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20 Dissertation Topics on Sustainability and Green Technology

Published by Carmen Troy at January 9th, 2023 , Revised On May 17, 2024

Introduction

Looking for interesting and manageable topics on sustainability and green technology for your dissertation or thesis? Well, you have come to the right place.

The subject of sustainability, green technology, and environmental friendliness has gained tremendous importance over the last few years – thanks to the ever-increasing pollution, climate change, and high production costs throughout the world.

Without wasting any more of your time, here are the 20+ dissertation topic ideas in this trendy field so you can choose the one that is not only intriguing but also manageable for you.

These topics have been developed by PhD writers of our team , so you can trust to use these topics for drafting your dissertation.

You may also want to start your dissertation by requesting a brief research proposal from our writers on any of these topics, which includes an introduction to the topic, research question, aim and objectives, literature review, and the proposed methodology of research to be conducted. Let us know  if you need any help in getting started.

Check our  dissertation examples  to get an idea of  how to structure your dissertation .

Review the full list of  dissertation topics here.

Latest Research Topics on Sustainability and Green Technology

Topic 1: the role of artificial intelligence (ai) and green technology in the develpment of smart and sustainable towns.

Research Aim: This study intends to find the role of artificial intelligence (AI) and green technology in developing smart and sustainable towns. It will review the concepts of smart and sustainable towns to show their importance in the modern era to reduce global warming. Then it will assess the role of AI by analysing various machine learning and deep learning models to show how these models can help develop smart and sustainable towns. Lastly, it will review what work has already been done in this area and what should be done.

Topic 2: Impact of Research and Development (R&D) Expenditure in Green Technology on the Sustainability Outcomes of the Construction Industry- A Case of Malaysian Construction Industry

Research Aim: This study intends to analyse the impact of research and revelopment (R&D) expenditure on green technology on the sustainability outcomes of the construction industry in Malaysia. It will review the current green technology used in the Malaysian construction industry and its development. Moreover, it will show how the construction industry is spending to develop new green technology and how much it requires to make it completely sustainable. It will also identify various national and international sources which can invest in this industry to make it more sustainable.

Topic 3: What are the Motivating and Demotivating Factors for Green Supply Chain Practices? An Exploratory Study Finding the Factors Affecting Green Supply Chain Practices in the UK

Research Aim: This research will identify various motivating and demotivating factors (return on green investment, production output, local and global competitiveness, political support, international support, investor support, etc.) for green supply chain practices. It will study various industries in the UK, such as construction, hotel industry, retail industry, etc., find out how the abovementioned factors affected their interest in green technology and green supply chain practices. Moreover, it will assess the work done in this area and how various institutions can motivate these industries.

Topic 4: Influence of Green Advertising on the Consumer View of Green Technology and Sustainability in the US

Research Aim: This study shows the impact of green advertising on the consumer perception of green technology and sustainability. It will assess how various components of green advertising work and how they affect the consumer perception of the need for green technology. Moreover, it will analyse different green advertising strategies used by companies in the US to influence consumer perception and how these strategies can be improved to make US consumers more interested in the products, which are products of an environment-friendly production process.

Topic 5: Green Economy a Necessity? Impact of Green Technology on Sustainable Economic Growth and Development- A Case of ASEAN Economies

Research Aim: It proposes a framework to analyse the impact of green technology on sustainable economic growth and development. It will show whether the green economy is essential for growth and development or not. It will assess various effects of green technology on the economy and ecology. And show how improving ecology can benefit human development, which can be good for long-term economic growth in the ASEAN countries. Lastly, it will analyse the current progress of these countries in creating a green economy.

Topic 6: The Potential of Biomimicry in Green Technology Innovation

Research Aim: This research explores and evaluates the potential applications of biomimicry principles in driving innovation within green technology. The purpose of the study is to enhance sustainability, resource efficiency, and environmental conservation.

Topic 7: Circular Economy and its Application in Achieving Sustainability Targets

Research Aim: This study investigates the concept of the circular economy and its practical implementation strategies. It focuses on the effectiveness of the circular economy in facilitating the achievement of sustainability targets across various industries and sectors.

Topic 8: Sustainable Water Management in the Era of Climate Change

Research Aim: This research examines the challenges and opportunities associated with sustainable water management in the context of climate change. The study identifies effective strategies, technologies, and policies to ensure resilient and equitable access to clean water resources while mitigating the impacts of climate variability and extreme events.

Topic 9: The Role of Information Technology in Advancing Sustainability Initiatives

Research Aim: This study investigates the multifaceted role of information technology (IT) in advancing sustainability initiatives across various sectors. It explores how IT innovations, such as big data analytics, IoT (Internet of Things), blockchain, and AI (Artificial Intelligence), can contribute to enhancing resource efficiency and promoting sustainable development goals.

Topic 10: Corporate Social Responsibility and Green Technology Adoption: A Case Study Analysis

Research Aim: This study aims to conduct a comprehensive case study analysis to examine the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices and the adoption of green technologies within organisations. It examines understanding the motivations and outcomes associated with integrating sustainability initiatives into corporate strategies and operations.

Topic 11: Impact of Smart Grid Technologies for Sustainable Energy Management

Research Aim: This research assesses the impact of smart grid technologies on sustainable energy management. The study focuses on understanding how the integration of advanced grid infrastructure, renewable energy sources, energy storage systems, and demand-side management techniques contributes to increasing energy efficiency, grid reliability, and environmental sustainability.

COVID-19 Sustainability and Green Technology Research Topics

Topic 1: covid-19 and the need to expand sustainable energy.

Research Aim: It’s high time to expand sustainable energy during COVID-19.

Topic 2: COVID-19 and the environment

Research Aim: This study will focus on the positive and negative impacts of COVID-19 on the environment.

Topic 3: Economic expenditure on the green environment during COVID-19

Research Aim: This study will review the economic expenditure and plans for the green environment during COVID-19.

Topic 4: The green economy after COVID-19

Research Aim: This study will analyse the current issues related to green technology and predict the future of a green environment after COVID-19.

Dissertation Topics Ideas on Sustainability and Green Technology on Global Impact

Topic 1: research on sustainable gardens.

Research Aim: This research aims to conduct research on creating sustainable gardens and identify their benefits.

Topic 2: Sustainable outdoor designs using recycled materials

Research Aim: This research aims to identify various methods of creating sustainable outdoor designs using recycled materials and identify their benefits.

Topic 3: Pollution-free disposal and recycling of trash

Research Aim: This research aims to identify various methods to ensure pollution-free disposal and recycling of trash

Topic 4: Importance of gardening- awareness and ideas for the city, terrace/roof gardening

Research Aim: This research aims to address the importance of gardening and its awareness among the public. It will also focus on identifying cost-effective and innovative ideas for the city, as well as terrace/roof gardening.

Topic 5: Examining the economic impacts of green technology

Research Aim: The research will involve comparing the costs incurred in developing green energy and the economic benefits. The services will be saved once alternative forms of materials and energy sources are used. It will be relevant in identifying whether it is worth investing in green technology from an economic perspective. It will also help in developing supportive policies that guide green technology.

Topic 6: How do national and regional politics affect environmental sustainability?

Research Aim: This research study will analyse the role of politics in the environment. It will explore the positive or negative impacts of individual political inclinations.

Topic 7: How sustainable is the environment in the current and forthcoming eras?

Research Aim: This research will analyse global trends and their impacts on environmental trends. Developments such as increasing population, climate change, and using various materials affect the people. It will inform about how sustainability measures can be structured to align with the trends.

Topic 8: Adoption of green energy by low-end users

Research Aim: The research will be based on realising a market niche that cannot afford or are not willing to spend on an expensive product. Additionally, the embrace of some advanced technologies varies across classes, mainly based on exposure. There is also the notion that green technology can be expensive, making the stated users reluctant to use it. Accordingly, the research will focus on the factors that give users their respective levels of green technology use.

Topic 9: How green technology can affect organisational processes

Research Aim: This research will analyse how processes that can include procuring and sourcing, producing, sales, marketing, and delivering products, among others, can be impacted once green technology is introduced. It will help analyse cost and time effectiveness and the satisfaction of the organisation’s stakeholders. It can help recommend structural changes when an organisation is considering green technology.

Topic 10: To what extent does green technology contribute to environmental sustainability?

Research Aim: notably, several factors are contributing to environmental degradation and pollution. While green technology has been identified in previous research to ensure sustainability, its contribution can be compared with other factors. Accordingly, recommendations can be made about whether it is the absolute solution to sustainability.

Topic 11: Green technology and global environmental sustainability frameworks

Research Aim: The study will assess how the frameworks affect the use of green technology. Various global environmental practices are commonly developed. The research will suggest any amendments to the frameworks to positively correlate them with green technology. Also, the topic will evaluate how the frameworks are implemented in various regions.

Topic 12: Green technology practices in developing countries

Research Aim: The research will explore the extent to which developing countries use and promote green technology. They are characterised by having a lower economy. The priority they have on sustainability will be established.

Topic 13: How do policies affect the use of green technology in a country?

