The role of Irish higher education institutions in national decarbonisation transitions

The overarching aim of this research is to assess the decarbonisation potential of sustainable technologies on Irish Higher Education Institution (HEI) campuses and to conceptualise the sector’s role in accelerating national sustainability transitions. The following elements describe the body of this research:

On-Campus Decarbonisation Potential

• Baseline of material and energy flows at Irish HEIs to estimate greenhouse gas emissions for the sector based on international best practice.

• Identify the decarbonisation potential for the Irish HEI sector based on a novel method that utilises Geographic Information Systems (GIS) tools, official HEI campus maps and assumptions from the academic and technological literature.

• Quantitative projections to estimate decarbonisation pathways for the Irish HEI sector up to 2030.

HEI Role in Facilitating National Sustainability Transitions

• Development and application of a novel integrated approach titled ‘Higher Education Advancing Development for Sustainability’ (HEADS) which utilises the perspectives of quantitative systems analysis, socio-technical analysis, and living lab learning to inform HEIs of their potential roles within national sustainability transitions.

• A sustainability indicator set was developed to aid monitoring of sector performance in national sustainability transitions based on a review of bottom-up indicators from sustainability assessments at HEIs internationally and top-down indicators compiled from national agencies and bodies.

• Exploration of possible wider application of methods adopted for the HEI sector for estimating potentials for decarbonisation in relation to industry and commerce sector.

The results of this research suggest that there is significant potential for the Irish HEI sector to decarbonise its on-campus operations with the potential to reduce absolute scope 1 and 2 emissions by up to 36% by 2030. In addition, the role of HEIs as niche actors in facilitating national sustainability transitions was conceptualised and evaluated with HEI campuses identified as ideal test beds to experiment and deploy sustainability solutions at a scale that offers lessons to wider societal transitions. Application of methods adopted for the HEI sector to the industrial and commerce sector identified the potential to reduce carbon emissions by over 556 ktCO2 per annum using 2016 emission factors.