Flinders University Sustainabilty Action Plan - Toward 2016

Flinders Flinders Sustainability Sustainability ActionPlan Plan Action

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TOWARD 2016 TOWARD 2016

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Introduction In our latest Strategic Plan, Flinders Future Focus 2012-2016, the University reaffirmed its commitment to social responsibility and environmental excellence. At the centre of the Strategic Plan is our purpose as a University—to transform the lives of individuals and communities, and to find ethical and innovative solutions to make a positive difference to society’s most challenging problems. To fulfil this purpose, the key strategic priorities of the Plan are embodied by five main values, including being ‘socially responsible’, ‘student centered’ and ‘sustainable and rewarding’.

To deliver the commitments of the Strategic Plan, we will be finalising the strategies for our physical and virtual infrastructure and making significant investment in these over the coming decade. These investments include a new building at Tonsley, targeted asset renewal of the Bedford Park campus and a refresh of our ICT network. As we undertake these activities we will leverage these investments and challenge ourselves to use natural resources wisely, take responsibility for the emissions we generate, and contribute positively to the challenges of global climate change. By embedding the principles of environmental and social responsibility in our projects and practices we aim to embed a culture at Flinders where sustainability thinking becomes ‘just what we do.’

Professor Michael Barber Vice-Chancellor September 2013

This Sustainability Action Plan provides a guide for effective actions and projects to move Flinders towards more sustainable ways of delivering our core activities and pledges our sustainability vision across four focus areas – operations; teaching and learning; research and community engagement.

Within these four focus areas are a total of nine action areas, each with actions and measures to guide our activities and measure our success in achieving this Action Plan – success that will also help Flinders deliver on its other Strategic Plan priorities by strengthening its commitment to environmental excellence and social responsibility, enhancing the student experience and focusing research activities.

To realise the objectives of this Action Plan, an annual operational plan will be developed to identify the activities to be undertaken each year to deliver our sustainability goals. Through this operational plan we will set timelines, allocate responsibilities and track performance. We will report regularly to staff and students on progress in achieving our goals. The Action Plan and annual operational plan will be necessarily dynamic in nature and from time to time will be updated to reflect progress, priorities and to respond to new challenges and opportunities.

This Sustainability Action Plan provides Flinders with a guide for future decision-making and action which addresses the risks and opportunities posed by climate change and sustainability challenges. It is the first step that will move Flinders towards a more sustainable way of operating and enable us to make a positive difference to some of society’s most challenging problems.

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What is ‘sustainability’?

To be sustainable means to have the capacity to endure over the long term. The concept of ‘sustainable development’ was first coined in the 1987 Brundtland Commission report ‘Our Common Future’, in recognition that human civilisation was exceeding the Earth’s carrying capacity, and that resources were distributed inequitably between and within nations.

The concept of sustainability has come to encompass three integrated and interdependent dimensions – ecological, social and economic. To help guide future decision making, the following sustainability principles are implicit within this Action Plan: 1. Flinders will operate within ecological limits by using natural resources wisely and by contributing positively to the challenge of global climate change; 2. We will embody and actively promote principles of social justice and equity, human health and well-being; 3. We will sustain ourselves economically over the long term, and make a positive economic contribution to the communities we serve.

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Guiding Principles These sustainability principles guide the strategies and objectives of this Action Plan and are explained further below: Sustainability Principle One: Flinders will operate within planetary limits. This principle recognises that we operate in a finite system, with the University, society and the economy being fundamentally dependent on the long term health of the biosphere. To operate within planetary limits means to reduce reliance on non-renewable resources, to take responsibility for our climate damaging emissions, and to practice active ecological stewardship.

Figure 1: Operating within planetary limits

Biosphere Society and Economy

Flinders University

Sustainability Principle Two: Embodying and actively promoting social justice and equity, human health and well-being. Equity lies at the heart of a sustainable society, and Flinders recognises it has an obligation to support both local and distant communities and individuals to improve their well-being by meeting their social justice and equity needs. Human health and well-being must be fostered in ways which do not compromise Sustainability Principle One. Sustainability Principle Three: Ensuring long term economic sustainability. In seeking to embody Principles One and Two, the long term economic viability of the University need not be compromised.

It is important to develop financial structures which will support a strong economic base, and to prioritise projects and initiatives which offer economic, as well as ecological, social and political returns. At the same time, we recognise that a broader understanding of ‘growth’ is required, one which encompasses social and ecological well-being.

These sustainability principles inform and permeate the Action Plan’s four focus areas of operations, teaching and learning, research and community engagement, as shown below.

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2. Adopt systemic, long term thinking. Flinders must develop a systems perspective in the way it makes decisions. This means understanding the effect of particular actions on the whole organisation, and on the system in which we are embedded.

