674
N. H. Cardozo et al.
4 Charters and Declarations for Sustainability
in HEIs—Successful or Not Successful Initiatives?
Encouraged by the post-Brundtland moment, sustainability discussions also drew the
attention of HEIs rectors and representatives, triggering the creation of many charters
and declarations for HEIs signed as a form of commitment towards sustainability.
The following are charters and declarations of global repercussion: Talloires Declaration (1990), Halifax Declaration (1991), Agenda 21—Chapter “Universities, Sustainability and Businesses: A Common Agenda for 2030” (1992), Kyoto Declaration
(1993), Swansea Declaration (1993), COPERNICUS Charter (1994), Declaration on
HE for the Twenty-First Century (1998), Luneburg Declaration (2001), Graz Declaration (2005), Sapporo Declaration (2008), Turin Declaration (2008), COPERNICUS
Charta 2.0 (2011), Treaty on Higher Education (2012), Commitment to Sustainable
Practices of Higher Education Institutions (2012), and Nagoya Declaration (2014).
Despite the positive stimulus brought by charters and declarations for sustainability in HEIs through their signatures, together with the commitment to accomplish
the actions reported in them, it was expected that HEIs would have advanced considerably in this bias, which did not occur as projected (Velazquez et al. 2005). The
range of initiatives and practices proposed on these documents may have confused
the creation of sustainable strategies by the signatory HEIs (Contreras 2002). Further,
the changes and adaptations needed to integrate sustainability will not be identical
for all HEIs, since they are embedded in different environmental, economic, cultural
and social realities.
Alghamdi and den Heijer (2017) confirm the great significance of charters and
declarations for sustainability in HEIs at first but point out that they were not useful
for the operationalization of sustainability in HEIs. Consequently, the need to create
a method or tool capable of measuring, monitoring and analyzing sustainable development initiatives in HEIs was affirmed. As a result, Sustainability Assessment Tools
(SATs) were designed, and others adapted since the 1990s as a mean of accessing
and supporting HEIs initiatives related to the sustainable commitment at charters and
declarations (Shriberg 2002) as well as to be used to measure the effectiveness of
their actions compared with other Institutions (Roorda and Martens 2008; Yarime
and Tanaka 2012; Lambrechts and Ceulemans 2013; Gómez et al. 2015; Bullock and
Wilder 2016; Alghamdi and den Heijer 2017). With that, SATs became perhaps one
of the most important tools in the operationalization of sustainability, particularly in
HEIs (Shriberg 2002; Alghamdi and den Heijer 2017).
Roorda and Martens (2008), and Urbanski and Leal Filho (2014), confirm the
interconnection between the progress of different HEIs towards sustainability, with
their participation in rankings of sustainability and other SATs through case studies.
According to Fischer (2015), SATs, besides offering technical support to implement
and monitor actions taken by HEIs to achieve their planned goals, can provide data
(either in the form of indicators, bullet list or targets) based on how a sustainable
HEI should be (Shriberg 2002; Lambrechts 2015).
N. H. Cardozo et al.
4 Charters and Declarations for Sustainability
in HEIs—Successful or Not Successful Initiatives?
Encouraged by the post-Brundtland moment, sustainability discussions also drew the
attention of HEIs rectors and representatives, triggering the creation of many charters
and declarations for HEIs signed as a form of commitment towards sustainability.
The following are charters and declarations of global repercussion: Talloires Declaration (1990), Halifax Declaration (1991), Agenda 21—Chapter “Universities, Sustainability and Businesses: A Common Agenda for 2030” (1992), Kyoto Declaration
(1993), Swansea Declaration (1993), COPERNICUS Charter (1994), Declaration on
HE for the Twenty-First Century (1998), Luneburg Declaration (2001), Graz Declaration (2005), Sapporo Declaration (2008), Turin Declaration (2008), COPERNICUS
Charta 2.0 (2011), Treaty on Higher Education (2012), Commitment to Sustainable
Practices of Higher Education Institutions (2012), and Nagoya Declaration (2014).
Despite the positive stimulus brought by charters and declarations for sustainability in HEIs through their signatures, together with the commitment to accomplish
the actions reported in them, it was expected that HEIs would have advanced considerably in this bias, which did not occur as projected (Velazquez et al. 2005). The
range of initiatives and practices proposed on these documents may have confused
the creation of sustainable strategies by the signatory HEIs (Contreras 2002). Further,
the changes and adaptations needed to integrate sustainability will not be identical
for all HEIs, since they are embedded in different environmental, economic, cultural
and social realities.
Alghamdi and den Heijer (2017) confirm the great significance of charters and
declarations for sustainability in HEIs at first but point out that they were not useful
for the operationalization of sustainability in HEIs. Consequently, the need to create
a method or tool capable of measuring, monitoring and analyzing sustainable development initiatives in HEIs was affirmed. As a result, Sustainability Assessment Tools
(SATs) were designed, and others adapted since the 1990s as a mean of accessing
and supporting HEIs initiatives related to the sustainable commitment at charters and
declarations (Shriberg 2002) as well as to be used to measure the effectiveness of
their actions compared with other Institutions (Roorda and Martens 2008; Yarime
and Tanaka 2012; Lambrechts and Ceulemans 2013; Gómez et al. 2015; Bullock and
Wilder 2016; Alghamdi and den Heijer 2017). With that, SATs became perhaps one
of the most important tools in the operationalization of sustainability, particularly in
HEIs (Shriberg 2002; Alghamdi and den Heijer 2017).
Roorda and Martens (2008), and Urbanski and Leal Filho (2014), confirm the
interconnection between the progress of different HEIs towards sustainability, with
their participation in rankings of sustainability and other SATs through case studies.
According to Fischer (2015), SATs, besides offering technical support to implement
and monitor actions taken by HEIs to achieve their planned goals, can provide data
(either in the form of indicators, bullet list or targets) based on how a sustainable
HEI should be (Shriberg 2002; Lambrechts 2015).