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The purpose of this study is to identify the most prevalent initiatives undertaken by leading universities in sustainability and offer a roadmap for other institutions seeking to undertake similar actions and contribute to more effective implementation of sustainability practices.

By using a quantitative assessment approach, the study sheds light on successful initiatives implemented by universities worldwide, spanning six categories: transportation, waste management, curriculum, food and dining, water and energy. Each category is clearly related to one or more of the 17 sustainable development goals. A cluster analysis was also applied to identify regional trends in preferred initiatives.

The study underlines the importance of integrating sustainability principles into the curricula of higher education institutions (HEIs) as well as educating staff members on energy and water management. The most common and impactful initiatives in the studied six categories have been identified. Many of the initiatives mentioned in the study do not just result in reducing ecological footprint but also provide economic savings as well. Differences among regions and countries were observed in the implementation of initiatives. Cultural and habitual factors should not be disregarded during the selection process of initiatives.

The findings of this study may help universities to take their first steps toward implementing initiatives that can effectively promote sustainable development. Results will aid other HEIs in planning for next steps while outlining the more common initiatives.

Efforts to increase sustainability are increasingly being promulgated using non-state forms of governance. Currently, there are multiple multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs) working to develop sustainability standards and metrics for US agriculture. These include: LEO-4000, Field to Market, and the Sustainability Consortium. Using Paul Thompson’s (2010) tripartite sustainability framework, the proposed sustainability standards and metrics of the three MSIs are assessed. Our findings indicate that the current political economic stakeholder nexus is producing incremental adjustments to the status quo of industrial agriculture. Put differently, the standards and metrics being produced by these initiatives are largely advancing programs of sustainable intensification in which sustainability is equated with increasing resource efficiencies. Hence, our research problematizes the efficacy of non-state governance approaches for transformative change in food and agriculture. The findings in this chapter are based on fieldwork conducted between 2011 and 2013.

This paper discusses logistics service providers' (LSPs’) energy efficiency initiatives for sustainable development, both from an evolutionary perspective and based on a framework consisting of actions, processes (i.e. at the operations interface) and services (i.e. at the customer interface).

Following a qualitative research design, semi-structured interviews were conducted with sustainability managers at LSPs and the data were analysed via inductive coding. Based on the results and the literature, the authors developed a maturity model for LSPs' transitions to environmental sustainability.

LSPs' sustainable development occurs via operational processes, services at the customer interface, and actions that support those processes and services. Energy efficiency efforts are characterised by process depth that helps LSPs to align with their customers' energy efficiency improvement processes. While services related to energy efficiency connect LSPs and their customers, actions in support vary depending on the logistics activities in which LSPs participate.

Further research is needed to test and verify the maturity model and to clarify the interdependency of its three dimensions.

By categorising energy efficiency initiatives and proposing a maturity model for LSPs' sustainable development via energy efficiency, the authors have developed a tool for logistics actors to assess their progress towards improved sustainability.

The paper contributes to the literature by providing a three-pillar framework to understand the sustainability transitions of LSPs through energy efficiency. Developing a maturity model using this framework also contributes to the literature with an approach to assess sustainability advancement in the logistics industry.

The purpose of this study is to identify retailers selling sustainable apparel goods on the internet and examine their sustainable initiatives in the supply chain based on the United Nation's Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), one of the most widely used sustainability reporting guidelines.

A total of 156 sustainable apparel websites were content analyzed based on presence or absence of the website contents. A systematic coding scheme was developed based on previous research on the sustainability of the apparel industry and the GRI.

Findings of this study support the GRI as a useful framework to assess sustainability in online apparel retailers. The most commonly addressed aspects of the GRI that were addressed by companies in this study were the environmental and social aspects. Few sustainable apparel retailers on the internet made initiatives in all three areas of sustainability addressed in the GRI.

This study provides general characteristics of websites as well as endeavours along the supply chain to illustrate a full overview of sustainable apparel retailers online. The initiatives discussed in this study are meant to serve as a guide and inspiration for future researchers, companies and consumers.