Figure 2: Embedding the principles Learning and teaching

Operations

Sustainability principles

Research

Community engagement

The following guidelines will be adopted to help Flinders embed these sustainability principles in an effective and comprehensive manner. These guidelines are informed by the Rio+20 Higher Education Treaty and the Turnaround Leadership for Sustainability in Higher Education (TLSHE) study: 1. Foster a process of ‘steered engagement’. Goals and targets must be endorsed at the executive level, with the resources and support provided to champions across the organisation who can find ways to achieve them.

3. Work across traditional organisational structures.

As sustainability challenges are inherently multi-disciplinary, we must incentivise and encourage cross-disciplinary and crossdivisional collaboration. To this end, the use of the campus as a ‘living laboratory’ will be encouraged and incentivised.

4. Become an adaptive, learning organisation.

Recognising sustainability is principally about a different way of thinking and relating to the world, staff and students must be encouraged and supported to participate in a two way learning process which informs future policy and practice.

5. Form partnerships and alliances. The best results and benefits will be achieved by linking and leveraging with the work of other institutions and networks, so active and strategic partnerships must be encouraged.

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Objectives and Actions It is critical that we have a long term view of where we want to be.

Flinders’ sustainability objectives for our core activities are as follows. To be meaningful, these must be owned and understood by Flinders staff and students through a process of testing and refinement, as needed.

Operations Low carbon, high well-being campus infrastructure and environments.

Research Helping society solve complex sustainability challenges

Integration across the university and embedding in culture

Teaching and Learning Producing sustainability literate and change capable graduates.

Community engagement contributing to a thriving and resilient southern Adelaide and beyond

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Focus CULTURE

OPERATIONS

TEACHING AND LEARNING

Action Area

1 2 3 4 5 6

Engage and build understanding and capability across the University community

Develop low carbon, healthy and social campus infrastructure Develop low carbon, active and efficient transportation systems Increase biodiverse, place appropriate and productive campus landscapes Develop an ecologically and socially responsible supply chain Embed sustainability principles more broadly and deeply in the Flinders curriculum

RESEARCH

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Incentivise and support sustainability-related research

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

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Develop sustainability partnerships and effectively communicate our successes

DELIVERING OUR GOALS

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Develop capacity to deliver on our sustainability goals

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Culture Objective: Sustainability thinking and behaviour is embedded into the culture of Flinders University ACTION AREA 1 Engage and build understanding and capability across the University community Valuing our people by nurturing leadership and change management skills is a strategic priority of the University, and this is particularly important for Flinders to achieve its sustainability goals. Training in sustainability knowledge and skills will be required in some areas so that over the longer term, sustainability thinking becomes embedded in our culture; it becomes ‘just what we do ’. This cultural shift will require strong leadership and vision and will be catalysed by a participatory approach and by creating opportunities for staff and students to drive sustainability in their own areas.

As Flinders continues to build its presence in regional SA and NT, it will be important that the remote campuses are also supported and resourced to develop their own initiatives, projects and actions which will support Flinders’ sustainability goals.

Actions: >> Develop a range of training, engagement and communication activities to build understanding and encourage participation amongst staff and students >> Embed sustainability into induction processes and role descriptions where applicable Measures: >> Increased levels of knowledge, responsibility and empowerment amongst staff as measured in a survey every two years >> Increase in the number of student-led sustainability projects and initiatives

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Operations Objective: Flinders campuses are low carbon, resource efficient and healthy environments which maximise social interaction and the well-being of students and staff.

ACTION AREA 2 Develop low carbon, healthy and social campus infrastructure Flinders will be making significant infrastructure investment over the coming decade, including embarking on a major targeted refurbishment of its existing building stock, developing a presence at Tonsley and a Student Hub at Bedford Park. This presents an opportunity to develop infrastructure which uses less fossil fuel-based energy and natural resources, and to improve indoor air quality and comfort levels for students and staff.

In our Strategic Plan 2012 – 2016 we have committed to reducing our use of energy and water, while increasing the supply of renewable energy at our campuses. To enable this, we will investigate options for investment in energy efficiency and solar power, as well as integrating principles of Ecologically Sustainable Design (ESD) into new major builds and the refurbishment program.

The major investment in ICT at Flinders also offers great potential to support the achievement of Flinders sustainability goals, while simultaneously enhancing the student experience, through enhanced online learning and collaboration and TelePresence videoconferencing technologies. ICT procurement is also an area of significant ecological and social impact which must be managed and planned for.