Research Aim: The research acknowledges that regulatory bodies devise policies to guide various industries. The guidelines can be supportive or suppressive in the development and use of green technology. For instance, the bodies’ incentives can encourage green technology, while factors like high taxation can discourage it. Therefore, focusing on a particular country’s policies can be insightful into the level at which the technology is incorporated.

Topic 14: Incentives for green technology and environmental sustainability

Research Aim: The purpose of this study is to determine how green technology can be promoted among users and manufacturers. It will first identify the challenges that users can face when using and applying the technology. It will also evaluate the level of sensitisation about green technology that people in a region have. The various stakeholders can execute the incentives for environmental sustainability.

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ResearchProspect writers can send several custom topic ideas to your email address. Once you have chosen a topic that suits your needs and interests, you can order for our dissertation outline service , which will include a brief introduction to the topic, research questions , literature review , methodology , expected results , and conclusion . The dissertation outline will enable you to review the quality of our work before placing the order for our full dissertation writing service !

More Research Titles on Sustainability and Green Technology

Topic 1: what roles do ngos have in environmental sustainability and green technology.

Research Aim: The research will establish how NGOs can be incorporated into sustainability. NGOs have distinct objectives. While some are specific to environmental conservation, others focus on aspects that indirectly affect the environment positively or negatively. The study will then suggest how the NGOs can be motivated to advance their operations and promote green technology.

Topic 2: Impactful green thinking to achieve sustainability

Research Aim: The research analyses human behaviour and issues that can promote sustainability. It explores how people can change their perspective on the environment and take measures at individual and collective levels. It will recommend some habitual changes that can positively impact the environment.

Topic 3: A holistic approach to environmental sustainability

Research Aim: Sustainability comprises various factors, ranging from behavioural, resources, technological, and procedural. Most studies have focused on particular sets of characteristics. However, it can be intriguing how integrating sustainability factors can be achieved. Also, it will be realised if implementing some measures of sustainability has any correlation to others.

Topic 4: Can there be a balance between lifestyle and green technology?

Research Aim: the study will assess the relationship between current lifestyle and green technology. It will be relevant in identifying the personal understanding of green technology’s contribution and how people are ready to adjust their lifestyle to technology. It will further show how green technology affects lifestyles.

Topic 5: How do businesses perceive green energy and environmental sustainability?

Research Aim: The research aims to identify how profit-making organisations approach green technology. It will focus on whether they find it less costly and useful. Also, it will establish whether they find products that involve green technology are usually marketable. Further, it will identify the organisation’s preference for the working environment, whether in regions that promote environmental sustainability or those that do not.

Topic 6: Examining sustainability policies in developed and developing countries

Research Aim: The research will compare regulations instituted in the two sets of countries. It will also assess the extent of implementation of the policies in the countries.

Topic 7: Challenges facing green technology as one of the drivers towards sustainability

Research Aim: The research will be based on green technology recognition as a crucial attribute of environmental sustainability. Despite the assertion, the technology has not attained universal coverage as it would be more impactful. The challenges can vary in economic, social, geographical, and regulatory aspects, and it is recommended that the research focus on a particular region. The results can also be analysed if there is a conflict of to identify any general challenges in the areas.

Topic 8: What is the consumer perspective towards green production?

Research Aim: Businesses target to satisfy the needs of consumers. The study will assess whether the consumer has a force towards producers that can make the latter inclined towards using green technology. This research study will essentially focus on the consumables industry.

Topic 9: Stakeholders’ contribution to green technology

Research Aim: The research will establish all the stakeholders in green energy. It will reveal their interests and drivers towards green technology. There will be an insight into whether there is a conflict of interest between the stakeholders and how it can be resolved. It will also help identify how the stakeholders can collaborate and integrate their resources and ideas.

Topic 10: Current trends in green technology and the future of technology

Research Aim: the research will aim to overview how green energy has been advancing over time. The trend will then help in predicting the future of green technology. Besides, it will be informative about the contribution green energy has had on environmental sustainability at various levels. It will then make recommendations about the optimum technology based on the available information and developments.

Also Read: Dissertation Topics in Engineering Management

How ResearchProspect Can Help You?

We are aware of the problems students are likely to face when it comes to finding a suitable topic in sustainability and green technology. Therefore our expert writers are always looking forward to assisting you with your topic search.

We hope you were able to find a suitable topic from the 20+ topic suggestions in green technology and sustainability provided in this article. But even if you didn’t find any of these topics suitable for your needs, you can always contact us to get custom topic ideas from our expert writers.

Our team of expert writers in any field you would like your work to be carried out in will facilitate you and ensure you get the grades that you are worthy of and deserve.

Important Notes:

As a student of sustainability and green technology looking to get good grades, it is essential to develop new ideas and experiment with existing sustainability and green technology theories – i.e., to add value and interest to your research topic.

Sustainability and green technology are vast and interrelated to many other academic disciplines like environmental engineering . That is why it is imperative to create a sustainability and green technology dissertation topic that is particular, sound, and solves a practical problem that may be rampant in the field.

We can’t stress how important it is to develop a logical research topic based on your fundamental research. There are several significant downfalls to getting your issue wrong; your supervisor may not be interested in working on it, the topic has no academic creditability, the research may not make logical sense, and there is a possibility that the study is not viable.

This impacts your time and efforts in writing your dissertation , as you may end up in a cycle of rejection at the initial stage of the dissertation. That is why we recommend reviewing existing research to develop a topic, taking advice from your supervisor, and even asking for help in this particular stage of your dissertation.

While developing a research topic, keeping our advice in mind will allow you to pick one of the best sustainability and green technology dissertation topics that fulfil your requirement of writing a research paper and add to the body of knowledge.

Therefore, it is recommended that when finalising your dissertation topic, you read recently published literature to identify gaps in the research that you may help fill.

Remember- dissertation topics need to be unique, solve an identified problem, be logical, and be practically implemented. Please look at some of our sample sustainability and green technology dissertation topics to get an idea for your dissertation.

How to Structure Your Dissertation on Sustainability & Green Technology

A well-structured dissertation can help students to achieve a high overall academic grade.

• A Title Page
• Acknowledgments
• Declaration
• Abstract: A summary of the research completed
• Table of Contents
• Introduction : This chapter includes the project rationale, research background, key research aims and objectives, and the research problems. An outline of the structure of a dissertation can also be added to this chapter.
• Literature Review : This chapter presents relevant theories and frameworks by analysing published and unpublished literature on the chosen research topic to address research questions . The purpose is to highlight and discuss the selected research area’s relative weaknesses and strengths whilst identifying any research gaps. Break down the topic and binding terms, which can positively impact your dissertation and your tutor.
• Methodology : The data collection and analysis methods and techniques employed by the researcher are presented in the Methodology chapter, which usually includes research design , research philosophy, research limitations, code of conduct, ethical consideration, data collection methods, and data analysis strategy .
• Findings and Analysis : The findings of the research are analysed in detail in the Findings and Analysis chapter. All key findings/results are outlined in this chapter without interpreting the data or drawing any conclusions. It can be useful to include graphs, charts, and tables in this chapter to identify meaningful trends and relationships.
• Discussion and Conclusion : The researcher presents his interpretation of results in this chapter and states whether the research hypothesis has been verified or not. An essential aspect of this section of the paper is to link the results and evidence from the literature. Recommendations with regard to the implications of the findings and directions for the future may also be provided. Finally, a summary of the overall research, along with final judgments, opinions, and comments, must be included in the form of suggestions for improvement.
• References : This should be completed following your University’s requirements
• Bibliography
• Appendices : Any additional information, diagrams, and graphs used to complete the dissertation but not part of the dissertation should be included in the Appendices chapter. Essentially, the purpose is to expand the information/data.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How to find sustainability and green technology dissertation topics.

For sustainability and green technology dissertation topics:

• Research recent environmental challenges.
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• Examine policy and industry trends.
• Analyse potential socio-economic impacts.
• Focus on interdisciplinary approaches.
• Select a topic resonating with your passion and expertise.

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THE SUSTAINABILITY INSIGHT SYSTEM

THESIS,  created and developed by TSC, is a performance assessment system that  guides  retailers and suppliers to benchmark, quantify, and take action on critical sustainability issues within their consumer product supply chains.  

Science-Based Insights

Eliminates Survey Fatigue

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THESIS For Retailers and Suppliers  

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Ahold delhaize usa, costco, dollar tree, family dollar, sam’s club, staples, tractor supply company, walgreens, walgreens boots alliance (wba), walmart, woolworths..

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Thesis has a common campaign period for all suppliers to report to their current retail customers. this common reporting period is designed to support supplier engagement with thesis and minimize survey fatigue  .

Learn more about THESIS

Where did thesis come from  .

THESIS was originally created by TSC starting in 2009 and launched as The Sustainability Index in 2014. In 2019, TSC partnered with SupplyShift to create our current iteration of THESIS, powered by Sphera Supply Chain Sustainability’s cutting edge platform and informed by TSC’s deep roots in higher education, including Arizona State University and Wageningen University + Research. THESIS currently has more retail users than ever before.  

Every spring, TSC staff work with TSC members to revise and update THESIS for the upcoming fall campaign.   

