On 16 December 2024, an online academic seminar ‘Challenges for higher education institutions in Poland. Sustainability reporting’ organised by the Green Universities Forum (University of Warmia and Mazury, University of Gdańsk, Maria Curie-Sklodowska University), the Centre for Sustainable Development UG and the Interdisciplinary ESG Research Team (Faculty of Management UG, Faculty of Economics UG). The event brought together representatives of the academic community, experts and specialists dealing with ESG and sustainable development.
The seminar was opened by Sylwia Mrozowska, PhD, DSc, Prof. UG. Director of the UG Centre for Sustainable Development, she pointed out that universities play a key role in promoting the principles of sustainable development: “We have a special responsibility to society to demonstrate best practices and set the course for change. ESG reporting is not only an obligation, but also an opportunity to build partnerships with the economic environment and local governments.”
Seminar leader Jędrzej Siciński, PhD (Faculty of Management, UG) pointed out that the key aspect of ESG reporting is its quality and precision: “How we are measured, we act. If we want to raise sustainability standards, we need to provide robust and reliable measurement tools that show the real impact of our actions.”
As part of the expert panel ‘Measuring the social impact of higher education institutions – approaches, methods and challenges’, Justyna Berniak-Woźny, PhD, Associate Dean for Didactics at the Interdisciplinary Faculty at Krakow SWPS, discussed the methodology of measuring the social impact of HEIs, highlighting the challenges of quantifying the intangible effects of academic activity. As she emphasised, HEIs in Poland have a huge potential for ESG activities, but there is a need to develop standards tailored to their specificities to measure and communicate these effects.
Małgorzata Gosek, PhD (UITP) presented a perspective on the reporting of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in HEIs, stressing that reporting is not only a formal issue, but also a strategic tool to support the transformation of academic institutions.
The last speech belonged to Kamil Dzięgielewski (Deloitte), who presented the practical aspects of implementing sustainability reporting in public institutions and discussed new reporting standards dedicated to the academic sector.
The discussion at the end of the seminar allowed for an exchange of experiences and an indication of the next steps that universities should take in order to effectively implement ESG principles. The seminar highlighted the growing importance of the university’s responsibility towards society and the need to integrate sustainability into the daily functioning of academic institutions.