Given the relevance of supply chain sustainability, the aim of the present paper is threefold: first, to investigate the strategies currently undertaken by companies in the supply chain sustainability arena, and, second, to find out which phase of the supply chain is at the forefront in the implementation of initiatives towards more sustainable supply chains. Finally, the criteria commonly used for priority‐setting amongst different initiatives within the same supply chain phase are identified.

A three‐pronged methodology was adopted. First, a framework was developed to identify the initiatives towards supply chain sustainability. Second, the framework was applied to a set of multinational companies by examining their environmental reporting, thus to assess the adoption of each initiative. Third, a further in‐depth investigation of three companies was finally performed in order to provide additional insights on the obtained results.

The research offers a benchmark of primary multinational companies with respect to the supply chain sustainability initiatives and their level of adoption.

The examined set of companies, although representative (i.e. the analysed companies operate in industries in which the environmental concern is particularly critical), is limited. However, the present paper contributes to the knowledge on supply chain sustainability and captures variations in theory, paving the way for new research.

The paper provides an instrument to evaluate and compare companies in terms of supply chain sustainability and highlights the main challenges that companies have to confront.

The originality of the paper lies in the adoption of a supply chain perspective to investigate sustainable initiatives.

The chapter examines and describes the impact of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) environmental provisions and the UN Global Compact initiatives on environmental sustainability of member countries at a national level and at a firm level.

Composite indexes (Human Development Index, Ecological Footprint Index, and Biocapacity) are used to determine CAFTA-DR country level sustainability. Firm level sustainability is based on a qualitative survey of companies using the Global Reporting Initiative framework and UN Global Compact participation.

Based on the methodology used CAFTA-DR member countries cannot be considered environmentally sustainable. Despite the lack of integration between initiatives proposed by different institutions, firm level sustainability trends are positive and encouraging.

Free access to Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity scores is limited. The research focused on surveying CAFTA-DR and UN Global Compact sustainability initiatives. However, there are many other entities and institutions not included in this research that also encourage sustainability.

The need of a concerted effort to align different organizations and institutions regarding sustainability initiatives in the CAFTA-DR region is apparent.

CAFTA-DR includes environmental provisions that are complementary to the UN Global Compact environmental principle. The synergies between these initiatives should be actively explored.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically explore how accountants can contribute to organisational sustainability initiatives.

The paper adopts a critical case study methodology, focused on a large Australian company in which senior management sought to engage accounting staff in an internal sustainability reporting initiative focused on eco-efficiency. Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, capitals and field enable a relational analysis of the findings.

While accountants adapted well to early changes aligned to cost efficiency, they struggled to engage with more creative sustainability improvements. The paper explains both adaptions and constraints as interactions between accountants’ professional habitus, capitals and their broader organisational field. Prior strategies to engage accountants (e.g. training) only partially address these factors.

The accounting profession has persistently urged members to contribute to organisational sustainability initiatives. This paper provides insight into how organisations might combine professional acculturation and appropriate capitals to advance this agenda.

Although eco-efficiency is only one potential element of comprehensive organisational sustainability management, the paper’s insights into engaging accountants contributes to understanding how broader social sustainability agendas might be advanced.

The study addresses calls for empirical insights into how accountants can contribute to corporate sustainability practices. Prior studies have polarised between interpreting accountants as either enablers or barriers to sustainability change. This paper explores how shifting configurations of habitus, capital and organisational field can enable either outcome.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the extent of online communication by festivals regarding their sustainability practices using Cultivation Theory as the framework to determine perceived value creation.

A mixed method approach was utilized to achieve data triangulation through a content analysis of websites, content analysis of social media sites as well as interviews.