Who is Sphera Supply Chain Sustainability ?  

THESIS is powered by Sphera Supply Chain Sustainability, formerly known as SupplyShift , TSC’s partner who is committed to helping businesses create more transparent, responsible, and resilient supply chains. Learn more about Sphera Supply Chain Sustainability and visit THESIS on their platform . 

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Understanding the State of Supply Chain Sustainability

• Sustainability

The emphasis on sustainability within supply chains across industries has increased in recent years. Today, companies across the globe report on sustainability efforts and progress each year and set goals to reach ambitious environmental and social sustainability targets. This increased focus has prompted questions regarding how sustainability practices are interpreted and understood. How do different demographic groups (i.e., gender, language, location, age, and industry) interpret the current state of supply chain sustainability? Have the long-term implications of COVID-19 affected companies’ commitments to supply chain sustainability? Our analysis used response data from the 3rd Annual State of Supply Chain Management Survey and context gathered through supply chain executive interviews to answer the two main research questions. After slicing the survey response data into demographic categories – gender, age range, region, survey language translation, and industry – we performed non- parametric Mann-Whitney-U and Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA tests to see if the different groups interpret sustainability commitments significantly differently. When testing within single demographics, results showed significant differences in responses by demographics. This seemed to explain some of the difference in how people interpreted supply chain sustainability; however, when isolating groups further, this became less apparent. Upon isolating the gender, age range, and location demographics by major industries, fewer responses showed significant differences. From this, we can conclude that comparisons of sustainability guidelines and practices should be industry-specific, rather than specific to other demographics such as gender, age, or location. Our capstone results could provide the basis for future research to understand the variations in how different groups of people interpret supply chain sustainability within the same company, industry, or outside of an organizational setting entirely.

• Hållbar utveckling A, 30 hp
• Global miljöhistoria, 7.5 hp
• Klimatet, energin och det moderna samhället, 7.5 hp
• Climate Change Leadership in Practice, 30 credits
• Global Challenges and Sustainable Futures, 7.5 credits
• Sustainability Challenges in Sweden, 7.5 credits
• Sustainability and Development in Latin America – Past, Present, Future, 7.5 credits
• The Global Economy – Environment, Development and Globalisation, 15 credits
• Sustainable Development – Project Management and Communication, 15 credits
• Hållbar utveckling B, 30 hp
• Technology, Power and the Future of Humanity, 7.5 credits
• Actors and Strategies for Change – Towards Global Sustainabilities, 7.5 credits
• Perspectives on Climate Change – Ecopsychology, Art and Narratives, 7.5 credits
• Climate Change Leadership – Power, Politics and Culture, 15 credits
• Sustainable Economic Futures – Nature, Equity and Community, 15 credits
• Master Programme in Sustainable Development
• Framtidsakademin
• ClimateExistence conference
• Framtidsklubben GRO
• Re-emergence/emergency walks
• The Environmental and Climate Humanities Seminar
• Café com Paulo Freire
• Art at the End of the World club
• The Critical Interference Podcast at CEMUS
• The Sustainability and Climate Thesis Library – Uppsatsbiblioteket för hållbarhets- och klimatuppsatser
• CEMUS Library – Meeting Place and Study Space
• Kollaboratoriet Uppsala
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The Sustainability and Climate Thesis Library – Uppsatsbiblioteket för hållbarhets- och klimatuppsatser

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Welcome to CEMUS online library for student theses on sustainability and climate from all over the world!

Do you want to have your thesis and associated material (presentations, photos, videos, audio) published at this page? Please send your thesis and materials to us and we will do a review and get back to you about publishing here. If you have questions please contact Lead Outreach Coordinator, Daniel Mossberg, daniel.mossberg[a]cemus.uu.se.

Researching sustainability education through the lens of anti-oppressive pedagogy: a critical discourse analysis of the educational policies of three international high schools with sustainability foci by Aster Tommasini

As the notion of sustainability has gained prominence in the past decade, so have different disciplines that have addressed sustainability issues from an educational standpoint, for example Environmental Education and Education for Sustainable Development. Both fields have been called out for shortcomings such as omitting social considerations to sustainability issues and reproducing neoliberal framings that go hand in hand with oppressive power structures and systemic inequality. To better grasp how sustainability education is framed in relation to anti-oppressive pedagogy, this research conducted a Critical Discourse Analysis on selected materials that were publicly available on the websites of three international high schools with sustainability-oriented curricula Green School, United World Colleges, and Amala Education. From the analysis of the selected documents, the three educational organizations’ discourses of sustainability align with the narrative of Education for Sustainable Development and lack critical considerations on the             embeddedness of their sustainability education, and the larger sustainability challenge, in neoliberal framings and systems of oppression that reproduce inequality and marginalization and that constrain processes of transformation. While language that relates to the framings of anti-oppressive pedagogy was present, to different extents, in the texts of the three organizations, it was not framed in relation to sustainability, but as a separate layer of educational practice, lacking problematization on the role of sustainability education discourses in the making of anti-oppressive sustainability education, and on the critical significance of considering anti-oppressive pedagogy for the making of sustainability education.

Read more and download (pdf) »

Local Carbon Budgets as a Governance Tool for Sustainability Transitions: A Case Study from Västra Götaland by Derek Garfield

Local carbon budgets as a tool for sustainability transitions: three emerging narratives of change and governance by sanna gunnarsson, lokal koldioxidbudget för en hållbar omställning: policy brief av sanna gunnarsson.

En policy brief om lokala koldioxidbudgetars potential som verktyg för en hållbar omställning. Baserad på ett mastersarbete vid KTH Stockholm.

The Present and the Future of Fare-Free Public Transport and Sustainable Public Transport: The Cases of Avesta and Tallinn and The Visions for Luxembourg and Uppsala by André Dutra

Belo monte dam: drowning gods for development by andré dutra.

Sustainable Thesis Topics

Are you in the final stage of your bachelor or master program? And do you want to research a topic that has to do with sustainability? Then, this document is the right one for you. In this document, several sustainability related topics from a variety of studies is coming together which can give you the inspiration you need. A guide with tips, tricks and solutions for every problem you might encounter!

Are you writing your thesis this semester? Choose a sustainable topic! To help you get started, Leiden University Green Office has made a guideline to write your thesis about a sustainable topic. Find examples, a step-by-step plan to follow and our reasoning behind this project! 

Did you recently write your thesis about a sustainable topic and do you want to stimulate others? Send an email to [email protected]

Sustainable Thesis Topics document

Thesis on sustainability

Theses on Sustainability

[1] THE TERM HAS BECOME so widely used that it is in danger of meaning nothing. It has been applied to all manner of activities in an effort to give those activities the gloss of moral imperative, the cachet of environmental enlightenment. “Sustainable” has been used variously to mean “politically feasible,” “economically feasible,” “not part of a pyramid or bubble,” “socially enlightened,” “consistent with neoconservative small-government dogma,” “consistent with liberal principles of justice and fairness,” “morally desirable,” and, at its most diffuse, “sensibly far-sighted.”

[2] NATURE WILL DECIDE what is sustainable; it always has and always will. The reflexive invocation of the term as cover for all manner of human acts and wants shows that sustainability has gained wide acceptance as a longed-for, if imperfectly understood, state of being.

[3] AN ACT, PROCESS, OR STATE of affairs can be said to be economically sustainable, ecologically sustainable, or socially sustainable. To these three some would add a fourth: culturally sustainable.

[4] NATURE IS MALLEABLE and has enormous resilience, a resilience that gives healthy ecosystems a dynamic equilibrium. But the resiliency of nature has limits and to transgress them is to act unsustainably. Thus, the most diffuse usage, “sensibly far-sighted,” is the usage that contains and properly reflects the strict ecological definition of the term: a thing is ecologically sustainable if it doesn’t destroy the environmental preconditions for its own existence.

[5] ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY describes the point at which a less-developed economy no longer needs infusions of capital or aid in order to generate wealth. This definition is misleading: for many of those who use it (including traditional economists and many economic aid agencies), “economic sustainability” means “sustainable within the general industrial program of using fossil fuels to generate wealth and produce economic growth,” a program that is, of course, not sustainable.

[6] SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY describes a state in which a society does not contain any dynamics or forces that would pull it apart. Such a society has sufficient cohesion to overcome the animosities that arise from (for instance) differences of race, gender, wealth, ethnicity, political or religious belief; or from differential access to such boons as education, opportunity, or the nonpartisan administration of justice. Social sustainability can be achieved by strengthening social cohesion (war is a favorite device), through indoctrination in an ideology that bridges the disparities that strain that cohesion, or through diminishing the disparities themselves. (Or all three.)

[7] CULTURAL SUSTAINABILITY asks that we preserve the opportunity for nonmarket or other nonindustrial cultures to maintain themselves and to pass their culture undiminished to their offspring.

[8] HUMAN CIVILIZATION has been built on the exploitation of the stored solar energy found in four distinct carbon pools: soil, wood, coal, petroleum. The latter two pools represent antique, stored solar energy, and their stock is finite. Since agriculture and forestry exploit current solar income, civilizations built on the first two pools — soil and wood — had the opportunity to be sustainable. Many were not.

