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International Business, Trade and Institutional Sustainability pp 1043–1070Cite as

Unfolding the Complexities of the Sustainability Reporting Process in Higher Education: A Case Study in The University of British Columbia

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Abstract

Sustainability reporting is an important tool for the assessment and communication of sustainability performance in the corporate world; however, it is still in its early stages in higher education. Only a limited number of universities around the world have published sustainability reports, and there is still a lack of empirical evidence of how the sustainability reporting process is organized and how it contributes to sustainability integration in higher education. The aim of this paper is to provide in-depth insights into the complexities of the sustainability reporting process. A case study is presented on sustainability reporting in The University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada, covering the period of 2008–2014. The case consists of document analysis and interviews with the internal actors of the sustainability reporting process at UBC. In the study, it was found that even in an institution with a deliberate sustainability strategy and integration process, sustainability reporting is a complex undertaking. Some of the key elements adding complexity to the reporting process are the search for suitable lead authors and relevant content for the reports in consecutive reporting cycles; the different aims that reporting tries to achieve simultaneously for the sustainability integration process; and suitably addressing the different internal stakeholders that are involved in the reporting process in higher education. In order to reduce complexity in universities, assigning an internal hybrid actor to facilitate the reporting process could be helpful. Unfolding the key complexities arising when undertaking consecutive reporting cycles can help internal actors of other institutions to better design and implement the process of sustainability reporting and integration in their universities.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For an overview of SD assessment tools for HEIs, see Findler et al. (2018), Kamal and Asmuss (2013), or Yarime and Tanaka (2012).

  2. 2.

    As defined within AASHE’s STARS 2.0 framework, credit AC1 comprising of ‘sustainability courses’ and ‘courses that include sustainability’ (see AASHE 2015).

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Acknowledgements

The authors of this paper would like to acknowledge the participants of this case study at The University of British Columbia, the FWO (Research Foundation—Flanders, Belgium), Prof. Valérie Cappuyns, Prof. Tomás Ramos, and Prof. Didier Van Caillie for their support and valuable input provided for this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Toulouse Business School, 1 Place Alphonse Jourdain, CS 66810, 31068, Toulouse Cedex 7, France

    Kim Ceulemans

  2. Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia, Kelowna, BC, Canada

    Carol Scarff Seatter

  3. Centre for Economics and Corporate Sustainability, KU Leuven—University of Leuven, Warmoesberg 26, 1000, Brussels, Belgium

    Ingrid Molderez

  4. BNP Chair Ethics, Finance and Sustainability, University of Antwerp, Prinsstraat 13, 2000, Antwerp, Belgium

    Luc Van Liedekerke

  5. Center for Economics and Ethics, KU Leuven, Naamsestraat 69, 3000, Leuven, Belgium

    Luc Van Liedekerke

  6. Department of Engineering and Sustainable Development, University of Gävle, Kungsbäcksvägen 47, 80176, Gävle, Sweden

    Rodrigo Lozano

  7. Organisational Sustainability, Ltd., 40 Machen Place, Cardiff, CF11 6EQ, UK

    Rodrigo Lozano

Authors
  1. Kim Ceulemans
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  2. Carol Scarff Seatter
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  3. Ingrid Molderez
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  4. Luc Van Liedekerke
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  5. Rodrigo Lozano
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kim Ceulemans .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. European School of Sustainability Science and Research, HAW Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

  2. College of Business, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA

    Paulo R. Borges de Brito

  3. Universidade Positivo, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil

    Fernanda Frankenberger

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Ceulemans, K., Scarff Seatter, C., Molderez, I., Van Liedekerke, L., Lozano, R. (2020). Unfolding the Complexities of the Sustainability Reporting Process in Higher Education: A Case Study in The University of British Columbia. In: Leal Filho, W., Borges de Brito, P., Frankenberger, F. (eds) International Business, Trade and Institutional Sustainability. World Sustainability Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26759-9_61

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