainability into its operations, education, and research while fostering student engagement in energy citizenship, provides a replicable model for other institutions. It highlights the need for consistent and ongoing support to ensure the long-term impact and effectiveness of sustainability initiatives. The integration of social components and engagement with civil society is crucial for fostering a collective behavioral shift toward low-carbon systems, which can be further supported by interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research approaches. Full article

Investigation of cities’ spatiotemporal dynamics, including vegetation and urban areas, is of utmost importance for understanding ecological balance, urban planning, and sustainable development. This study investigated the dynamic interactions between vegetation, settlement patterns, and surface urban heat islands (SUHIs) in Istanbul using spatiotemporal hotspot analysis. Utilizing Landsat satellite imagery, we applied the Getis-Ord Gi* statistic to analyze Land Surface Temperature (LST), Urban Index (UI), and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) across the city. Using satellite images and the Getis-Ord Gi* statistic, this research investigated how vegetation and urbanization impact SUHIs. Based on the main results, mean NDVI, UI, and LST values for 2009 and 2017 were analyzed, revealing significant vegetation loss in 37 of Istanbul’s 39 districts, with substantial urbanization, especially in the north, due to new infrastructure development. On the other hand, hotspot analysis was conducted on normalized NDVI, UI, and LST images by analyzing 977 neighborhoods. Results showed a significant transformation of green areas to non-significant classes in NDVI, high urbanization in UI, and the formation of new hot areas in LST. SUHIs were found to cluster in areas with increasing residential and industrial activities, highlighting the role of urban development on SUHI formation. This research can be applied to any region since it offers crucial perspectives for decision-makers and urban planners aiming to mitigate SUHI effects through targeted greening strategies and sustainable urban development. By integrating environmental metrics into urban planning, this study underscores the need for comprehensive and sustainable approaches to enhance urban resilience, reduce environmental impact, and improve livability in Istanbul. Full article

This research aims to review the educational and research operations of Mahasarakham University and propose development directions for the university to meet the sustainable development criteria for ranking as a green university. This involves gathering data and analyzing the results of operations over the past 3 years, then using this analysis to synthesize the lessons learned and develop guidelines for sustainable development in the coming years. The study utilizes a robust methodology involving policy analysis, strategic planning, performance evaluation, and data integration. The study found that the university’s policies and strategies implemented following the annual performance evaluation criteria align with the green university assessment criteria for education and research. This has resulted in minor improvements in the curriculum for sustainability. However, community service projects for sustainability have increased by 89.10%, while funding for sustainable research and academic publications related to sustainability has decreased. In summary, the projects under the university’s development strategy adequately support and drive suitable development activities. Nevertheless, the university must continuously review its operations to adapt to changing contexts, budget constraints, evolving competition, and long-term development towards the implementation of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) to develop in the future. Full article

The continuity of activities and projects is important for sustainably developing organizations, especially universities. The purpose of this study is to establish university development guidelines regarding waste management according to the green university ranking criteria for sustainable development by studying and collecting the data for Mahasarakham University covering the last five years (2019–2023). We also analyzed and synthesized lessons learned from the details of the operations and the factors involved in the university’s successes while comparing and providing suggestions for its operations in the coming year. This study found that effective waste management led to continuous improvements that achieved the goals of Mahasarakham University. These consisted of five guidelines, as follows: (1) making green university policies and using them as a KPI (key performance index) of the administrative divisions and also announcing the university’s waste management policies by applying the principles of 3R (Reuse, Reduce, Recycle); (2) allocating budgets supporting the projects’ activities according to the evaluation criteria; (3) driving operations through student and personnel participation as well as the mechanisms used by the committees from various administrative divisions, such as the Student Council, the Student Association and clubs; (4) identifying the main responsible individuals and committees for the green university who communicate and drive the operations while collecting, analyzing and preparing the data; and (5) performing follow-ups and evaluations of the project’s activities with the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) processes, facilitating continuous and sustainable developments and improvements leading to a green university. With the above operations, Mahasarakham University’s waste management scores for the six indices during the period 2019–2023 increased annually as follows: 900, 900, 1050, 1275 and 1350. Full article

Developing universities to become green and sustainable universities is important. This is in line with the world’s sustainable development guidelines. In developing a university towards being green and sustainable, different sustainability assessment criteria have been used, including the UI GreenMetric, GRI, STARS, AUN, THE’S Impact Ranking, and AISHE. Each criterion is designed in a broad-spectrum manner that is not specific. Therefore, this research aims to develop sustainable and green university assessment indicators that suit the national context in Thailand, both in terms of the size and location of universities. Based on the criteria from the UI GreenMetric, there are six categories, totaling 51 indicators. Thus, this study aims to analyze the weaknesses and strengths of each indicator using a questionnaire distributed by the Sustainable University Network of Thailand to all 36 universities and to organize a meeting with sustainability experts (focus group) in each area. To obtain appropriate indicators and to prioritize each indicator, the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and weighted arithmetic mean (WAM) method were used to develop an index of sustainability assessment criteria (GU SI) suitable for the Thai context. The results of this study show that the newly developed GU SI comprises seven aspects, including a total of 27 indicators. These are criteria that can be used to assess the sustainability of small, medium, and large universities. They are not complex, are straightforward to use, and more importantly reflect the Thai context. By applying these new sustainability assessment criteria, it was found that the universities sampled in this study yielded significantly high scores. This study is limited by its application of sustainability assessments to only universities in Thailand. Though there are different contexts across different Thai universities, the proposed indicators can still be used to evaluate the sustainability of universities in Thailand. Full article

