Quantitatively Assessing the Role of Higher Education in Global Sustainability

Three analytical methods are used to examine three primary questions to address an observed scarcity of literature that quantitatively and empirically assesses the role of higher education in global sustainability. Linear regression is used to assess correlations between institutional environmental impacts and campus initiatives; environmentally-extended input-output analysis is used to assess the global operational footprint of higher education; and the IPAT framework and integrated assessment modeling are used to assess the influence of higher education on global systems. Despite limitations -- most notably that current data availability impedes the isolation of higher education from education more broadly -- the results support the following conclusions. 1) There are no meaningful correlations between campus sustainability initiatives and direct environmental impacts, though many initiatives are admittedly not aimed at reducing direct impacts. 2) The fraction of overall human ecological footprint attributable to higher education is too minor for its management to play a transformative role in achieving global sustainability, but managing it to lead by example could be more so. 3) Higher education influences global sustainability most significantly by contributing to the education driven fertility mechanism, and possibly by promoting technological change, though the magnitude and exact mechanisms of the latter relationship are uncertain.