Ecological footprint assessment as a pathway to sustainabin the OpenEU Alliance

Nicolau, Paula Bacelar; Martins, Rute; Caeiro, Sandra; Mapar, Mahsa; Casanova, Diogo

Publication

Ecological footprint assessment as a pathway to sustainabin the OpenEU Alliance

2025-10Conference object

datacite.subject.fos	Ciências Naturais
datacite.subject.fos	Ciências Sociais
dc.contributor.author	Nicolau, Paula Bacelar
dc.contributor.author	Martins, Rute
dc.contributor.author	Caeiro, Sandra
dc.contributor.author	Mapar, Mahsa
dc.contributor.author	Casanova, Diogo
dc.date.accessioned	2026-01-14T19:37:33Z
dc.date.available	2026-01-14T19:37:33Z
dc.date.issued	2025-10
dc.description.abstract	The integration of sustainable practices into the daily operations and infrastructure of HigherEducation Institutions (HEIs) plays a vital role in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) (Purcell et al., 2019; Žalėnienė & Pereira, 2021). Developing action-oriented competenceswithin HEIs, such as collaborative sustainability governance strategies and actions, is a key inthis process (Mapar & Caeiro, 2024; Saleem & Dare, 2023). As part of this effort, assessing andreducing the Ecological Footprint (EF) has become a priority in many HEIs, with EF monitoringserving as an essential decision-making tool to encourage more responsible resource use withinthe institution (Valls-Val & Bovea, 2021). The OpenEU Alliance, coordinated by the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, brings together tenEuropean HEIs — including both Distance Teaching and face-to-face HEIs — in a joint effort todrive digital transformation in higher education and establish a pan-European, student-centred,inclusive, digital, and green Distance Teaching university. As a part of this broader initiative, aspecific task has been set to reduce the Alliance EF by 5% over four years (2024–2028). To thatend, the adopted tool was the University Footprint Calculator (Mancini et al., 2022), an open-access digital tool, developed under the EEUSTEPs Erasmus project (EUSTEPs, n.d.), that allowsHEIs to evaluate and keep records of consumption of natural resources and ecosystem serviceswithin their activities and operations. The methodology involved: (i) establishing the baseline EFfor each university in Year 1, and propose a set of recommendations to reduce the EF based onthe most impactful categories; and (ii) monitoring the changes over the following three years, totrack the progress towards the overall OpenEU EF reduction by Year 4. This study presents the outcomes of the first year of OpenEU Alliance EF assessment, in whichkey initial milestones were achieved, including the establishment of a Community of Practice inEcological Footprint, with representatives from all partner universities. Activities comprised twointroductory meetings and a training session to explain the EUSTEPs calculator and the datacollection process, followed by regular meetings to share the efforts and challenges within theprocess. Based on that, each partner university collected its data on infrastructure and utilitycategories (e.g., energy use, buildings) and community-related activities (such as mobility foracademic purposes or food services). The achieved results provide a solid foundation fordeveloping the recommendations and implementing future actions. The collaborative framework, fostered within the OpenEU Alliance and supported by its baselineassessment, not only enhances data transparency but also builds institutional capacity toimplement targeted, impactful measures for reducing the EF. Through continued monitoringand shared learning, the Alliance will achieve its ultimate EF reduction target by 2028,contributing tangibly to the broader goals of the OpenEU Alliance on digital transformation,inclusivity, and green higher education.	eng
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10400.2/20850
dc.language.iso	eng
dc.peerreviewed	yes
dc.relation	1. OpenEU - The learner-centred, inclusive, digital and green Open European University for the strengthening of the European Higher Education Area (ERASMUS-EDU-2024-EUR-UNIV; No. 101177241)
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
dc.title	Ecological footprint assessment as a pathway to sustainabin the OpenEU Alliance	eng
dc.type	conference object
dspace.entity.type	Publication
oaire.citation.title	I·HE2025 “Rethinking Higher Education: Engage, Adapt, Include” 8-10 Outubro 2025; FernUniversitat in Hagen, Alemanha
oaire.version	http://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85
person.familyName	Nicolau
person.familyName	Caeiro
person.familyName	Mapar
person.familyName	Casanova
person.givenName	Paula Bacelar
person.givenName	Sandra
person.givenName	Mahsa
person.givenName	Diogo
person.identifier	https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=pt-PT&user=WWFc0MkAAAAJ
person.identifier	587808
person.identifier	https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=47Gnq5cAAAAJ&hl=en
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