Findings indicated that 64% of festivals did not communicate any sustainable practices through their websites and only 6% communicated via social media. The most common sustainability practices communicated were waste management and sustainable transportation, yet few festivals engaged in effective, consistent and sufficient marketing of initiatives to festivalgoers. Best practice festivals (having communicated 5.47 initiatives or more) were found to have been significantly more likely than non-best practice festivals to be music festivals and have been in operation longer. Best practice festivals were also more likely than non-best practice festivals to have sustainability engrained into their corporate philosophy via a communicated sustainable vision and mission. Interviews revealed that most festivals did not have a designated role responsible for all sustainable initiatives and the responsibility was often taken on by volunteers or festival organizers. Festival organizers that communicated sustainability initiatives efficiently, consistently, and sufficiently perceived these efforts to benefit the festivals value amongst festivalgoers and host communities. Propensity to communicate sustainability initiatives was found to have been impacted by awareness, categorization, timing, policy and funding.

While the findings are limited to the country of Canada and the extent of communication on websites and social media platforms as well as those festivals who participated, interviews helped to overcome these limitations as they gained an understanding of what was undertaken but not necessarily communicated.

The findings generated from this study could be used as a guide for establishing a benchmark for festivals regarding sustainable communication as well as strategies for overall corporate responsibility. Content regarding sustainability at festivals is scarce, as is information on festival communication. As a result, this paper seeks to understand the sustainable initiatives that are being communicated by festivals.

This is the first time Cultivation Theory was used within a tourism context and may be a useful tool to determine value creation. Through Cultivation Theory, festival organizers believed to have the ability to impact perceived value of the festival by implementing efficient, consistent and sufficient communication of sustainability initiatives.

Organizations have viewed sustainability as a societal problem and unrelated to business. To recognize sustainability as an organizational issue requires companies to deal with the challenge of transforming into environmentally sustainable enterprises. This requires institutions to align mission statements with values. The purpose of this paper is to replicate previous research in sustainability and the cultural facets which impact the process.

A qualitative case study method was used to analyze 25 organizations within the US Midwest with various contexts to determine how their respective cultures impacted their change initiatives. Specifically, the authors spoke to sustainability change agents with regard to their leadership and culture, and the factors that are conducive to (or barriers to) implementing sustainability initiatives.

The original study demonstrated the presence of seven contextual conditions which are important in the process of imbedding sustainability within the institution. This research found the same dimensions to be present; however, they manifested differently 15 years later.

The original research offered a somewhat dark picture of the sustainability change initiatives within organizations. The current study however; offers a much more positive perspective which demonstrates organizations appear to have progressed with regard to sustainability.

This is a replication study whereby we discovered similar themes as to the nature of contextual factors that can hinder or advance sustainability initiatives; however, the findings 15 years later show a marked difference in the current state of affairs and the ability to implement sustainability initiatives.

The purpose of this paper is to categorise the research on environmental sustainability in logistics and transportation on the basis of the main themes and study methods and proposes directions for future research.

The review is based on 72 papers published from 1994 to 2011 in international peer-reviewed journals. The academic papers were analysed and categorised according to both their defining characteristics (i.e. year of publication, journal title, regions addressed, and research methodology adopted) and the themes tackled. Five key themes were examined: sustainability initiatives, reasons for adoption, benefits achieved following adoption, critical issues and barriers to adoption, and the evaluation and measurement of environmental initiatives.

While many studies have addressed the issue of environmental sustainability within the supply chain as a whole, papers focusing specifically on environmental sustainability within logistics and freight transportation are fewer and relatively more recent. Although researchers have started to examine the decision-making process involved in environmental sustainability adoption in recent years, many themes, such as sustainability evaluation and measurement, and the level of adoption of sustainability initiatives in the context of the third-party logistics (3PL) industry are under-represented in the literature. As far as the methodology is concerned, our review revealed that many articles are either conceptual papers or empirical studies (i.e. mostly based on surveys or case studies), while simulation and analytical modelling have rarely been addressed.

While efforts were made to be all-inclusive, some research efforts may have inadvertently been omitted. However, the authors believe that this review provides an accurate representation of the body of research on environmental sustainability in logistics and transportation published during the specified timeframe, and that the resulting assessments are reliable.

The paper offers a guide to the previous research on this topic and identifies the most important issues that need to be addressed in future research.