Diffusion of sustainability reporting in universities: current situation and future perspectives

Abstract

Universities play a key role in the development of society, and their involvement in sustainable development will be crucial in changing current practices in society towards sustainable development. Thus, information about the measures and actions taken towards sustainable development needs to be communicated to all university stakeholders. Sustainability reporting is a voluntary tool for disclosing efforts towards sustainable development, but little research has analysed the diffusion of sustainability reporting among universities. This study uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to explain the worldwide diffusion of sustainability reporting in universities. At the macro level, regressions using logistic curves showed the stage of diffusion regarding sustainability reporting for different regions around the world. At the micro level, two types of data were analysed to assess the sustainable practices used among universities: (i) data from the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) sustainability reporting database and (ii) sustainability reports from the GRI database. The results indicate that the diffusion of sustainability reporting is still at an early stage in universities, and no massive diffusion is expected based on the current data, despite the increasing concerns about sustainability in young people and other university stakeholders. Some actions need to be taken to persuade universities to adopt reporting standards and to highlight the benefits and necessity of sustainability reporting. Some European universities, which are the most active universities in providing sustainability reports, have improved their visibility by adopting the GRI, thus increasing their endowments and facilitating their ability to raise funds for future sustainability activities.