[9] THE 1987 UN BRUNDTLAND REPORT offered one widely accepted definition of what sustainability means: “meet[ing] the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” This definition contains within it two key concepts. One is the presumption of a distinction between needs and wants, a distinction that comes into sharp relief when we compare the consumption patterns of people in rich and in poor nations: rich nations satisfy many of their members’ wants — indeed, billions of dollars are spent to stimulate those wants — even as poor nations struggle to satisfy human needs. Two: we face what Brundtland called “limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organization on the environment’s ability to meet present and future needs.”

[10] THAT A DISTINCTION can usefully be drawn between wants and needs seems obvious. Mainstream economics, however, refuses to countenance such a distinction. (Marxist economics does, which, from the viewpoint of an ecologically enlightened economics, is one of the few ways in which it is distinguishable from its neoclassical alternative.) The work of Wilfred Pareto was crucial to this refusal. His contribution to economic theory marks a turning point in the evolution (some would say devolution) of nineteenth-century political economy into the highly mathematized discipline of economics as we know it today. Pareto’s novel idea: because satisfactions and pleasures are subjective — because no one among us can say with certainty, “I like ice cream more than you do” — there is no rational way to compare the degree of pleasure that different people will gain by satisfying desires. All we can do is assert that if an economic arrangement satisfies more human wants, it is objectively better than an arrangement that satisfies fewer human wants. This seems commonsensical until we unpack that caveat “all we can do.” An economic arrangement achieves Pareto Optimality if, within it, no one can be made better off (in his own estimation) without making someone else worse off (in her own estimation). Economic science, in its desire to be grounded on rational, objective principles, thus concludes that were we to take a dollar from a billionaire and give it to a starving man to buy food, we can’t know for certain that we have improved the sum total of human satisfaction in the world. For all we know, the billionaire might derive as much pleasure from the expenditure of his billionth dollar as would a starving man spending a dollar on food. All we can do — all! — is promote the growth of income; and if we care about that starving man, we must work to produce two dollars’ worth of goods where before there was only one, so that both the billionaire and the starving man can satisfy their wants.

[11] THUS WAS neoclassical economic theory, putatively value-free and scientific, made structurally dependent on a commitment to infinite economic growth, a value-laden, unscientific, demonstrably unsustainable commitment if ever there was one.

[12] THE BRUNDTLAND assertion that we face “limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organization on the environment’s ability to meet present and future needs” can be read as both acknowledging ecological limits to human activity and as sidestepping the major issue that those ecological limits have brought to the fore. Can humans, through technological development, solve any problem brought on by resource scarcity and the limited capacity of ecosystems to absorb our acts and works? When all is said and done, can we enlarge the economy’s ecological footprint forever in order to create wealth? Gradually, we are coming to recognize that the answer is no.

[13] AN ECONOMY CAN BE MODELED as an open thermodynamic system, one that exchanges matter and energy across its border (that mostly conceptual, sometimes physical line that separates culture from its home in nature). An economy sucks up valuable low-entropy matter and energy from its environment, uses these to produce products and services, and emits degraded matter and energy back into the environment in the form of a high-entropy wake. (Waste heat. Waste matter. Dissipated and degraded matter: yesterday’s newspaper, last year’s running shoes, last decade’s dilapidated automobile.) An economy has ecological impact on both the uptake and emission side. The laws of thermodynamics dictate that this be so. “You can’t make something from nothing; nor can you make nothing from something,” the law of conservation of matter and energy tells us. With enough energy we could recycle all the matter that enters our economy — even the molecules that wear off the coins in your pocket. But energy is scarce: “You can’t recycle energy,” says the law of entropy. Or, in a colloquial analogy: Accounts must balance and bills must be paid. To operate our economic machine we pay an energy bill; we must ever take in energy anew.

[14] ESTABLISHING an ecologically sustainable economy requires that humans accept a limit on the amount of scarce low entropy that we take up from the planet (which will also, necessarily, limit the amount of degraded matter and energy that we emit). An effective approach would be to use market mechanisms, such as would occur if we had an economy-wide tax on low-entropy uptake (the extraction of coal and oil, the cutting of lumber). The tax rate could be set to ensure that use doesn’t exceed a limit — the CO 2 absorption capacity of the planet, the regenerative ability of forests. Producers and consumers would have freedom under the cap brought about by the tax. With such a tax, the tax on workers’ income could be abandoned. (As the slogan says, we should “tax bads, not goods.” Work is good. Uptake of scarce resources is bad.)

[15] FOR DECADES environmentalism has been primarily a moral vision, with principles susceptible to being reduced to fundamentalist absolutes. Pollution is wrong; it is profanation. We have no right , environmentalism has said, to cause species extinction, to destroy habitat, to expand the dominion of culture across the face of nature. True enough, and so granted. But even Dick Cheney agreed that environmentalism is essentially, merely, a moral vision. (“Conservation,” he said, on his way to giving oil companies everything they wanted, “may be a personal virtue, but it is not a sufficient basis for a sound, comprehensive energy policy.”) The time has long since passed for the achievement of sustainability to be left to simple moral admonition, to finger-wagging in its various forms. It’s time to use the power of the market — the power of self-interest, regulated and channeled by wise policy — to do good. Environmentalism must become an economic vision.

[16] ACCEPTING A LIMIT on the economy’s uptake of matter and energy from the planet does not mean that we have to accept that history is over, that civilization will stagnate, or that we cannot make continual improvements to the human condition. A no-growth economy is not a no-development economy; there would still be invention, innovation, even fads and fashions. An economy operating within ecological limits will be in dynamic equilibrium (like nature, its model): just as ecosystems evolve, so would the economy. Quality of life (as it is measured by the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare, an ecologically minded replacement for GDP) would still improve. If a sustainable economy dedicated to development rather than growth were achieved through market mechanisms, consumers would still reign supreme over economic decision making, free to pursue satisfactions — and fads and fashions — as they choose.

[17] OUR CHALLENGE is to create something unprecedented in human history: an ecologically sustainable civilization that offers a high standard of living widely shared among its citizens, a civilization that does not maintain itself through more-or-less hidden subsidies from antique solar income, or from the unsustainable exploitation of ecosystems and peoples held in slavery or penury, domestically or in remote regions of the globe. The world has never known such a civilization. Most hunting-and-gathering tribes achieved a sustainable balance with their environments, living off current solar income in many of its forms rather than on the draw-down of irreplaceable stocks, but we can’t say that any of them achieved a high standard of material well-being. Medieval western Europe lived in balance with its soil community, achieving a form of sustainable agriculture that lasted until the invention of coal- and steam-propelled agriculture a few centuries ago, but few of us would trade the comforts and freedoms we enjoy today for life as a serf on a baronial estate, or even for the pre-electricity, pre-petroleum life of a mid-nineteenth-century farmer.

[18] NO, THERE IS NO PRECEDENT for what we are struggling to create. We have to make it up ourselves.

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80 sustainability research topics for students to explore green campus issues

You’re planning your thesis, paper or capstone? You want to do a student research project with impact. We have outlined a range of sustainability research topics for you. The list specifically focuses on how to green your campus . Take action to make your university more sustainable!

Our list of sustainability research topics helps students investigate green campus issues.

Sustainability research topics: Education

Some sustainability research topics on education for sustainable development :

• What are the strengths and weaknesses of different definitions of sustainability education? Which definition could your university adopt?
• To what extent is sustainability education already implemented in the curriculum of your university?
• What are the strengths and limitations of advancing sustainability education within your curriculum?
• Where does your university stand with regards to sustainability education compared to other institutions of higher education?
• What is the demand among students for more, different or better sustainability education?
• How can existing sustainability projects on campus be used for educational purposes, e.g. visit solar cells on rooftops as part of engineering classes?

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• What definition of sustainability research should your university embrace?
• To what extent is sustainability research already practised at your university?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of the institution’s sustainability research portfolio compared to other institutions of higher education?
• What are the drivers of and barriers to sustainability research at your university?
• How could sustainability research help students to study sustainability issues on campus and inform practical change projects?
• What are the opportunities and costs associated with promoting sustainability research? What could a plan of action look like to strategically advance it?

Some sustainability research topics on community engagement and awareness:

• What are the perceptions of and attitudes towards sustainability by students and staff?
• What are ways to promote sustainable lifestyles among students?
• To what extent are students and staff aware of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) ?
• How aware are students and staff about the institution’s sustainability ambitions?
• What are the benefits and disadvantages of approaches to communicate the university’s sustainability efforts better?
• What are the challenges to involve students and staff in the university’s sustainability efforts?
• Which ways to increase the engagement of the campus community exist, for example by organising sustainability events ?

For inspiration, read our post on 10 projects to engage students on the SDGs .

