Sustainability Reporting and the Sustainable Development Goals in Higher Education: A Portuguese University Case

Sonia Monteiro, Veronica Ribeiro and Katia Lemos

Chapter 8 in The Complexities of Sustainability, 2022, pp 235-265 from World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.

Abstract: The year 2015 represented a historic mark for sustainable development, with the approval of the 2030 Agenda at the United Nations (UN) summit, which defined 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The UN 2030 Agenda provides a universal framework to which each country, region, and community can prioritise its needs and address them locally. Higher education institutions (HEIs) can and must provide a holistic approach to the 2030 Agenda and advance it since the SDGs are a key aspect of their social responsibility (Vilalta et al., 2018). The UN Agenda 2030 represents an opportunity for the improvement of university management, the relationship with stakeholders and the community, and the articulation and consolidation of education policies with the SDGs. Sustainability education can provide students with the in-depth competence to incorporate sustainability into the consciousness of the future, as citizens and professionals. Thus, HEIs will need to be able to plan, evaluate and monitor their contributions to the SDGs, and review their strategies accordingly. Therefore, reports can play a key role, informing HEIs’ progress towards sustainability in four main areas (learning and teaching, research, organisational governance, and external leadership) and shaping future commitments and actions. This chapter aims to develop a longitudinal study regarding the evolution of the sustainability report in a Portuguese Public University — the University of Minho — seeking to analyse how this University includes its contributions towards the SDGs of the 2030 Agenda in its disclosures. The study methodology is based on content analysis of the information disclosed in the sustainability reports published until 2016, referring to the period 2010–2015. The results indicate that the university adopted the Global Reporting Initiative guidelines. The alignment with the UN goals was made for the first time in the last sustainability report.

Keywords: Sustainability; Sustainable Development; Corporate Social Responsibility; Corporate Governance; Pandemic; Science; Technology; Innovation; Organisation; Society; Accounting; Government; Multinational; Reporting; Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); Higher Education; Universities; Environment; Corporate Performance; Management; Disclosure (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G34 L26 M14 Q01 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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