ENVS 499 – Independent Study – Sustainability in Higher Education
Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, & Rating System
Global Reporting Initiative
This project, based on faculty-sponsored collaborative student research at Lewis & Clark College and San Jose State University, considers two major contemporary means of sustainability assessment and reporting: STARS (Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System), the predominant system for U.S. higher education, and GRI (Global Reporting Initiative), a major system for corporate and institutional sustainability worldwide.
We summarize the history of these two leading assessment systems, and compare them in terms of their protocol—i.e., how sustainability is defined, measured, and reported—and their politics—i.e., the network of power relations that define and support them, given the leading role they play in their respective sectors. Overall, our aim is to provide information to assist sustainability practitioners as they consider assessment and reporting in a more critical manner, mindful of how protocol such as STARS and GRI encourage certain sustainability practices over overs, and mindful of how the politics of leading systems such as STARS and GRI inevitably enter into their institutional adoption. As institutions of higher education prioritize sustainability, more informed choices as to assessment and reporting systems can lead to more genuine and authentic sustainability practices—though the protocol and politics of these systems will inevitably place constraints on higher education sustainability practices as well.
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