Explore sustainability topics for research papers on different issues related to greening campus operations:

• What are the opportunities and costs of improving the building insulations to save energy?
• What lighting systems exist on the market that are more energy efficient?
• What would a business case look like to install a new lighting system?
• Where are the main consumers of energy on campus?
• What innovative energy technologies are developed at the institution itself? To what extent could those be directly installed and tested in buildings?
• What lux values are sufficient for work and study places so that places are appropriately lit without wasting too much electricity?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of different sustainable building standards?
• Which building standards would be most appropriate to inform the institution’s sustainable building policy?
• What are the costs and benefits associated with different types of green roofs?
• On which buildings could green roofs be installed?
• To what extent are catering and food products certified as organic or fair trade food?
• How much and why do students attach importance to organic and fair trade products sold in the cafeteria?
• How can students and employees be made more aware of the multiple benefits – e.g. health, environment, economics – of sustainable (organic, fair trade, local) food ?
• How much are students willing to pay for more organic or fair trade products?
• What types and amounts of waste are produced by whom and where at the institution?
• How did waste streams develop over the last years?
• What are innovative practices in reducing waste going to landfill or incineration? How could those be applied?
• What are the costs and benefits associated with waste recycling ?
• What options exist to switch from paper-based to more digital forms of working and studying to reduce paper consumption?
• What are the environmental, economic, and social benefits and disadvantages of different options to advance more digital working and studying?

More sustainability research topics on campus operations:

Biodiversity

• What species live at different campus locations?
• To what extent do students, faculty and staff value this biodiversity?
• What are ways to enhance biodiversity on campus?

Greenhouse-gase (GHG)

• What are the pros and cons of different GHG accounting standards?
• Which standard should the institution use to develop a GHG emissions inventory ?
• Where are GHG emissions released at the institution?
• How big is the institution’s GHG footprint?

Procurement

• What does sustainable procurement mean in the context of a university?
• How is procurement currently organised? To what extent are sustainability criteria already applied in tenders?
• To what extent could the university implement sustainability criteria that go beyond the legal minimum to advance the environmental, economic and social benefits of tenders?
• What are the largest consumers of water?
• What is the direct and indirect water-footprint of the institution?
• What are opportunities and costs to reduce water usage?

Transportation and mobility

• How do students and staff currently travel to the university and as part of their study or work?
• What is the environmental impact of these travel behaviours? How could the impact be reduced?
• What best practices exist among companies and other institutions of higher education to reduce staff travel or incentivize different travel behaviours?

Behaviour change

• What is the potential to reduce resource consumption through behaviour change?
• What are the best practices of behaviour change interventions at institutions of higher education?
• To what extent could these projects be also applied at your university?

Sustainability research topics on governance, strategy and reporting

Sustainability research topics on governance issues:

• What does sustainability mean for institutions of higher education?
• How does a comprehensive concept of a sustainable institution of higher education look like?
• How could the university’s long-term sustainability vision look like? How could this vision be realized through a roadmap?
• What are innovative ways to develop sustainability strategies for a university through a bottom-up approach?
• What ethical imperatives would demand that institutions of higher education care for their impact on the planet, people and profit?
• What are the responsibilities of institutions of higher education to contribute to global challenges, such as poverty, gender inequality, and climate change?

Monitoring and reporting

• What data is important to monitor the institution’s environmental impact? How can this data be collected and analysed?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of different sustainability reporting standards?
• Which sustainability reporting standards should the university adhere to?
• What are efficient ways to organize sustainability reporting within the organization?
• What is the best way to communicate results among students, staff and outside actors?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of different methodologies (e.g. payback or Net Present Value) to calculate the financial costs and benefits of sustainability investments?
• Which methodology should the institution apply?
• To what extent could sustainability projects be financed through a revolving loan fund?
• What are the possibilities to involve outside organizations through energy contracting?
• What subsidies are available at the European, national and city level to develop a green campus?
• How could the university use these financing options to advance its energy transition?
• What are approaches to integrate negative externalities into the accounting schemes of the university?
• What would be the opportunities, benefits and risks associated with establishing an energy company that’s owned by the university?
• What are the best practices to finance energy efficiency and renewable energy projects at public institutions around the world?
• How can incentive schemes be changed so that energy end-users directly benefit from reductions in energy usage?

We hope this list inspired you to find a sustainability topic for research papers.

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Current topics for final thesis

Turning on the heat global warming and corporate risk-taking..

The following topic is suitable for BA or MA students. Please keep in mind that it is best suited for candidates who are familiar with statistical software and time series regression or those who are willing to acquire these skills within the context of their thesis. However, suggestions for alternative methodological approaches (e.g., interviews, literature reviews) are welcome.

If you are interested in the following topic, please get in touch with  Dr. Wiebke Szymczak . 

Turning on the heat? Global warming and corporate risk-taking

Heat is a common metaphor to describe interpersonal conflict. Strikingly, psychological research indeed suggests a link between heat stress and aggressive or asocial behavior. With global temperatures on the rise, one may wonder: what are the consequences of heat stress on corporate decisions? This thesis project will combine meteorological and financial data to test whether heat stress triggers systematic changes in corporate risk-taking, as one possible manifestation of aggressive financial decisions.

Shareholder activism and sustainability. Is shareholder activism a solution or a problem?

On the one hand, the term shareholder activism refers to an investment strategy of a small group of hedge funds which target underperforming firms in order to foster the implementation of financial or governance changes and capitalize on potential increases in shareholder value. On the other hand, shareholder activism refers to the actions of large institutional investors who engage with their target firms to push a non-financial agenda, e.g., better working conditions or higher investments into emission mitigation technologies. There are two possible variants of this thesis project: The first represents a systematic literature review in order to contrast both types of shareholder activism and identify positive as well as negative side-effects of both types of shareholder activism with respect to environmental, social and governance aspects. The second represents an empirical investigation into the non-financial effects of shareholder activism with respect to corporate ESG performance.

Sustainability, but not too much?

Investor objections to corporate sustainability Financial professionals report that some investors respond negatively to sustainability-focused marketing strategies to the extent that relationship managers maintain two slide decks to advertise sustainable investment products. The empirical literature suggests a positive or at least non-negative effect of corporate sustainability on financial performance. Yet, some investors remain reluctant to sustainable investment products. This thesis project aims to review the theoretical literature and explore the motives and rationales of investors who shy away from sustainable investment products.

The effect of disaster experiences on sustainability preferences

Extreme weather events are becoming ever more frequent and severe. While much research has addressed the contribution of the global economy to anthropogenic climate change, the behavioral implications of exposure to extreme weather on economic decisions have yet to be fully explored. A small but growing literature suggests that exposure to extreme weather events and natural disasters can have significant and systematic effects on the risk preferences of economic decision makers. Moreover, the attention-based view of the firm suggests that extreme weather exposure may also emphasize the importance of a stable environment as a basis for economic growth and corporate success. Within the context of this thesis project, the candidate will develop and implement a suitable regression strategy to test the impact of extreme weather exposure on sustainability preferences of households or firms.

Mood effects in ESG ratings

The following topic is suitable for BA or MA students. Please keep in mind it is best suited for candidates who are familiar with statistical software and time series regression or those who are willing to acquire these skills within the context of their thesis. However, suggestions for alternative methodological approaches (e.g., interviews, literature reviews) are welcome.

If you are interested in the following topics, please get in touch with  Dr. Wiebke Szymczak . 

Does the weather at rating offices affect ESG ratings of local firms? Several empirical studies show that local weather conditions can have a systematic effect on investor decisions. However, little is known about the specific biases in ESG ratings. Applying the rationale of investors mood effects to ESG rating agencies, theory may predict higher ESG ratings when raters are in high spirits and lower ESG ratings when spirits are low, ceteris paribus. Within the context of this thesis project, the candidate will gather establishment addresses for the major rating agencies and connect these addresses with relevant climate data in order to analyze how weather variables affect sustainability ratings of local firms.

Don't foul your own nest

Don’t foul your own nest

Does distance between HQs and plants predict pollution intensity? A proliferating number of empirical studies suggest that air pollution has a detrimental effect on local property prices. If top managers and employees in strategic positions live close to corporate headquarters, their own residential property may be affected by local production facilities. Consequently, rational choice theory predicts that they will prefer to keep air pollution as far away from home as possible. Moreover, firms reduce the risk of litigation by keeping firms away from residential areas. This thesis project will combine data on corporate air pollution reported in the toxic release inventory, financial data and corporate location data to analyze whether there exists a systematic pattern to shift polluting activities to facilities further away from corporate headquarters and/or local residential areas.

Assessing physical climate risks

The following topic is suitable for MA students. Please keep in mind that it is best suited for candidates with excellent Excel skills and those who are familiar with GIS and scenario modelling. For all the details, please refer to the full topic description .

If you are interested in the following topic, please get in touch with Dr. Sven Lundie .

Assessing physical climate risks for Altana Management Services GmbH

The importance of sustainability continues to grow at Altana Management Services GmbH. Altana is currently dealing with CDP reporting. The EU taxonomy, CSRD and in particular the TCFD are further topics that Altana will increasingly address in the future.

The effects of climate change on the company's own production are to be investigated as part of the master's thesis, i.e. the physical risks will be qualitatively assessed for the 50 production sites. In addition, the availability of materials is an important topic for the company, as climate change will also have an impact on the supply chain (including delivery times and quantities). Sales markets will also be affected. For this reason, Altana wants to systematically address future scenarios (for different warming scenarios (1.5 as well as 2 degrees), two time horizons) at the production sites that identify the risks and opportunities for the company.

