The presentation explores the relationship between University and sustainability, particularly with regard to the UN Sustainable development goals. It is composed of two parts: firstly, a review offers some examples of university policy and networking initiatives on sustainability at international, European and national level; secondly, we show the main results of global rankings measuring sustainability in University campuses, with a special focus on Italian Universities’ performance.
The analysis carried out in this presentation shows that a growing attention exists among universities towards sustainability issues. In 2010, only 95 universities participated in the GreenMetrics ranking, while in 2018 the number rose to 719 universities. Furthermore, in 2019 Times Higher Education has developed the first edition of a ranking focused on Sustainable Development Goals. The top-performing universities in both rankings are in the Anglo-Saxon area, namely United Kingdom and United States. As for the Italian situation, the University of Bologna is the best university in terms of sustainability. It is among the top-15 universities in both rankings.

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