By Emmy Yacoub
UNIVERSITY CITY, SHARJAH – Never waste anything. Only use what is needed because everything is precious. This is what the parents of the American University of Sharjah’s Acting Head of Sustainability Julia Carlow always told her since she was a kid.
Carlow’s interest in sustainability stemmed from this value, but she did not truly realize this field was what she wanted to pursue until she was studying business administration in Germany.
During a business ethics course, she learned about corporate social responsibility. What it means, Carlow said, is companies are not only obliged to follow a legal framework but also have a responsibility to ensure they positively impact the environment and minimize the negative effects.
“And that was really the moment where I wanted to focus my career on that,” Carlow says, adding it is her passion.
Before joining AUS in 2017 as an executive education manager, she worked at a multinational sportswear brand where she carried out sustainability initiatives in the worldwide supply chain of the organization. Carlow became the AUS acting head of sustainability in 2019 and has been a member of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education Advisory Council since 2021.
The Council is the main way for members to become involved in AASHE governance that consists of leaders from higher education, nonprofit organizations and governments, Carlow said. It helps provide “advice and guidance on high-level strategy as well as specific programs and services.”
AUS Sustainability Office
Although AUS was founded in 1997, the Sustainability Office was established later in 2009. Originally, Carlow says, the Office focused on energy, water and waste conservation. It was not until 2018; however, that the Office began adopting a whole institutional approach, she adds. This includes adoption of environment friendly practices as well as community service, disability access and equal employment opportunity.
Carlow explains the Office follows a framework by AASHE called the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System, which serves as a tool to define and measure sustainability in higher education. It has “very clear guidelines on what sustainability in higher education should look like,” she said.
The framework explains how the campus should operate as an enterprise and how to integrate eco-friendly practices in academics and research whenever possible. It encourages focusing on engagement in education as well as culture and awareness building on campus and beyond, Carlow says.
STARS also allows organizations to compare themselves to one another and share information about sustainable practices. As the AASHE website states, institutions can submit a form based on specific credits such as academics, engagement, operations, etc. They can earn a bronze, silver, gold or platinum STARS rating for their submission, which remains valid for three years.
In 2018, AUS was the first university in the Middle East and North Africa region to receive a STARS Bronze rating. It also earned a silver rating in 2021 and will submit another form for evaluation in 2024. Carlow said the university hopes to achieve a gold rating this time. To learn more about AUS’ awards and recognitions, view the infographic below [insert infographic: A summary of AUS’ awards and recognitions for its sustainability efforts].
Much of the credit for the University’s achievements goes to the initiatives led by the Sustainability Office. An example is the single-use plastic campaign in 2020 aimed at reducing waste by banning campus vendors from utilizing single-use plastic. According to the guidelines, vendors are prohibited from selling water bottles containing less than 500 millimeters of water. Carbonated drinks and juice must also be sold in aluminum cans. Single-use plastic bags and eating utensils are instead replaced with eco-friendly and biodegradable alternatives.
“Waste reduction should always be the goal,” Carlow says.
The Office also distributes stainless steel drinking bottles on campus to avoid students, faculty and staff members from needing to buy plastic ones.
In 2021, it collaborated with BEEAH Group, a Sharjah-based organization focused on environmental services, to educate the community about what can and cannot be recycled, Carlow says. She adds that the blue part of a trash bin means recyclable material and the green non-recyclable waste.
According to Carlow, AUS is currently working on addressing all the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals equally since they are all interdependent and cannot be isolated from one another. For example, an ongoing initiative is the AUS Climate Action Plan. Launched in 2022 and based on SDG 13, the initiative is a statement and commitment to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2050, she explained.
AUS’ sustainability efforts are fully aligned with the UN’s Climate Action solutions designed to help avert the negative consequences of climate change and limit the global warming rate increase to 1.5°C. In order to achieve a net-zero world, not only governments, but also private entities and sectors such as AUS are working on replacing current polluting energy sources with renewable ones such as solar and wind.
As a part of its endeavors to contribute to this goal, AUS has sought consultancy from the South Pole company, a carbon finance firm, to help them figure out what data they want to collect and who can provide it to them to ensure they receive it regularly, Carlow says. She adds that AUS has yet to set initiatives to work on that particular plan since their current measurement tools are not entirely accurate.