The TCFD will serve as a framework guideline for this project. In a first step, only physical risks and opportunities of climate change will be addressed (e.g. risk assessment regarding future availability of biogenic raw materials or cooling water for production). In a next step, transitory risks, for example, can be investigated, as TCFD reporting by Altana could take place from 2023 onwards (outside this project).

Sustainable investment by a listed insurance company - curse and/or blessing?

The following topic is suitable for MA students. Please be aware that basic knowledge of the German language is required. The thesis itself can be written in English or German. For all the details, please refer to the full topic description .

If you are interested in the following topic, please get in touch with Prof. Dr. Timo Busch .

In close cooperation with the Investment Division of HDI Germany, this thesis sets out to explore ways of integrating sustainability into the investment decisions of a listed insurance company. Among other things, a market and opinion analysis is to be carried out for this master thesis. Possible focus areas include how the insurance company can have a positive impact on biodiversity through their investments and how to deal with data issues in measuring the sustainability of investments and the disparity of definitions of what exactly falls under the term sustainable investment.

Development of a Scope 3 estimation method for industry sectors

Reducing Scope 1 and 2 emissions, those under the direct ownership and operational control of the business is usually the first target in a company’s carbon reduction strategy. However, to become truly carbon neutral, Scope 3 emissions, which are indirect emissions released upstream and downstream in a company’s value chain, need to be prioritised too as scope 3 emission often contribute more than half of the total GHG emissions. With the introduction of the CSRD in the EU it will become compulsory for companies to report on their Scope 3 emission.

The GHG protocol has developed the framework for quantifying scope 3 emissions. Within the GHG protocol 15 sub-categories are further specified to cover all upstream and downstream emissions in detail. However, quantifying relevant scope 3 emissions can be very challenging in practice due to data availability, complexity of calculation and possibly lack of inhouse knowledge with companies.

In order to address corporate needs, the objective of this Master Thesis is to develop a Scope 3 estimation methodology according GHG protocol and to quantify the GHG hotspots along the value chains of industry sectors (following NACE and GICS codes) .

Required activities of this desk top research are, e.g.

• Review and analysis of GHG protocol, GHG ISO standards, CSRD, NACE and GICS, …
• Development of a quantitative estimation methodology for industry sectors
• Research of LCA studies that are representative for industry sectors
• Development of an Excel-based tool for qualifying and/or quantifying GHG hotspots along the value chains of industry sectors
• The student should have an interest in Scope 1, 2 & 3 GHG emissions, LCA/PCF/EPDs, environmental regulation, statistics as well as in methods development.

The Master Student will gain highly relevant GHG accounting knowledge in due course of the work.

Start: as soon as possible

Supervisors: Prof Timo Busch and Dr. Sven Lundie

The student will have the opportunity to align with the supervisor on a bi-weekly basis. Please reach out to Sven Lundie ( info "AT" sven-lundie.com )  if you are interested in this topic.

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Digital transformation towards sustainability in higher education: state-of-the-art and future research insights

• Published: 05 January 2023
• Volume 26 , pages 2789–2810, ( 2024 )

Cite this article

• Laís Viera Trevisan   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-3673-6573 1 ,
• João Henrique Paulino Pires Eustachio   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6782-3904 2 ,
• Bárbara Galleli Dias   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-9650-2619 3 ,
• Walter Leal Filho   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-1241-5225 4 , 5 &
• Eugênio Ávila Pedrozo   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-4751-707X 1  

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The technological revolution has contributed to environmental and social issues around the world. However, in the context of higher education institutions (HEIs) – key stakeholders for sustainable development - there is a theoretical gap regarding systematic reviews on the topic. In order to address this need, this study explores how digital transformation (DT) can contribute to sustainability in HEIs by identifying the general state of the art, the theoretical perspectives in the field, and future research insights. A multi-methods approach was adopted, which consisted of a quantitative bibliometric review and a qualitative content analysis. Consistent with this approach, the Scopus database was used for the bibliometric analysis of 672 publications, which was conducted with the support of VOSviewer software. Subsequently, a content analysis of 72 publications was carried out using the software ATLAS.ti and Zotero. The findings suggest three areas of current research: ensuring sustainability competencies through DT, smart and sustainable campus approaches, and theorisation of sustainability in higher education through DT. The theoretical perspectives of the field were divided and discussed into seven main clusters. Lastly, five research lines for further studies on DT towards sustainability were identified. This study has both theoretical and practical implications since it may be the first literature review on this subject, providing theoretical insights to the academic community, guiding sustainability and digital practices in HEIs - through the identification of tools, approaches, and strategies - and then supporting the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

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1 Introduction

Given the great tragedies, catastrophes, climate change, pandemics, and wars experienced by humanity, there is an increasing need for a new education that combines the concern with short-term economic gains with the medium and long term, considering the right of future generations to a sustainable planet. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have a key responsibility regarding the sustainable development of society (Kräusche & Pilz, 2017 ), particularly in the education of future leaders and in the public awareness of sustainability (Amaral et al., 2015 ).

HEIs also represent a crucial stakeholder in the promotion and implementation of the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda for sustainable development (Vallez et al., 2022 ) and the digitalisation of society by producing knowledge for new technologies and social innovation (Carayannis & Morawska‑Jancelewicz, 2022 ). Therefore, HEIs should support sustainable development in their physical infrastructure, decision-making processes, and pedagogical issues (Fuchs et al., 2020 ) to guide actions towards sustainability throughout the entire university system, which includes education, research, campus operations, community outreach, and assessment and reporting (Lozano et al., 2013 ; Kapitulčinová et al., 2018 ).

This implies offering a sustainable experience to students, who will be able to lead different types of organizations in the future and act in ways that promote the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and help to mitigate climate change (Leal Filho et al., 2020 ). After all, HEIs are where leaders are educated. Thus, training and qualifying these individuals with adequate knowledge about sustainability is extremely relevant (Amaral et al., 2015 ). In this respect, digital transformation (DT) is central to supporting the 2030 Agenda, driving its dissemination, and the attainment of the SDGs (Arnold et al., 2021 ). Hence, linking quality education with technology allows students to obtain knowledge, skills, and motivation quickly to understand and address the challenges related to the SDGs (Abad-Segura et al., 2020b ).

However, access to knowledge is no longer restricted to the physical space of HEIs; it is also found in different platforms, applications, encyclopedias, and open-source browsers that support people who wish to learn about different subjects (Valdés et al., 2021 ). From this perspective, HEIs - which have been the centre of knowledge production and dissemination for centuries - are experiencing a set of relevant changes induced by the social and technological trends of DT (Nikou & Aavakare, 2021 ; Nurhas et al., 2021 ). This implies a paradigm shift throughout institutions, a redefinition of business models and an ostensible transformation of their structures (Rodríguez-Abitia & Bribiesca-Correa, 2021 ; Benavides et al., 2020 ).

Although there is already a trend toward convergence of digital imperatives and sustainability in practice (George et al., 2021 ), there is a lack of systematic and rigorous academic research that rethinks management models based on sustainable development using digital technologies, especially in the context of higher education (Pu et al., 2022 ). It calls for more research and perspectives on it (Eltawil et al., 2021 ). Therefore, through a mixed method that involved both a quantitative bibliometric review and qualitative content analysis, this study aims to analyse how DT can contribute to sustainability in higher education by addressing the following research questions (RQ):

What is the general state of research on sustainability and digital transformation in higher education?

What are the theoretical perspectives in this field?

What are the possible directions for future research?

To address these objectives, this study conducted a bibliometric review of publications related to digital transformation to sustainability in higher education. A content analysis of data clustering was conducted to further improve the study’s scope and identify research lines for future studies. The findings of this study have both theoretical and practical contributions by offering a bibliometric mapping of the general state and current trends and a future research agenda. It supports theoretical insights for the academic community and helps to guide sustainability and digital practices in HEIs. In addition, this study provides methodological originality, considering that, to the best of our knowledge, it is the first systematic review on the topic that has used both bibliometric and content analyses.

2 Methodology

This study adopted a multi-methods approach, which consisted of a quantitative bibliometric review and a qualitative content analysis. A bibliometric analysis is based on the citations’ compilation to determine the impact of specific categories, such as the subject, authors, institutions, countries, journals, and keywords (Zupic and Cater, 2015 ). A qualitative content analysis aims to systematise and describe a phenomenon through concepts and categories (Elo & Kyngäs, 2008 ).

Scopus and Web of Science (Terán-Yépez et al., 2021 ) are the two databases most used to carry out bibliometric analyses. This study selected Scopus because it is the largest multidisciplinary database of peer-reviewed literature in social science research (Donthu et al., 2020 ). Therefore, this research started with identifying search terms in the Scopus database. The initial search used the combination of terms related to digital transformation, sustainability, higher education, and the Boolean operators “AND” and “OR”. The best combination of terms was based on previous studies in the field (Colás-Bravo et al., 2021 ; Alonso-García et al., 2019 ; Benavides et al., 2020 ). Hence, the final search was held on April 11, 2022, with the following search strings: (“virtual*” OR “digital*” OR “ICT” OR “information and communication technolog*” OR “emerging technolog*”) AND (“sustainability” OR “sustainable develop*” OR “SDG*” OR “2030 Agenda”) AND (“higher education” OR “HEI*” OR “universit*”).

