The role of universities in ensuring energy efficiency and sustainability: Investigating the link between UI GreenMetric ranking and countries’ sustainability indicators

The article analyzes the role of universities, assessed through the prism of the UI GreenMetric World University Rankings (UI GreenMetric) methodology, in ensuring energy efficiency and sustainability of the national economy. For this purpose, UI GreenMetric results, systematized by country and region, were used, as well as data for 2017–2022 on countries’ progress in achieving SDG 7 and the national level of primary energy intensity. The analysis of trends in the development of sustainable universities according to UI GreenMetric shows regional differences: on average, the highest scores in the ranking are given to universities in OECD countries and East and South Asia, and the lowest – to Sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern Europe & Central Asia. A positive correlation (from 13.9% to 18.7% of the variation) was found between the activities of universities and the countries’ progress in achieving SDG 7, as well as a negative correlation with the energy intensity of the level of primary energy of these countries; this proves the participation of higher education institutions in ensuring the energy efficiency of national economies (the level of influence is much lower, the explanation of model variations is 2.4%-8.2%). The role of universities is not only to develop green campuses but also to increase research, create new educational programs, develop cross-sectoral cooperation and ‘living laboratories’ to implement sustainable development practices, and train future leaders capable of overcoming global energy challenges.