Actions: >> Retrofit existing infrastructure to increase energy and water efficiency, renewable energy generation and improve indoor air quality and comfort via the targeted refurbishment program >> Ensure new major infrastructure projects have ESD principles embedded in design and construction >> Develop a ‘socially and environmentally responsible’ ITS action plan >> Develop baseline data of paper usage, building water usage and indoor air quality at Bedford Park Measures: >> Reductions in energy, water and paper usage. >> Improvements in indoor air quality.

Targets >> A 10% reduction in energy use at Bedford Park (end of 2015 from 2012 levels); >> 500kw of onsite renewable energy generation by the end of 2015; >> Minimum 5-Star Green Star rating achieved and maintained for new major builds

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ACTION AREA 3 Develop low carbon, active and efficient transportation systems The University is actively engaging with the State Government to better understand from where our students are travelling and to improve public transport access to the campus and surrounding precinct. This work will form the basis of our own transport action plan to improve both access to and mobility between and within our campuses.

The plan will aim to facilitate and promote active, low carbon transport in a shift from singleoccupancy vehicle travel as the dominant mode of commuting, better transport options, including an expanded loop bus service and links to Tonsley, and, with the State Government, improved public transport infrastructure. Delivering better transport options is of key relevance to our focus on enhancing the student experience and valuing our people.

Further afield, air travel represents approximately 25% of the Flinders’ carbon footprint. There are opportunities to leverage our investment in ICT infrastructure to enhance and promote the use of remote meeting technologies to reduce the incidence of discretionary air travel. We will be undertaking analysis to better understand our current travel behaviours and areas in which we can make behavioural changes towards these meeting technologies.

Actions: >> Develop and implement a transport action plan, including baseline data >> Undertake analysis of travel behaviours and patterns to better understand areas in which we can influence behavioural change >> Further build Flinders’ capacity to support a range of remote meeting technologies as part of our investment in ICT Measures: >> Increase in student and staff satisfaction with transport access and mobility >> Increase in the use of public transport, the loop bus, walking and cycling (from baseline) >> Decrease in air travel kilometres per FTE

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ACTION AREA 4 Increase biodiverse, place appropriate and productive campus landscapes The natural environment at Bedford Park and other sites is one of the University’s greatest assets and a source of enjoyment and relaxation for our students.

It also represents a source for teaching and research opportunities for disciplines such as the School of the Environment, Biological Sciences and Indigenous Education/Studies, and these pedagogic uses should be supported and encouraged.

Flinders must demonstrate environmental stewardship of the campus natural environment, preserving and enhancing biodiversity assets.

Flinders recognises the unique and specialist knowledge contribution Indigenous nations and their citizens can offer in this area.

In consultation with the University community, campus landscapes will be designed and maintained as usable, functional spaces, but ones which require low inputs of non-renewable resources and potable water. Opportunities also exist to innovate by utilising stormwater in new ways at Bedford Park, and incorporating productive elements into the landscape. This must be done in ways which respect Indigenous knowledge systems and heritage, in particular Kaurna nation, traditional owner of the land and water on which Flinders’ Bedford Park campus is located. Opportunities to improve the natural environment at other sites will be explored in future years.

Actions: >> Develop a landscape plan to ensure sustainability principles are integrated into the design and maintenance of the Bedford Park campus >> Develop a visionary landscape design for the central park and lake area >> Actively manage, monitor and enhance campus biodiversity assets, and involve staff and students in this stewardship >> Develop baseline data of landscape water usage, the use of herbicide, pesticide and fertilisers, and campus biodiversity Measures: >> Increase in the use of the campus natural environment as a teaching and research tool >> Improved water efficiency in landscape maintenance and increased utilisation of stormwater (from baseline) >> Reduction in herbicide, pesticide and fertiliser use on campus (from baseline) >> Upward trends in campus biodiversity indicators

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Operations cont.

ACTION AREA 5 Develop an ecologically and socially responsible supply chain Social responsibility is one of the University’s core values in the 2012-16 Strategic Plan. One way to embody and realise this value is to work with our supply chain partners to ensure a high standard of social and environmental responsibility, and embedding these standards in our tendering processes.

This action area presents an opportunity to strengthen and renew partnerships with our most socially and environmentally responsible suppliers, and to develop processes which ensure that sustainable and ethical practices are rewarded in tender and procurement processes.

Actions: >> Incorporate sustainability principles into the tendering processes for all significant purchases and contracts, including major contracts within Buildings and Property and ITS >> Give preference to procurement of fairly traded and ethically sourced products where available Measures: >> Sustainability principles are embedded in the University’s tendering and procurement processes >> More partnerships with those suppliers that demonstrate sustainable and ethical practices

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Teaching and Learning Objective: Flinders graduates are sustainability literate and prepared to lead transformational change within their organisations and communities ACTION AREA 6 Embed sustainability principles more broadly and deeply in the Flinders curriculum Valuing quality teaching and enhancing educational opportunities are two priorities of the Strategic Plan. Our approach to this is to differentiate, focus and intensify our activities, and to this end we will continue to ensure that our approaches to learning and teaching are relevant and of a consistently high quality. As part of this objective, we will review academic priorities and consider a re-specification of graduate qualities to enable Flinders graduates to develop values and competencies supporting the sustainability principles outlined in this plan.

