Some considerations for applying business sustainability practices to campus environmental challenges

To explore how universities can adopt sustainability practices that have proven to be successful in business.

Draws on several sources of theory (internationally published literatures in business, sustainability, and education) and practice (primarily US business and university practice) to develop a framework.

Two seemingly divergent trends have created a unique opportunity for universities to significantly improve their environmental performance: the increasing importance to businesses of managing the natural environment and the growing awareness that universities cannot continue to isolate themselves from the community in which they are embedded. The first of these trends has caused a previously untapped source of ideas to become energized into thinking about how to move toward a more sustainable world. The second trend has caused a previously “introspective‐to‐a‐fault” institution to look beyond itself for ways of thinking and acting.

The intersection of the two trends is a powerful place, where new and successful approaches to managing the natural environment, albeit from what might be thought of as a non‐traditional source, can be absorbed by an institution that has significant environmental impact and an even more significant responsibility to future generations.

Provides a focus on the huge opportunities for applying some of the environmental lessons learnt by business to higher education.