Education for Sustainable Development

Education for
Sustainable Development

A resource for all, hosted by
the School for Cross-faculty Studies

The Way to Sustainable

"Warwick’s Strategy 2030 presents a vision for the University as we build into the future, committing us to excellence with purpose; to having a positive impact on society. Our strategy commits us to growth and embeds sustainable development into our strategic plans and activities, so we must find better ways of operating to ensure our growth is environmentally sustainable.

If we are to be credible global citizens and leaders, we need to be prepared to roll up our sleeves, get involved and prove that change can happen. We accept that no one person, group, or organisation has all the answers, and the journey to a sustainable future will be unpredictable and demanding. But it is a path we must take, and we all must work together. We’re calling Warwick’s approach to sustainability ‘the Way to Sustainable’, a name that reflects our collective journey of continuous improvement and the important elements of curiosity, learning, engagement, collaborative planning, and action needed to achieve the most effective outcomes."

- Professor Stuart Croft, Vice Chancellor at the University of Warwick

The University of Warwick is dedicated to enabling our students to become responsible global citizens, providing them with the skills and attributes to be active contributors in our journey towards the achievement of the SDGs, and empowering our students to take responsibility and lead transformative change. Below are the key pillars that will help the University to achieve a more sustainable future for ourselves and for future generations

Research

Warwick is committed to progressing its contribution to the United Nations' SDGs, guided by the insight from its research and building on its educational excellence. We are a world-leading research-intensive university, and are very well placed to tackle global challenges, through both disciplinary excellence and truly interdisciplinary and innovative research across the social sciences, arts and humanities, and science, engineering, and medicine.

This mission is supported by the Institute for Global Sustainable Development, acting as a transdisciplinary gateway to research on global sustainable development at Warwick, and by faculties and many departments across the University that are focused on contributing to the SDGs within their research.

"There is an understanding that change is all around us. What is important is to develop a consensus as to how we make the world more sustainable. Sustainability is everything, and for everyone. It is actually about our real commitment to make the world better. We as a collective body, we need to ensure not only that each one of us is committed, we need to find consensus, share practice, and also have a policy impact, so that all this knowledge will be of relevance."

- Professor Elena Korosteleva, Director of the Institute for Global Sustainable Development

Education

It is our goal to educate and empower individuals to take responsibility and lead transformative change.

A Warwick education will enable current and future generations to lead efforts to tackle environmental, social, and economic challenges as reflected in the United Nations' SDGs, ensuring Warwick students are able to develop themselves and effectively influence others.

We will also enable the development of entrepreneurial skills, nurturing new ideas and innovations that boost sustainability in action.

"We study, research and teach Global Sustainable Development because it is an urgent priority for our social, economic and environmental wellbeing. Despite the multiplicity of definitions that the term has generated, everyone who is involved in addressing the impact of development, the possibilities for a sustainable life and the complex moral and ethical debates around globalisation agrees that humanity has reached a point where passivity is no longer an option."

- Professor Stéphanie Panichelli-Batalla, Head of the School for Cross-faculty Studies

Engagement

To acheive a more sustainable future, we recognise the important role of communities, partners and networks in coming together to consider, explore, and address different ways of thinking, testing and applying practical ideas and solutions.

Many of our suppliers, partners and networks will have their own methods of focusing on sustainability. Therefore, we need to broaden and deepen our partnerships and collaborations with different groups and communities to share our insight, our own experiences and collectively plan to achieve positive outcomes. Our approach will be addressed through local, regional, national, and international engagement.

Sustainable Operations

Warwick is embedding sustainability into our operations to ensure that we can operate resiliently at Net Zero, or beyond, by 2050 from direct and indirect emissions; in doing so, we want to inspire our community, increasing collaboration with stakeholders and supply chain partners to inform and improve what we do.

We know we need to lead by example in reducing our own environmental impact and be guided by the insight from purposeful campus pilots and research that provide the latest knowledge to inform and impact our own operations.

"Net Zero is a clear endpoint. The challenge is finding the way to get there, and that 'way to sustainable' is a journey of many steps. Our role here is about generating knowledge and making sure that that knowledge makes its way into a community where it makes a big difference. We've got a huge amount of work going on here about how you de-carbonise transport, how you de-carbonise energy, how you de-carbonise industry, and that's the mainstay of our research. But it's not enough. We also need to think about Net Zero in terms of economic sustainability."

- Professor Dave Greenwood, Director for Industrial Engagement, and CEO of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult at WMG

The Way Forward

Our Way to Sustainable approach is an integral and evolving part of the University’s strategy. It will change and we will adapt it as we build our institutional knowledge and experience, and as new technologies and opportunities arise. We know that our mission can only be achieved through listening to, and engaging, our communities, and through the development and delivery of action plans focused on our core principles. The Environmental Sustainability Action Group (ESSAG) reporting to Warwick’s Executive Board, led by the Provost, will lead and facilitate embedding sustainability in the University’s strategic planning and operations, although we recognise everyone has a part to play.

"We are looking to the future, to a long-term future, and that's 2030 and 2050. We've got to focus on how we have impact. The big challenge is how we get there. We can share our knowledge with industry partners, and we can work with them to establish how best to make an impact through the innovations that have come out of our research. I think it's very easy to think of the economy and the environment as being in conflict, but the reality is that we need both. The thing that really excites me is the opportunity to see the linkages between the technical solutions that come from the lab-based researchers, through to the behavioural scientists who look at how we can drive that into practice."

- Professor Christine Ennew, OBE, Provost at the University of Warwick

Please note that this page is by no means exhaustive; if you have any feedback please get in touch with us.