La Trobe University has disclosed achievements and omissions against environmental and social performance indicators in its 2011 sustainability report, and has set targets for 2015 and 2020 including integrating sustainability issues throughout education, reducing environmental impacts on campus locations and through the supply chain, and providing equal opportunities in senior professional positions.
La Trobe’s goal is to “be at the forefront of addressing key global issue and developing graduates with the skills and knowledge required to address social, environmental and economic sustainability challenges in their chosen field,” said Professor Carol Adams, pro vice-chancellor (sustainability) at the university, in the introduction to the 2011 report.
The university disclosed accomplishments against a range of performance standards, including reducing facility greenhouse gas emissions to 0.13 tonnes CO2-e/GFA, against a target of 0.17 CO2-e/GFA, reducing paper use and increasing female academic staff at associate professor level to 39% against a target of 37%. However, La Trobe University also disclosed that it did not meet targets such as reducing staff business travel greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption and water use.
“We tried really hard to give an honest account of our performance and identify our material omissions,” Adams said at an event launching the sustainability report. “Some of the information reported in there doesn’t report particularly well l on our performance and drove us to develop plans to do better in the future.”
La Trobe has established the office of pro vice-chancellor (sustainability) to aid in developing a comprehensive set of sustainability key performance indicators as part of its strategic plan for future development. The university links sustainability goals to its overall strategy of providing education.