As a result of this, Carlow says AUS has found out that its carbon emissions have been rising the last three years. For example, as per the AUS’ Greenhouse Gas Accounting Report, in comparison to 2022, the university saw a 634.19% increase in upstream transportation and distribution by air, sea and road in 2023. This made it one of the largest contributors to this growth.
The results also show that activity data led to waste generation in operations rising by 171%, while an increase in renovation and construction expenses caused an increase of 1114.02% in capital goods.
Carlow noted, however, that one of the practices the University has been working on is implementations to make buildings more sustainable and energy efficient. This can be challenging since it is financially costly, she added.
The Sustainability Office’s efforts to raise awareness go beyond campaigns and also extend to academics. According to Carlow, the Office works directly with colleges to integrate and include sustainability components in classrooms.
She adds she sometimes visits classes to inform the students about the topic. On March 7, Carlow attended Basic Academic Writing (WRI 001) and Academic Writing II (WRI 102) classes where the students were required to write their papers about a subject related to sustainability.
Student EcoRep Program
Among the numerous ways the Sustainability Office raises awareness on campus is the Student EcoRep Program, a peer-to-peer education program, consisting of students from different majors and cultural backgrounds who are passionate about helping and protecting the environment.
Since the office is relatively small and cannot engage directly with everyone on campus, Carlow points out that the representatives act as spokespeople on their behalf and help them figure out the interests of the community. According to Carlow, this makes for a more effective communication method because the students are more likely to listen to their peers. They typically have four representatives each academic year.
One of the current EcoReps is Aamuktha Samrajyam, a junior chemical engineering major, who has been a part of the program since spring 2023.
As a member, Aamuktha says her engagement with the Sustainability Office has allowed her to not only help organize events but also attend large-scale speaker panels and conferences such as COP28.
“So, as an individual, I was able to make an impact on a much bigger scale,” Aamuktha says, adding that this is why she joined the program.
However, on-campus efforts to promote sustainability through campaigns and events have been met with some resistance from the community since switching mindsets and habits is difficult.
“We are in a time where people value convenience more than sustainability and caring for the environment,” she says.
Aamuktha provides an example of a market that sells local produce like Manbat Farmers Market, which AUS hosts every Wednesday, in comparison to ordering online or buying from supermarkets such as Carrefour.
“The whole point of the market is to make sure that people know about local produce,” Aamuktha says. “But again, people find it difficult to come to the market and buy.”
She adds that this challenge can be dealt with by providing incentives and finding ways to show others that changing their lifestyle to become more eco-friendly is not difficult and a burden.
“So, it’s about easing that process of shifting towards sustainability,” she says.
To learn more about Aamuktha’s background and interest in sustainability, watch the video below
Along with the Student EcoRep Program, a Staff EcoAmbassador Program focuses on faculty members and administrators and seeks to train participants in how to be effective advocates for sustainability.
Future of Sustainability in Education
According to Dr. Sandra Knuteson, a senior lecturer at AUS’ Department of Biology, Chemistry and Environmental Sciences, adopting an ecofriendly approach and practices is now necessary in all fields, including education.
“We need to think in every job, every decision about how our decision is going to impact the environment and impact society,” she says.
Dr. Knuteson adds this makes it important to understand the social, economic and environmental consequences of choices made and to teach the students about sustainability.
“So, it is not just about what we teach but how we teach.”
Universities can be treated as any other industry or business, she says. They need to have eco-friendly facilities and working conditions as well as management and higher-up teams who understand the subject.
Dr. Knuteson also notes that faculty shifts to online exams from paper-based exams during the pandemic has allowed her to witness around a 95% paper usage reduction in her classes.
Although they can be time-consuming and costly, the professor says, such practices are needed and should be promoted by educational institutions. To help affect this change, universities can hold workshops to teach the instructors and staff members how to be more sustainable. They can use their campus as a “living laboratory” to conduct research that would aid this goal.
Providing incentives can also encourage faculty to compete over reduction of waste and emissions.
“It is really important for administration to kind of have continuity and then to work together,” Dr. Knuteson said. “Not just the operations, not just the academics, but between the two of them.”
