UI Greenmetric and Campus Sustainability: a Review of the Role of African Universities

Abstract

The desire to combat the negative externalities of climate change and its variability has gained a lot of ground over the last few decades. This has resulted in the development of several approaches among which is the UI GreenMetric university ranking developed in 2010. In light of this, this article seeks to examine the performance of African higher education institutions on the ranking table and the impact they have had on their respective countries. To achieve this, this article compared performance scored between participating universities, carbon dioxide (CO2) emission trends, and renewable energy consumption trends. The findings paint a picture of poor performance across each of the categories measured under the UI GreenMetric ranking. However, there was some marginal decline in CO2 emissions as well as an increase in renewable energy consumption for some participating countries. The findings reveal that participation of African universities in the ranking has been very low. Institutionalizing green campus initiatives by African governments to make it a must for a higher education institution to adopt such strategies was recommended. The study also recommends an increase in support for research in the area of green technologies, methods, and procedures in Africa so as to create enough awareness and education on the topic.