The Sustainable University – A Model for the Sustainable Organization

Abstract

Abstract The issue of sustainable development (SD) is increasingly present among the concerns of the international academic community. However, the depth of our unsustainable practices suggests that insufficient progress has been made to move from an unsustainable lifestyle to sustainable development. By sharing ideas, concepts, tools, experiences learned in different contexts, it is anticipated that we will all learn many things that will help us to help our academic communities and companies to develop the skills to make progress towards sustainable development. In response to increasing concerns of society about environmental degradation and increasing demands for a transition to a more sustainable society, the business companies are increasingly active in aligning their processes and services with a sustainability agenda. A good management of environmental services has now become the focus of many business strategies tending to the aspiration of ‘greening’ their infrastructures and product deliveries. The growing demand for "green" products has created major new markets in which visionary entrepreneurs reap the rewards of approaching sustainability. Hence, by adopting sustainable practices, companies can gain competitive advantage, increase market share and boost shareholder value. The sustainable university can be am model for the organizations that want to embark in the process of transition towards sustainability. This paper presents a model of the sustainable university and the steps that the management of such an organization should follow in order to transform their institution into a green one.