At Luiss, we envision a future in which sustainability is perfectly integrated in the University’s policy and practices. The value of sustainability serves as a primary criterion for defining choices regarding daily practices and actions, encouraging our students, staff, departments, and partners to work towards creating a more sustainable world at the environmental, social, and economic level. Luiss aims to act responsibly in its role as an educational institution to build and cultivate a culture of sustainability and to be a driver of change towards sustainable and inclusive development. Luiss is committed to ensuring that sustainability is endorsed by its entire university community and beyond. Indeed, it seeks to guarantee an educational offering and organizational model in which sustainability impacts daily experiences. Together with its partners and stakeholders, Luiss also works with and for the territory by continuing to be a driver for new initiatives and, a platform exploring and experimenting solutions for real social needs.

“Sustainability at large” is one of the 6 trajectories of the University Strategic Plan 2021-2024.

The University created an organizational unit managing the strategic planning towards sustainability. The unit works in synergy with all areas of the University and follows the guidelines of the Sustainability Plan.

The University identified specific intervention areas to ensure coordinated action by the entire community in integrating Sustainability in all aspects of the University, evaluating its progress, and working across the board for the development of new projects.

The first Integrated Report was issued in 2020, a frontier path through which the resources and relationships that characterize Luiss’s assets are integrated to create value in the short, medium and long term in favor of its stakeholders, concretizing the “Purposeful Leadership” of the University.

All the University’s initiatives align with the SDGs framework, highlighting and measuring the University’s commitment to achieving the common sustainable development goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda. The initiatives, organized around the 17 SDGs, were mapped in detail and set out 200 indicators to evaluate the sustainability performance of intervention areas.

In 2020, Luiss updated its Code of Ethics, which together with the other sustainability documents, is a tool that maps out the pathway and outlines guidelines to achieve the goal of a more sustainable and inclusive community, influencing behavioral changes and implementation of good practices. The Code of Ethics also serves for the establishment of an Ethics Committee, aimed at safeguarding the correct implementation of the principles established in the Code of Ethics.

Luiss communicates externally its commitment to sustainability through a dedicated page on its website, gathering its main sustainability initiatives, strategic documents, most representative numbers, Vision, Mission and Values of sustainability.

In 2020, Luiss participated in the Green Metric initiative–entering the Top 50 most sustainable universities–positioned itself in 43^rd place in the global ranking and 1^st place in the “Energy and climate change” criterion among Italian universities (2^nd place worldwide).

Furthermore, to consolidate its commitment to community engagement, Luiss organized 269 sustainability events in 2020.

In the academic year 2020-2021, Luiss counted 73 courses and curricular activities relating to sustainable development issues and one degree course dedicated entirely to sustainability issues.

Luiss’s sustainability projects, linked to the Academics, Research and Third Mission, aim to make buildings on campuses increasingly sustainable and include:

• The power used at Luiss derives exclusively from renewable energy sources
• For the Viale Romania Campus, in 2016, Luiss obtained the LEED Existing Building, the voluntary sustainability protocol on the performance and management of existing buildings and one of the most prestigious environmental quality certifications in the world
• Luiss Green Mobility: the university services of connected and shared intelligent mobility that allows students, faculty, staff and management to move around the city in a sustainable way, with a view to respecting nature and for the common good. The university offers different services such as electric car-sharing and electric bike-sharing with charging points
• The Luiss University Press provided a Sustain editorial series dedicated to sustainability in all its forms including environmental, economic and social. Currently, 6 editions were issued
• VolontariaMENTE is project involving around 300 students each year. The unique project allows students to experience realities very different to their own, allowing them to challenge and grow as human beings
• Legalità e Merito is an annual initiative developed by Professor Paola Severino, aimed at raising awareness on the value of respecting the rules and the fight against corruption among younger generations. The initiative addresses the youth in schools located in contexts of social hardship
• As part of the “Guided Tours” project, Luiss students guide visitors to discover the Luiss campuses, serving as ambassadors of the beauty and history of the University. Some visits in 2021 were organized in collaboration with FAI.
• Luiss joined the RUS (Italian University Network for Sustainable Development) in 2017. Luiss participates in the network’s initiatives or to those which the network adheres and encourages the participation of Italian universities.
• The University joined the ASviS Sustainable Development Festival between 2018 and 2021, organizing 102 events open to the Luiss Community and beyond at the national level. For the 2020 edition, on October 2^nd, Luiss hosted the national event dedicated to Goal 8: “The pact for the youth employment: An essential challenge”.
• The twelfth edition of the Non Sprecare Award (translated as Do not Waste) is a project initiated by Antonio Galdo. The annual event was established with the scientific and organizational support of Luiss Guido Carli aimed at promoting economic, environmental and social projects as well as practices that promote sustainability across the board through saving, conscious consumption, and adopting a sustainable and inclusive lifestyle.
• Since 2014, Luiss Community Garden is an open space for students, faculty, administrative staff, volunteers from neighborhood associations, children from neighborhood schools, and the community. The project is designed to facilitate social interaction, offering a space in which collaborations and initiatives come to life, and where nature, well-being, sustainability and learning coexist. Also, the Luiss Community Garden has hosted the Autistici & Giardinieri initiative in partnership with the non-profit organization Cervelli Ribelli. The initiative began in 2015 and sees autistic youngsters engaging in horticultural activities. Guided by a team of psychologists and operators, Luiss students support the project by participating in workshops in the vegetable garden.
• Luiss hosted a series of meetings which kicked off the CEO for Life Community, sharing ideas, projects and calls for action for the implementation of the RRP. The meeting addressed the 6 Missions of the Plan, and convened the Community CEOs to foster discussions with Luiss students on projects and action proposals for the implementation of the RRP.

Claudia Giommarini, Etica, Responsabilità, Sostenibilità