Colleges and universities, as well as corporations with significant research activities and campus operations, are focused on shaping the world of tomorrow. Sustainability is increasingly recognized as a key issue in this endeavor. Institutions committed to pushing this envelope understand that they have a leadership role for advancing knowledge, technology, and tools to create a sustainable future. This includes developing, remodeling, and operating their campuses in a way consistent with their overall goals for a sustainable future.
As campus sustainability programs become more sophisticated, there is an urgent need for a unified approach for sharing experiences, including measuring and reporting performance. This requires ongoing conversations in networks of leading scholars and practitioners.
The ISCN Mission and Approach
The mission of the International Sustainable Campus Network (ISCN) is to provide a global forum to support leading colleges, universities, and corporate campuses in the exchange of information, ideas, and best practices for achieving sustainable campus operations and integrating sustainability in research and teaching.
This work builds on and complements initiatives on the local, national, and regional level, such as the well-established networking activities of HEEPI (Higher Education Environmental Performance Improvement) in the UK or AASHE (American Association for Sustainability in Higher Education) in North America.
The ISCN has created a nested hierarchy of principles as key focal points of international exchange:
The ISCN approaches these issues with an integrated strategy featuring the following programs:
- ISCN-GULF Sustainable Campus Charter. Institutions may sign the charter and commit to set their own, concrete targets against shared Charter principles mentioned above, and to report transparently on their progress against those targets.
- Working Groups dedicated to each of the 3 Charter Principles, conduct research and facilitate the development of resources to support knowledge exchange
- Conferences and Symposia are held across the globe to address the whole breadth of campus sustainability or focus more closely on particular issues of strategic relevance for campus sustainability.
- Sustainable Campus Excellence Awards are given out annually to highlight best practices and provide public recognition to campuses excelling in campus sustainability.
Advisory Committee
The leadership of the International Sustainable Campus Network (ISCN) is supported in strategic matters by the ISCN Advisory Committee. Advisory Committee members are invited to provide feedback on strategic issues including:
- Prioritizing the topics addressed by the ISCN
- Identifying networks and organizations to develop the ISCN-GULF Charter Membership base
- Enhancing dissemination and use of the ISCN-GULF Charter Reports
The following members have been confirmed as of August 11, 2011:
Whenever possible, ISCN Advisory Committee meetings will be attended by the ISCN Program Manager, Bernd Kasemir, and representatives of EPFL and ETH Zurich as the host organizations: Kristin Becker van Slooten, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it "> This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , EPFL, and Margrit Leuthold, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it "> This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , ETH Zurich.
