The Nuances of an SDG Report: Providing key recommendations to Freie Universität Berlin for an ideal SDG Report

Merto, Sofia; Venkatesh, Sahana; Jarad, Khaled; Savoie, Luke

Student Work

The Nuances of an SDG Report: Providing key recommendations to Freie Universität Berlin for an ideal SDG Report

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Sustainability has become a key factor in determining a university’s appeal, so it is vital for a university to communicate its sustainability leadership to external audiences. To boost awareness of their sustainability practices, universities can use tools such as sustainability reports or a high position in sustainability rankings. The Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, one authoritative source for sustainability ratings, ranks universities according to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These rankings are based on a specific style of sustainability report, known as an SDG report. Our goal was to make recommendations for Freie Universität Berlin’s SDG report, and we accomplished this goal by conducting a content analysis of existing reports. Our analysis found that components of a well-done report include format and organization by sustainability goal, description of projects that apply to the goal, and presentation of statistics in a box separate from the text. In addition to this report, we were also tasked with the project of formulating recommendations for an interactive app. We developed recommendations best suited to the students of Freie Universität Berlin to communicate the university’s sustainability efforts in a way that students will notice and care about. The SDG report recommendations and the interactive app will both assist Freie Universität Berlin communicate its sustainability practices with all current and future students, as well as help them to engage the community in becoming more sustainable.

This report represents the work of one or more WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review.

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