The process followed in selecting the sample conforms to the flowchart in Fig.  1 , according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) (Moher et al., 2009 ). In phase 1 (Identification), 1971 publications from the Scopus database were identified, considering the option of “article title, abstract, and keywords”, all types of publications, and all data in the range (all years to 11 April 2022). In phase 2 (Screening), the publications were limited to the subject areas of Social Sciences, Environmental Science, and Business, Management, and Accounting, resulting in 1187 publications. Then, to ensure the study’s quality, only articles and reviews were selected as the type of document, resulting in 686 publications. The search language was set at “English, Portuguese or Spanish”, so 14 publications were excluded. Hence, the final sample included 672 publications, both open-access and non-open-access.

For content analysis, 72 publications were selected, which were identified with the support of VOSviewer software and by reading the publications’ titles and abstracts. The process of content analysis is further explained in the sequence. Two-independent researchers were involved in the publications’ selection and followed the guidelines established in the search protocol.

Process of the publications’ selection for bibliometric and content analysis, based on PRISMA.

To address the general state-of-the-art on sustainability and digital transformation in higher education (research question 1), a descriptive analysis of the field was conducted, showing the number of publications by year, most productive journals, institutions, and countries. In addition, other analyses were conducted: a co-authorship analysis based on the authors’ geographic locations provided a countries’ cooperation network (Uddin, 2012 ); through a co-occurrence analysis, the popular keywords on the topic were identified (Arita, 2017 ); then, a bibliographic coupling was conducted to map the research trends (Kessler, 1963 ). These analyses were supported by VOSviewer software (Van Eck & Waltman, 2021 ), version 1.6.17.

The researchers set the software to identify the 50 most important publications for content analysis through the bibliographic coupling technique. The bibliographic coupling uses the number of references shared by two publications as a measure of the similarity between them. The more the bibliographies of two publications overlap, the stronger their connection (Zupic & Cater, 2015 ). The software identified 46 publications with the greatest total link strength. After reading their abstracts, 26 publications were selected for deep content analysis (Elo & Kyngäs, 2008 ). The other 20 publications did not address the topic of sustainability in higher education through DT in a deep way. Subsequently, VOSviewer software clustered the 26 publications into three groups according to their similarity.

To address the second research question of this study - the theoretical perspectives in the field - data clustering through a co-citation analysis was carried out. This analysis is defined as the frequency with which two publications are cited together by other publications (Small, 1973 ). The publications resulting from this analysis are the most important references for the sample of 672 publications selected in the Scopus database. The researchers requested the VOSviewer software to identify the publications with more than two citations. Hence, the software identified 46 publications distributed in 7 clusters, which were all selected for deep content analysis. Considering both content analyses - bibliographic coupling (26 publications) and co-citation analysis (46 publications) - a total of 72 publications were read.

Finally, to address the third research question - possible directions for future research in the field - a co-occurrence of the keywords used by publications from 2019 to 2022 was carried out. This process was conducted along with the bibliographic coupling and content analysis of the 26 publications already performed, considering that bibliographic coupling analysis has great potential to identify emerging literature (Zupic & Cater, 2015 ).

3 Results and discussion

3.1 general state of the art on digital transformation towards sustainability in higher education.

As shown in Fig.  2 , the number of publications on the topic had increased over time (1995–2021), reflecting that the research interest in the digital transformation towards sustainability in higher education is growing in general, with a significant volume of publications in 2020 (118 publications) and 2021 (142 publications), in line with the period when COVID-19 started. The implementation of technology in universities has already been increasing in the last decades (Rodríguez-Abitia & Bribiesca-Correa, 2021 ). However, the COVID-19 pandemic led universities to an urgent DT process, requiring changes in their models and activities (Nurhas et al., 2021 ), which also demanded academic research on new practices, strategies, and tools in their context.

Publications on digital transformation towards sustainability in higher education (1995–2021)

The bibliometric analysis shows that publications are distributed in 159 journals. Table  1 lists the top 5 journals, with the number of publications, citations, and impact factor (IF). The most productive journal identified is Sustainability, with 142 publications and 1270 citations. Journal of Cleaner Production ranks 2nd with 16 publications and 337 citations, followed by the International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education (15 publications), the Journal of Industrial Ecology (9 publications), and the International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (7 publications).

Regarding the most productive institutions on the topic, as shown in Fig.  3 , Universidad de Granada (Spain) is the leader, with 12 publications, followed by Arizona State University (United States), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (Malaysia), University of South Africa (South Africa), Universitat de València (Spain), Universitat d’Alacant (Spain), The Open University (United Kingdom), University of Florida (United States), and University of Michigan (United States).

Most productive institutions on digital transformation towards sustainability in higher education (1995–2021)

Regarding the countries, Fig.  4 shows that the United States is the most productive country on the topic, with 125 publications, followed by Spain, with 88 publications, the United Kingdom (60), Australia (43), China (35), Germany (32), Italy (30), Malaysia (23), Canada (22), Portugal (19), South Africa (19), Brazil (18), and others.

Publications by countries on digital transformation to sustainability in higher education

To understand the cooperation network between the countries, Fig.  5 shows the co-authorship analysis. It is possible to identify four clusters. The first one (red) comprises Australia, Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Ghana, India, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the USA. The second (green) is composed of Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovakia, and Ukraine. The third (blue) is composed of Chile, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Nigeria, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom. The fourth cluster (yellow) comprises the Czech Republic, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.

Countries’ cooperation network on digital transformation to sustainability in higher education based on co-authorship analysis

The popular keywords on the topic were identified through a co-occurrence analysis. The analysis started with a total of 2351 keywords. After excluding keywords with frequencies less than three and others with no meaning, 113 popular keywords emerged, as shown in Fig.  6 .

Keywords network based on co-occurrence

It is possible to observe the evolution of the research area over time. For instance, from 2014 to 2016, the studies involved topics such as industrial ecology, carbon footprint, sustainable consumption, the internet, digital libraries, and green information technology (IT). From 2016 to 2018, research on the topic approached information and communication technology (ICT), sustainable development, e-learning, globalisation, education for sustainable development (ESD), innovation, virtual reality, and technology. From 2018 to 2019, studies focused on virtual education, climate change, digitalisation, digital competence, gamification, social media, online courses, flipped classrooms, teacher training, transdisciplinary, blended learning, smart cities, and social media. From 2020, research has focused on COVID-19, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), digital transformation (DT), artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, online education, digital sustainability, augmented reality (AR), virtual exchange, and industry 4.0. Thus, it seems to be an evolution of research focused on the facilities of the HEIs campuses for educational technologies, digital competence, e-learning, and COVID-19.

To understand how digital transformation has contributed to sustainability in higher education, a content analysis was carried out on 26 publications with the support of the software VOSviewer, ATLAS.ti, and Zotero. The publications were selected based on the greatest total link strength - measured through VOSviewer software. Figure  7 shows the clusters network between the publications, and Table  2 describes the clusters.

Clusters network based on bibliographic coupling analysis

Cluster 1 (red) has the largest number of publications - seventeen between 2013 and 2022. Most of them use quantitative methods based on surveys or experiments, although there are some publications with qualitative approaches based on interviews, action research, and content analysis. In general, this cluster addresses the development of sustainability competencies using digital transformation tools at the professor, student, and institution levels. Then, the cluster was titled “ensuring sustainability competencies through digital transformation”. At the professor level, researchers have focused on analysing the benefits of incorporating augmented reality technology in HEIs (Alahmari et al., 2019 ), as well as the role of technology in improving teaching and learning activities for sustainable development (Daniela et al., 2018 ), the professors’ level of sustainable consciousness (Colás-Bravo et al., 2018 ), and potential changes in values, sense of agency, and consumption practices by using pedagogical technological tools (Merritt et al., 2018 ).

At the student level, some studies have addressed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education for sustainable development in higher education (Leal Filho et al., 2021 ), opportunities to diversify pedagogies via an e-learning environment (Cavicchi, 2021 ; Chen, 2021 ), also using virtual reality technology to stimulate pro-environmental behaviour (Filter et al., 2020 ), and combining virtual transnational collaboration for sustainability (Caniglia et al., 2018 ). Regarding the institution level, the literature has proposed strategies and models to integrate technologies into higher education for increasing sustainable development (Giesenbauer & Müller-Christ, 2020 ), including technology transfer activities (Paniccia & Baiocco, 2018 ) and helping to communicate sustainability actions developed at universities, providing accountability and legitimacy to them (Rodríguez Bolívar et al., 2013 ).

