How are universities working with EMS

EMS – a Way towards SD in Universities

concept of sustainable development. They were assumed to have the best insight regarding the work with EMS and its connection to education for sustainable development (ESD) based on their large networks at their universities. Consequently, they were chosen as respondents for the survey.

The answers to the October 2006 survey came predominantly from those environmental coordinators/managers, known to the author to be amongst the most engaged in environmental work at Swedish universities. However, they do not always represent the universities with the most active work.

Instead, the author’s evaluation, based on knowledge of the work at various Swedish universities, rather implies that the answers came from universities largely typical for their group as outlined above (larger and smaller universities, state/private and universities of creative arts).

The results of the first studies, up to 2003, concern the question of why universities work with EMS. The results are found, in more detail, in Papers I and II, attached to this thesis. Paper V, also attached, includes the results from the study conducted in 2006.

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The universities, amongst other public agencies, were asked to answer the following questions in the reporting guidelines (Ministry of Environment, 2003):

• Whether, and when, was an environmental review performed? Whether, and when, has such a review been reviewed?

• What are the significant environmental aspects?

• Is there an environmental policy? Whether, and when, it has been reviewed?

• What are the environmental objectives and targets?

• Have the targets been reached and through what activities?

• Are the targets integrated in the operational plan?

• Has the management, or other groups of faculty and staff, been provided with any environmental training during the year and how many attended? What was the focus on the staff training?

• Whether, and when, were internal and external audits performed?

• How much, and what type of environmental integration is there in procurement and purchasing?

• Is the authority certified or registered according to ISO 14001/EMAS?

• Does the authority aim at certification or registration?

• Are there any positive changes noted due to the EMS during the year?

The environmental aspects were analysed from the annual environmental management reports from the Swedish public universities in 2002 and 2003, the progress of the EMS implementation in the annual environmental management reports in 2001, 2002 and 2003, and various web-pages from the participating universities were searched and analyzed for additional information regarding the environmental coordinators’ position. Other sources contributing to the discussion are the Swedish Government Directives and Official Reports (SOU), the databases available at the university library of Gävle, and relevant literature.

The position of the environmental coordinator was studied, in order to understand the organisation and the focus of the EMS work. This position was seen as an indication of how prioritised the work with EMS is at a university. A position in the president’s (vice chancellor’s) office would indicate a higher priority than otherwise.

EMS – a Way towards SD in Universities

Prioritisation of environmental aspects, as well as the work with objectives, targets and audits indicates how the university is following the structured EMS cycle according to ISO 14001. All the environmental aspects were listed. The terminology used in describing environmental aspects from the different universities was somewhat more coherent than the one describing drivers and barriers, but some of the answers had to be clustered into groups (coded). For example, chemicals and hazardous waste include also laboratory activity, and energy use includes electricity, heating and cooling of the buildings.

The environmental objectives and targets are defined in order to reduce the university’s main environmental impact, corresponding to significant environmental aspects. They help to focus the efforts and make it possible to follow-up on how the work is going. The results from the universities with only one type of environmental goals, without separate objectives and targets, were analysed along with targets, since they appear to be followed up in the same way. The results from the university with only activities that are followed-up were also included in this group. The reporting was presented in a table with both the degree to which the target has been reached (to 100%, more than 50%, to 50%, less than 50% and not at all) and how the results were evaluated (by indicator, survey, estimate or other).

As a requested way to reduce the environmental impact, the government asked the authorities to make environmental requirements in their procurement (Ministry of Environment, 2001). The annual reports for 2003 provide some information about this, although there was some discrepancy in the formulation of the questions concerning procurement and purchasing.

This resulted in two different sets of instructions about the reporting. One asked for the percentage of purchases based on framework agreements from other public authorities or the number of framework agreements that the authority had applied. The other asked for the percentage of their own purchases through framework agreements where environmental requirements were made. This resulted in data either in percentages or numbers, which makes creating a ‘true’ total picture impossible. Information was also requested about the types of environmental requirements, and some examples of environmental requirements in procurement were included. The answers to these also vary to a great extent; therefore only examples of environmental requirements, in which 24 of the 32 universities supplied, are summarised in Paper II. The data were compiled in a database, coded manually and analysed in order to provide a more comprehensive

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picture. No previous study of the procurement and environmental targets was available earlier regarding the universities.

Papers I and II, attached in the thesis, contain results from these studies.

Paper II continues under the assumption that EMS implementation could take different forms in the various universities under examination. A comparison was made to the situation studied in Paper I in order to analyse the development of the environmental aspects and the progress of EMS implementation. Environmental requirements on procurement were also studied as well as the measurement and achievement of environmental targets.

The amendment to the Swedish Higher Education Act in February 2006 to include sustainable development provided the starting point for Paper V.

According to the amendment, the universities should start to promote sustainable development within all their activities. This also includes education and research. The paper reports and discusses the data from the October 2006 survey, with focus on the results of the environmental management work in Swedish universities and the strategies that Swedish universities are using to implement education for sustainable development.

The first questions in the October 2006 survey to all of the 38 universities focussed on the results of the EMS work with direct environmental aspects.

These were followed by a question as to whether the indirect environmental aspects were or were not included in the EMS and the reason for the approach chosen. The next questions enquired whether the university has a policy for sustainable development, and if it incorporates education and research. The following questions concerned what tools are used in order to work with indirect aspects. The final question aimed at finding suggestions of regarding how the results and efforts for ESD could be evaluated.

