MEASURING SUSTAINABILITY PERFORMANCE

Measuring Sustainability Performance

Measuring Sustainability Performance

1.Determine how SU specifically gained support for implementing the STARS model and whether this was proper management practice.

The tactical progress in the direction of sustainability starts when someone or a group of individuals, in the academy “thinks” regarding the likelihood that the academy's members act in accordance with the sustainable progress approach. This implies that all of the available assets are employed to complete the task of the academy in a sustainable way (Capdevila, Bruno and Jofre, 2003).

The whole sustainability ideas that are being made by universities members are prearranged into four key strategies. The first three of them, education, research and outreach, and partnership, could be carried out within or out of the academy's site. The other is intended at putting into practice sustainability on the campus itself.

The entire four strategies comprise two primary means for productively completing their objectives. One is to improve the perception of sustainability issues amongst the individuals concerned with the initiative; the other is the utilization of knowledge that facilitates minimization of the ecological load at the domestic or international level depending on where the project is being applied.

Of the traditional five clear objectives of STARS, SU thought that the primary three were most pertinent. For instance, SU wanted to use STARS to assist advance projects. It was believed that people value external rankings, and like the University had already been recognized as a sustainability leader, SU could use STARS to enhance its reputation (Aznar, 2009).

The Director of the Sustainability Office primarily contacted SU's peak officers prior to registering SU as a pilot site for the STARS project. Succeeding to getting the President's and Provost's blessing, SU was acknowledged like a pilot site. Consequently, the Director once again contacted the same officers to catch their buy-in and opinions on how best to gather information in their individual areas. In essence, a thinking session was organized to verify who must be contacted to make sure the most practical and perfect data gathering. Mid-level administrators received an email notifying them of the project and its perceived importance Aznar (2009). Specifically, two vice-presidents emailed all their staff to introduce the STARS pilot and them to work with the Sustainability Office to provide necessary data. From that point on, the Sustainability Office worked with operating staff, professional staff, and faculty to gather the required data.

In addition, given that the Sustainability Office routinely worked collaboratively across campus constituencies, and STARS called for data collection from a wide range of campus offices and disciplines, it was thought that collaboration would increase as a result of participating in the STARS pilot. SU also believed that the institution could learn from what other campuses were doing, and could, through its own sustainability experiences, help to advance the development of the STARS.

2.Determine the most difficult challenge faced by SU in implementing the STARS model.

One of the basic references in the evaluation of 1.0 STARS credits is the certification system Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), ...