The article is devoted to the study of summit and diversity of the environmental impact of St. Petersburg State University as a subject of environmental management and the characteristics of the formation of a “green” image in the digital environment. The goals of this study were to study the current condition of the application of the green campus concept at St. Petersburg State University and other Russian and foreign universities; to prepare proposals for further developmental concepts at St. Petersburg State University; to identify the theoretical aspects and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the “green” image of the University; to elaborate on practical recommendations for improving the “green” image of St. Petersburg State University. It was revealed that St. Petersburg State University is developing some elements of the green campus concept on its territory and could compete with other Russian and foreign universities in the level of implementation of environmental initiatives. At the same time, during the analysis of its strengths and weaknesses it was found that the “green” image of St. Petersburg State University is not highly developed. The results of the work indicate the most effective methods of forming a “green” image of the university and create a system of indicators based on the questionnaire of the rating “University of Indonesia (UI) Green Metric World University Ranking”. Full article

The concept of sustainability has become more important, especially as a result of the depletion of energy resources and increasing environmental concerns. UI GreenMetric ranks universities based on sustainability, environmental, and energy concerns, addressing issues of environmental pollution, food and water scarcity, and energy supply. By prioritizing sustainability on their campuses and campuses, universities are working to ensure a more sustainable future for humanity. This study evaluates university sustainability in energy and climate change using the UI GreenMetric ranking, focusing on Turkish universities’ sustainability ranking. It incorporates variables like infrastructure, energy, climate change, waste, water, public transportation, and educational research, using weighting approaches to reveal the most important variables for the country’s universities. The study utilized weighting techniques like CRITIC, entropy, standard deviation-based, and equal weighting approaches to obtain rankings for UI GreenMetric rankings. Entropy and equal weighting methods were found to be closest to the UI GreenMetric rankings. Universities’ rankings were analyzed using the TOPSIS method and four weighting techniques for 83 Turkish universities. For Turkish universities, the CRITIC method yielded the highest weight for energy and climate change variables, while water was identified as the most significant factor for entropy, installation infrastructure, and standard deviation-based weighting techniques. Full article

In this research, the moderating effect of green knowledge sharing was used to investigate the association between green human resources management (green HRM) practices (competence, motivation, and involvement) and environmental performance via employee environmental commitment. Using previously validated metrics, an online survey of 155 academic staff members from 25 Pakistani universities ranked in the UI-Green Metric 2021 for having green campuses was carried out. The findings demonstrated a significant relationship between green HRM practices, employee environmental commitment, and the university’s environmental performance. The correlation between all three green HRM practices and environmental performance was mediated by the employee’s environmental commitment. The findings indicate that in order to improve environmental performance and reach environmental sustainability goals, it is essential to foster green knowledge sharing among employees and increase employee environmental commitment through green HRM practices. Full article

As more higher education institutions strive to embed sustainable development principles in their teaching, it becomes increasingly important to identify indicators that can measure institutional contribution in a meaningful and internationally comparable manner. This paper shows that existing sustainability rankings, such as the UI Green Metric and THE Impact ranking, have paid relatively little attention to indicators on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). In a quest to develop such indicators for U-Multirank—the multi-dimensional transparency and ranking tool—we reviewed the literature, consulted experts, and ran a survey amongst practitioners. This article summarises opportunities and challenges for developing internationally comparable ESD indicators in the higher education sector, discussing indicator relevance, validity, and feasibility. The results suggest that (i) ESD indicators are considered highly relevant by diverse stakeholders; (ii) the majority of HEIs surveyed are planning to collect ESD data within 3 years, signalling good prospects for data feasibility; (iii) the ESD indicators proposed so far still lack criteria that would allow one to sufficiently identify and compare these indicators across countries, inhibiting indicator validity. At least three potential definitions are used by HEIs. The results of this paper can contribute to the discussion on identifying appropriate criteria for the development of ESD indicators and their use in international rankings. Full article

This study presents a methodology to estimate the seven indicators of the Setting and Infrastructure criterion of the UI GreenMetric World University Ranking based on three-dimensional data from a point cloud taken from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). This study also estimated the potential aerial biomass, C and CO₂, stored in the green spaces of a university campus using photogrammetric data analyzed in a Geographic Information System (GIS). The method was based on isolating classified point clouds using digital surface models (DSMs) and ground control points (GCPs) considering the canopy height model (CHM), the allometric equation (DBH, p, h), the biomass conversion factor, and carbon dioxide equivalents (CO₂-e). The results confirmed that the national models for estimating the potential C reserves in natural forests are very close to reality and that the open space and green areas available to people on campus are adequate. The use of photogrammetric data facilitated the estimation of UI GreenMetric indicators from a highly detailed, low-cost three-dimensional model. The results of a case study revealed that the campus assimilates the CO₂ emissions it produces and generates a surplus. Full article