Sustainability strategy into action – how Advance HE helped

Sustainability - strategy into action  

When tasked with leading on co-ordinating the sustainability strategy and action plans for my university, I immediately felt daunted by the enormity of the task, especially as I didn’t have a background in sustainability. I know, from talking to others in similar positions in other universities, that I was not alone, despite my seniority. So I took a deep breath and followed the approach I’ve taken throughout my career: make sure people at all levels in the organisation buy-in, find out about sustainability and how it relates to what we’re trying to achieve, share knowledge and resources with other organisations, consider the most immediate actions that will make a difference; most importantly, seek professional support and advice, and finally, make sure success can be measured.   

Cranfield University had signed up to the SDG Accord in 2022 and pledged to join the Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Ranking 2023 for the first time as part of its new Corporate Plan, Ambition 2027, also published in 2022.  

Taking part in the Advance HE collaborative project really helped me to align this organisational strategy to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It was a perfect mechanism to collaborate and to share knowledge with other organisations, all with the support of experienced consultants from Advance HE. The output of the project was a suite of embryonic action plans designed to make sure the strategic sustainability goals in Ambition 2027 were translated into action and that we were able to achieve our goal of successfully entering the THE Impact Ranking and then improve on our performance. 

Buy-in at all levels  

The Advance HE collaborative project, Aligning organisational strategy to Sustainable Development Goals, advocated that having a strategy for sustainability with buy-in at all levels should be the key building block for action on sustainability.  

Cranfield University was fortunate in already having a Corporate Plan, Ambition 2027, with sustainability running as a theme throughout. We achieved this by holding extensive stakeholder engagement sessions to help shape it. One of the key messages arising from these sessions was the importance of sustainability.  Thus, the focus on sustainability had buy-in at all levels of the university and from our external stakeholders. This was reflected in our new Vision, approved by our Council: “To be valued globally for tackling the real-world issues of today to deliver a sustainable future”. You can find out more about what this looks like in practice here. 

The sessions led by Advance HE provided some great pointers in how to start developing a sustainability strategy for those just beginning and opportunity to share experiences with those further along the strategic planning pathway. 

Build up knowledge and share resources 

I am a big fan of using existing resources so being able to share knowledge and experience with other universities participating in the Advance HE collaborative project in a “safe” space was incredibly helpful. All participants openly discussed their experiences about what worked well and things that hadn’t gone so well in developing and implementing their sustainability strategies. We learned that there are some great websites out there, including many national and international university web pages on sustainability. The owners are quite often open to sharing their resources including policies, training packages and reporting style, so don’t be afraid to ask.  Using resources developed by professional organisations is also a must – as well as Advance HE, Cranfield is a member of the Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges (EAUC).  

Seeking professional support and immediate actions – quick wins 

Aligning organisational strategy to Sustainable Development Goals aimed to help us to develop action plans that would turn our strategic aims on sustainability into action and to share our plans with other participants. We were provided with a thought-provoking outline template, and importantly, one-to-one support from a friendly Advance HE consultant to help us develop our plans. Action planning can often be put to one side in the euphoria of delivering a strategy, so it was invaluable to have this support. We also worked to a very tight timeframe, so we just had to get on with it. The template suggested a mix of immediate actions (quick wins) and some with longer timeframes for delivery. One of Cranfield’s quick wins was the agreement to develop a training programme for those embedding sustainability into the curriculum. 

Gather data and measure success 

Participating universities had chosen several different ways of measuring the success of their strategies, but most were participating in the THE Impact Ranking as a way of raising their profile on sustainability and benchmarking with other universities worldwide. Whichever approach they were taking to measure success, data gathering was needed. Colleagues were using a variety of methods – from widely circulated spreadsheets to verbal discussions with sustainability champions and more sophisticated online data capture tools. Having someone in each School/Faculty responsible for pulling data together was key to success for most. Again – there are some great resources out there already developed – you only need to ask your colleagues in other universities. 

Consolidate learning 

We were all invited to attend Advance HE’s inaugural Sustainability Conference 2023 which ran back-to-back with the final workshop of the collaborative project. I personally found the interactive sessions tremendously helpful in consolidating and sharing the knowledge we’d accumulated and sharing ideas more widely with other universities. The outstanding keynotes also left us with some challenging thoughts. The highlight for me was the keynote from Professor Clare Pollock at Western Sydney University (#1 in THE Impact ranking). 

Reflections 

Most universities are developing sustainability strategies and action plans to address today’s climate crisis and geopolitical climate, driven by ethical considerations, policy, legislation and requirements from key stakeholders (eg UKRI is consulting on a sustainability concordat). 

So why not collaborate? Seek support and advice from professional bodies like Advance HE, and importantly, tell them what you need. I’d love to hear how sustainability planning is going for you – do you have a super tool or activity you’d like to share? Do you have ideas for further programmes professional bodies like Advance HE could deliver to support you? 

Christine Thompson is Corporate Planning Director at Cranfield University.  She recently co-ordinated a new Corporate Plan, Vision 2027, addressing a new Vision: To be valued globally for tackling the real-world issues of today to deliver a sustainable future. She is now focused on co-ordinating the university’s sustainability action plans.