Green University Networks

In the lead up to the adoption of post 2015 Development Agenda, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have stepped up their efforts on sustainability. This has been seen with the adoption of low carbon strategies, mainstreaming environmental sustainability across the curriculum, and engaging with community and stakeholder at all levels on priority sustainability issues.

UN Environment’s Environmental Education and Training Unit (EETU) through their GUPES flagship programme, has been working with HEIs in developing and implementing national and regional Green University Networks.

A Green University Network is a functional network of higher education institutions that incorporate environment, low carbon-climate resilience development strategies and sustainability aspects in their education, training, campus operations and enhanced student engagement. The networks are envisaged to also develop capacity to assist universities in mainstreaming the Greening Universities Toolkit and Greening Universities Toolkit V.2.0 into their day-to-day functions through: Green Campus development and practices; Curricula Development; Community Engagement; and Student Engagement.

Presently, national and regional Green Campus Networks for Kenya, Uganda, Morocco, West Asia and West Africa are currently being developed through stakeholder consultative processes between UN Environment, universities, national environmental and education agencies, among others, with the exception of China, which is operational.