A case study on training and communication

Empirical material regarding the training and communication pertaining to EMS implementation was obtained during a single-case study (cf. Yin, 1994 and 2003). This was an explorative case study in a real-life context (Yin, 2003), based on the implementation of an EMS at the University of Gävle.

The University of Gävle was selected in order to gain a comprehensive picture of one university. Furthermore, Gävle is one of the few Swedish universities, which has implemented a comprehensive and certified EMS.

EMS – a Way towards SD in Universities

The approach of the study was practical, positivistic and quantitative, however some qualitative elements are present. A significant input to interpreting the results comes from the experiences of the author, and the co-author of the research paper, which followed the implementation of EMS in several industrial companies. It should be noted that at the time of the survey, the EMS was still in the implementation phase. A number of procedures were not yet implemented and all of the persons involved were not yet fully aware of their roles within the EMS.

The study is based on the following activities:

• A literature review concerning effects of training in the implementation of EMS (ISO 14001) in industry and other organisations.

• A description of the training and communication system and practices at the University of Gävle, based on documents and the author’s personal experiences.

• A survey in May 2004 among staff concerning perception of training and communication during implementation of EMS at the University of Gävle.

A literature review was made concerning the effects of training during implementation phase of EMS in various organisations. This revealed only one study, undertaken by del Brio & Junquera (2001), which reported on the results of training efforts for a successful certification.

The methods of training at the University of Gävle are described in detail, which provides a practical example for those interested.

A survey questionnaire was distributed to faculty and staff by email. The objective of this survey was to evaluate the perception of environmental training and communication undertaken at Gävle as elements of the implementation of the EMS. The questionnaire focused on the following topics:

• Awareness: in particular, whether the respondent was familiar with the intentions of the environmental policy, objectives and EMS procedures.

• Attitude: in particular, whether the respondent perceived that the EMS had affected the daily work, if he/she had support from managers and supervisors, and if he/she perceived a personal responsibility to contribute to the university’s environmental activities.

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In total 856 questionnaires were distributed by email. All departments of the university participated in the survey. The questions are available in Appendix C. The questionnaire included 21 pre-coded questions, plus space for individual comments. A week afterwards, a reminder was sent out to the participants following the first email containing the survey. The survey and analysis software programme Business Intelligence 7.1 (BIBASE 7.1) was used during this process. The questionnaire was anonymous and the results were initially calculated using BIBASE and then in MS Excel. The initial compilation of data was reported in Erenlöf & Flodin (2004).

The research had an explorative characteristic in the sense that no previous empirical data was available regarding the results of the communication and training efforts in connection to EMS in the university context. The question regarding how these efforts were perceived by faculty and staff and what results were observed was also unresearched.

A total of 315 responses were received, corresponding to a response rate of 36.8% based on the 856 email questionnaires which were distributed. The intention was to reach all management, faculty and staff at the university, but it was known that the number of email addresses exceeded the number of people, who were in the employment register at the time (672 fulltime equivalent persons)⁷. The reply rate both for individual departments of the university, as well as, for the total survey is high, considering that many of the faculty come to the university only for their lectures and/or an occasional meeting. There is also an outspoken tendency not to reply to various mail (or e-mail) requests for information. Clearly, from this perspective, such a reply response must be considered exceptional.

Because the principal author of the report was active during the implementation of ISO 14001 (for instance, in training the faculty and staff, coordinating environmental committees, and coaching students), some precautions were taken to avoid bias as a result of personal involvement.

The fact that the author was known to many persons at the university may have increased the likelihood of replying. However, there is little reason to expect that the answers would be tilted either to a positive or the negative response, as also indicated by the comparative studies made by students at the university (Erenlöf & Flodin, 2004; Abasi et al., 2007). The questionnaire

7 The various forms of employment; from full-time to single hours, make it difficult to calculate the exact number of employees at any given time. Using 672 persons in the employment register as a base would give a response rate of 46.9%.

EMS – a Way towards SD in Universities

was anonymous, which should have made it easier to express critical views.

Questions related to the role of the researcher will be discussed in more detail, in Section 4.4.

Based on the employment statistics from 1 January 2004, the percentage of replies from the different departments followed, quite well, the estimated percentage of the staff in the department(s) in question. This, presuming that the number of short-term faculty and staff is relatively equally divided amongst the departments.

The following functions, as defined by the respondents, were represented in the survey (percentage of total respondents): managers (6%), environmental coordinators (1%), lecturers (49%), administrative staff (35%), laboratory staff (2%), service functions (5%), and others (12%).⁸

The gender distribution of those who replied (51% female, 49% male) corresponds well to the similar statistic of those employed (55% female, 45% male). There was a slight bias which demonstrated that the males answered to a slightly larger extent. All age groups were represented in proportion in accordance with the employment profile, with the exception of the age group 40-49 years. This age group was somewhat under-represented when compared to the university’s overall age distribution (30%

at the university, compared to 24% in the survey).

The percentages of those, who have participated in the training, varied somewhat amongst departments between those who replied in the survey and those reported by the departments in their environmental reports of April 2004. However, the overall figures for the whole university reflect the survey results in this respect. The figures indicate that in three departments (Business Administration and Economics, Humanities and Social Sciences, and the President’s offices) a higher percentage of persons indicated that they had participated in the training in the survey. In the Education and Psychology department, fewer responded than as reported in the statistics regarding the size of this department. This might lead to some bias in the answers resulting, for example, in a somewhat higher awareness of university environmental policy and goals than otherwise anticipated.

8 Since a person can represent more than one function at the same time, the total adds up to more than 100%.

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The results of the case study at the University of Gävle on training and communication were reported in more detail in Paper III, which is attached to this thesis.