Flinders has a strong base of disciplines which teach sustainability principles across a number of its Schools. There is an increasing need for sustainability leaders and change agents that have a multidisciplinary perspective, so that challenges and issues can be addressed in a systemic way and the linkages between ecological, social, political and economic dimensions of society’s most challenging problems of unsustainability are recognised.

Increasingly, employers expect that graduates have a basic grasp of key sustainability concepts and issues relevant to their disciplines.

Actions: >> Develop a supportive Community of Practice for academics teaching sustainability principles and concepts >> Develop the Flinders profile for the website sustainability.edu.au >> Explore the development of cross-disciplinary postgraduate sustainability programs >> Include discussion of sustainability literacy and Indigenous cultural competency in the review of graduate qualities Measures: >> Increase in the number of courses and topics with sustainability related content embedded in the aims and learning outcomes >> Increase the number of enrolments in courses and topics with sustainability related content embedded in the aims and learning outcomes >> Community of Practice becomes established and is well attended

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Research Objective: Flinders research activities are helping society solve complex sustainability challenges ACTION AREA 7 Incentivise and support sustainability-related research The University’s purpose statement, as articulated in the Strategic Plan, is to transform the lives of individuals and communities, and to find ethical and innovative solutions to make a positive difference to society’s most challenging problems. The Flinders Research Plan will focus on research that is distinctive, relevant, of high quality and high impact to enable us to achieve this. This will require selective and strategic external collaborations and focussed internal efforts.

Research related to aspects of environmental, social and economic sustainability can form an important component of Flinders future research strengths, potentially influencing all of Flinders’ major research areas.

Actions: >> Develop a baseline position of sustainabilityrelated research >> Investigate possibilities for incentivising and supporting sustainability related research >> Encourage and support research activities on University projects such as Flinders’ involvement in Tonsley Measures: >> Increased levels of funding secured by research units in the areas of environmental and social sustainability

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Community engagement Objective: Flinders is recognised for contributing to thriving and resilient local and regional communities ACTION AREA 8 Develop sustainability partnerships and effectively communicate our successes The central vision of the Strategic Plan is Flinders as the University that engages. We engage with our communities to enhance the social, cultural and economic lives of the regions we serve, in South Australia, the Northern Territory and across Australia and the world. This is at the heart of our purpose as a University. Our involvement in the major regeneration project at Tonsley is an example of this, and will strengthen our engagement with local enterprises and communities.

Actions: >> Foster Flinders’ involvement in at least three flagship regional projects >> Seek opportunities for involvement in at least two regional networks which aim to create thriving and resilient southern Adelaide and central corridor regions >> Develop mechanisms to communicate and report on our sustainability successes Measures: >> Increased networks and collaborative involvement in local and regional sustainability projects

The Southern Knowledge Transfer Partnership (SKTP) plays a central role in facilitating constructive and positive relationships with our external stakeholders. In partnership with SKTP, there is an opportunity to play an active leadership role in developing local and regional networks which can respond to sustainability challenges in innovative and collaborative ways. It is also vital that, as we deepen our commitment to sustainable practices, we engage and inform our external stakeholders, addressing the issues which are important to them.

The Flinders School of Environment has been working with the City of Onkaparinga to map ecosystem services on the Fleurieu

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Delivering our goals ACTION AREA 9 Develop capacity to deliver on our sustainability goals As detailed in Operations, over the coming decade the University will be making significant investment in its building and ICT infrastructure.

These investments will be leveraged to help with the achievement of Flinders’ sustainability goals by embedding principles of environmental and social responsibility in our practices.

Actions: >> Establish a revolving sustainability fund to ensure that opportunities to use resources more efficiently and wisely can be capitalised on >> Develop management, monitoring and reporting systems, to ensure Divisions and Schools understand their resource usage Measures: >> Revolving sustainability fund operating

We will also encourage innovation and collaboration toward the achievement of our sustainability goals by establishing financial mechanisms which support sustainability action. We aim to financially incentivise Schools, Divisions and individuals to take responsibility for their own use of fossil fuel-based energy and other natural resources. Priority will be given to sustainability projects which offer a good return on investment, with savings and benefits to be tracked and reported on.

Credit: Suzy Keys

Notes

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Contact

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inspiring achievement

CRICOS No. 00114A

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