Cluster 2 (green) has six recent publications with different method approaches: quantitative, qualitative, and mixed. The main topic of this cluster addresses HEIs as smart campuses for sustainability. Then, it was titled “smart and sustainable campus approaches”. A smart campus can be defined as “an intelligent infrastructure where smart sensors and actuators collaborate to collect information and interact with the machines, tools, and users of a university campus” (Fraga-Lamas et al., 2019 , p. 1). The literature on cluster 2 provides insights into different technologies deployed across campus facilities to improve sustainability (Bracco et al., 2018 ; Griffiths et al., 2019 ). Furthermore, this cluster addresses the professor’s knowledge of smart city concepts (Olmos-Gómez et al., 2020 ), their attitude toward digitalisation in higher education (Mâță et al., 2020 ), as well as students’ ability to integrate SDGs aspects into robotics projects (Schina et al., 2020 ), and how HEIs can carry out their teaching activities sustainably (Arnold et al., 2021 ).

Lastly, cluster 3 (blue) is composed of literature reviews that conceptualise digital transformation and sustainability in higher education through the analysis of research trends (Abad-Segura et al., 2020a ), academic publications on educational technologies (Abad-Segura et al., 2020b ), and information and communication technologies management for sustainability in higher education (González-Zamar et al., 2020a ). The cluster was titled “theorisation of sustainability in higher education through digital transformation”.

A deep content analysis of the above publications showed that digital transformation for sustainable development at HEIs is an emergent topic in the literature and has contributed to different activities to ensure sustainability in higher education. In the context of education for sustainable development, technologies such as virtual reality, gamification, augmented reality, robotics, and digital approaches such as virtual exchange and blended learning, among others, have been used by the studies previously analysed to enhance teaching and learning activities due to their capacity to foster pro-environmental consciousness and behaviour like in-person approaches. Moreover, engaging pedagogies that involve high levels of thinking and collaboration between students seem to impact this process positively. Regarding the campus infrastructure context, it was identified that HEIs worldwide are concerned with managing their resources. Therefore, smart and sustainable campus approaches are emerging to provide suitable places for learning, health, and well-being for the university’s community, energy and water efficiency, waste management, sustainable mobility, emissions control, governance, and other physical resource-saving. The implementation of these smart practices can have both environmental and economic impacts at universities, helping to reduce, for instance, carbon footprint, global climate warming, and air pollution, as well as consumption and costs.

3.2 Theoretical perspectives on digital transformation towards sustainability in higher education

To understand the theoretical perspectives in the field (research question 2), a content analysis of 46 publications was conducted using co-citation analysis. The publications were selected by the link strength in the VOSviewer software, which means that those with more links are more prominent than others. The 46 publications were divided into 7 clusters and titled as follows: e-learning, behavioural aspects of sustainability education, online education approaches, sustainability performance in education, education for sustainable development proposals and assessments, general topics on digital transformation and corporate social responsibility, and virtual education (Table  3 ). These publications are the main literature to the publications discussed in the previous section. Particularly, they guide the topic of sustainability in higher education through digital transformation.

3.3 Future research agenda

To understand the possible research lines for future studies on digital transformation toward sustainability in higher education, an analysis of keywords co-occurrence of publications from 2019 to 2022 was carried out, along with the content analysis discussed in the previous subsections. The density visualisation for keywords co-occurrence is shown in Fig.  8 .

The keywords co-occurrence analysis started with a total of 1416 keywords. After excluding keywords with frequencies less than two and others with no meaning, 114 popular keywords came out. The items presented in red in Fig.  8 are hot topics in the literature as they have been significantly addressed by recent studies, such as higher education, sustainability, e-learning, university, COVID-19, digital learning, sustainability reporting, Sustainable Development Goals, sustainable development, artificial intelligence, digital transformation, management, digital technology, innovation, education for sustainable development, student, and blended learning.

Keywords co-occurrence by density visualisation (2019–2022)

Based on this study’s findings and considering the higher education institution’s core elements - education, campus operations, research, community outreach, and assessment and reporting - (Lozano et al., 2013 ; Kapitulčinová et al., 2018 ), five lines for future research were identified: digital education for sustainable development, sustainable campuses through smart technologies, research cooperation for sustainability, innovation and sustainability for the university community, and digital governance in higher education. Table  4 presents the established lines of research and their associated suggestions for future research questions.

The first research line for future studies refers to digital education for sustainable development (ESD). ESD’s effective blended learning and flipped classroom pedagogies are currently being extensively investigated. Then, future research could investigate, through longitudinal studies, whether the long-term use of virtual reality, augmented reality, and artificial intelligence leads to sustainability knowledge gains. Furthermore, the literature suggests that collaborative learning in virtual environments can foster intercultural awareness, improve language proficiency, facilitate virtual student mobility, and empower citizens with digital skills to face global challenges (Laufer et al., 2021 ; Bruhn-Zass, 2021 ; Núñez-Canal et al., 2022 ). Hence, future research could approach new kinds of collaborations and partnerships for education for sustainable development around the world. An example of a recent practice that is worth investigating is a virtual exchange, which is a higher education modality of internationalisation (Garcés & O’Dowd, 2021 ). Future studies may also investigate whether online approaches contribute to increasing students’ engagement in internationalisation activities, reducing social inequality, and reducing humankind’s carbon footprint due to decreased displacement.

As a second research line, future studies may address sustainable campuses through smart technologies. The growing number of publications on the subject shows that digital technologies have been deployed in HEIs worldwide. However, few studies are mapping the type of technologies implemented on campuses to ensure sustainability, as well as their connection to the UN SDGs, the drivers, and barriers to their implementation, and the environmental and social benefits in HEIs, for instance, the impact on carbon and water footprint, energy saving, transport and logistics, waste management, food supply chain, and other campus facilities. Concerning research cooperation for sustainability, future studies may explore how digital transformation can benefit connections among students, professors, and researchers around the world; that is, how artificial intelligence, augmented reality, big data, blockchain, and other types of technologies can support research cooperation for sustainability worldwide, helping to process data, evaluate, and manage sustainability impacts on the planet. In addition, future research can identify researchers’ technological training needs to provide the necessary solutions.

Related to innovation and sustainability for the university community, that is, the interaction of HEIs with internal and external stakeholders, future research can address how digital transformation can support the contribution of HEIs to sustainable regional development, social innovations, entrepreneurship, dissemination of the 2030 Agenda, and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Lastly, regarding digital governance in higher education, Raji and Hassan ( 2021 ) highlighted that reporting activities mitigate the asymmetries between HEIs and their stakeholders. Then, future research may address technological approaches to support sustainability reporting in higher education, map sustainability actions carried out on campuses, and identify their links with the UN SDGs.

4 Conclusion

The technological revolution has changed society in different ways. In the educational context, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the process of digital transformation in universities, as the use of digital technologies supported the continuity of their teaching and learning activities. Moreover, given the sustainability challenges currently faced by humankind, higher education institutions (HEIs) have been considered key stakeholders in the education of responsible citizens and leaders. Therefore, providing students with sustainability skills with the support of technology is both an opportunity and a challenge for these institutions. By linking digital transformation and sustainability activities, it is believed that HEIs can collaborate to face global challenges, such as climate change, social inequality, energy, quality of education, responsible consumption and production, among others, through the education of responsible citizens and the dissemination of a sustainability culture throughout the university system.

In the literature, there is a gap in the theoretical panorama regarding the contribution of digital transformation to sustainability in HEIs, which highlights the innovation of this study. Specifically, it collaborates by identifying the general state of research on the topic, theoretical perspectives in this field, and the possible directions for future studies. To address these questions, a mixed review method was carried out, which involved quantitative bibliometric analysis and qualitative content analysis. This study may be the first literature review on digital transformation to sustainability in higher education that carried out both bibliometric and content analyses, providing theoretical subsidies to the academic community and guiding sustainability and digital practices in HEIs. Specifically, the several studies explored in this study show different types of technologies, approaches, and strategies that can support sustainability actions in HEIs.

A bibliometric analysis was conducted on 672 publications using VOSviewer software. A descriptive analysis was then carried out, along with popular keywords analysis by co-occurrence technique and qualitative content analysis of 26 publications distributed among 3 clusters using the bibliographic coupling technique. The findings suggest three important research areas in this field: ensuring sustainability competencies through DT, smart and sustainable campus approaches, and theorisation of sustainability in higher education through DT. Subsequently, a co-citation analysis was carried out to identify theoretical perspectives in the field. The findings highlighted 46 publications, distributed in 7 clusters and titled as follows: e-learning, behavioural aspects of sustainability education, online education approaches, sustainability performance in education, education for sustainable development proposals and assessments, general topics on DT and corporate social responsibility, and virtual education. Lastly, a co-occurrence of the keywords used by publications from 2019 to 2022 was carried out along with the bibliographic coupling technique and co-citation analysis previously conducted. Then, five research lines for further studies on DT towards sustainability were identified: digital education for sustainable development, sustainable campuses through smart technologies, research cooperation for sustainability, innovation and sustainability for the university community, and digital governance in higher education.

There are limitations of this study that should be mentioned. The Scopus database was the only one considered to collect data. Future studies could use other well-known scientific databases, such as the Web of Science, to provide additional perspectives on the topic.

Data availability

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article.

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Trevisan, L.V., Eustachio, J.H.P.P., Dias, B.G. et al. Digital transformation towards sustainability in higher education: state-of-the-art and future research insights. Environ Dev Sustain 26 , 2789–2810 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-022-02874-7

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