23 rd Australasian Conference on Information Systems Environmental sustainability in universities 3-5 Dec 2012, Geelong Lavarack and Elliot 1 A Comprehensive IS-Enabled Framework and IS Research Agenda to Improve Contributions to Environmental Sustainability by Universities John Lavarack Independent Sustainability Consultant Surry Hills, NSW Australia Email: johnlavarack@gmail.com Steve Elliot Business School University of Sydney Sydney, Australia Email: steve.elliot@sydney.edu.au Abstract For more than 25 years, universities have been acknowledged as having the potential to make crucial contributions to addressing the challenges of environmental sustainability. During this time, many universities have undertaken activities in support of sustainability, although few have succeeded in realizing their potential to make significant contributions in research and education or as adopters of sustainable practices within their institutions. This paper aims to assist universities to improve their contributions to the challenges of environmental sustainability by: reviewing current literature guiding universities to support sustainability; identifying gaps in the literature; and, proposing a composite framework to facilitate contributions by IS-enabled innovations that significantly improve the level of sustainability behaviours and practices in universities. An IS research agenda integrated with the Composite Framework is proposed. Keywords Sustainability, Universities, IS-enabled Innovation Framework, IS Research Agenda INTRODUCTION A quarter century ago the Brundtland Commission identified universities as playing “a crucial part in putting the world onto sustainable development paths, in laying the groundwork for our common future” (UN 1987, p.16). The Commission posited the idea of sustainability in terms of development that would meet “the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (UN 1987). With this idea of intergenerational equity as a guiding principle, the Commission appealed for universities to engage their mission of research, learning and teaching in order to inculcate capabilities in communities globally to achieve sustainability at the spatial and temporal scales required to prevent predicted adverse impacts of human behaviour on the world’s ecosystems – in particular climate change. In one leading practitioner’s appeal to universities to renew efforts towards sustainability (Sharp 2002), the potential to realize this contribution was identified in: the active promotion of sustainability research and scholarship; education to all students in sustainability; outreach activities to communities; and achievement of sustainability at all levels within university institutions. Information Systems (IS) have a key role in assisting universities since technology is recognized as an essential enabler of solutions to the challenges of achieving sustainability (Stern 2007). A generation has passed and serious questions remain in the current analysis of the university sector’s efforts to contribute to sustainability. A survey of sustainability initiatives in US colleges and universities (NWF 2008) looked at the experience of over 1,000 universities (representing 27% of the sector) and found that while there were many initiatives towards sustainable operations on campuses, only a third had undertaken a strategic, integrated approach to achieving sustainability. Affecting organizational change is difficult and the level of success by universities in implementing strategic