— Sustainability Annual Report 2017 — Table of Contents
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RMIT Sustainability Committee — Sustainability Annual Report 2017 — Table of Contents RMIT Sustainability Annual Report 2017 About this report 4 Message from the Vice Chancellor 6 About RMIT 7 Stakeholder Engagement 10 Supporting sustainable Students 12 Creating impact 15 Sustainability in Tertiary Education 19 Ready for work and enterprise 22 Living our values 25 Empowering our people 30 Sustainable built environment 36 Sustainable operations 42 Our material topics and impacts 48 GRI reporting principles 49 GRI content index 50 — — 1. About this Report: 1.4 Highlights 1.1 Report Scope 1.2 Materiality 1.3 Our Sustainability Context This is RMIT University’s third Our approach to developing the content Following the content determination and annual sustainability report, for our report has been informed by the materiality assessment the key issues spanning the calendar year from GRI’s Reporting Principles for defining identified were: 2017 marked the 130-year anniversary of the founding report content - stakeholder inclusiveness, 1 January to 31 December 2017 • Ready for life and work of RMIT University sustainability context, materiality and and we will continue to report • Research impact completeness. It has also been informed annually. The report documents • Green buildings and infrastructure by the principles of the AA1000 standard our progress, highlights our • Learning and teaching 20 students joined our new Sustainability Ambassadors Program which provides guidance to organisations • Student health, safety and wellbeing key achievements and sets our to identify and respond to issues in • Empowering staff sustainability goals for sustainability. In 2017 we undertook a Our new Sustainability Space opened on the City campus • Governance the following year. content determination and materiality • Diversity and inclusion assessment informed by these principles Our report shows the impact that our and AccountAbility’s Five Part Test. University awarded five stars for learner engagement in learning and teaching, research and The issues emerging since our last The Good Universities Guide operations has on the environment, local assessment included the welfare of our economies and society and highlights students in the city with the impact of our commitments and progress towards Our report shows the climate change and how to maintain RMIT won the GLOBE (Gay and Lesbian Organisation of Business and becoming a more sustainable organisation. impact that our learning social cohesion among student body and Enterprise) Community Award for ‘Protecting our Community’ their relationship to place when they are This report has been prepared in and teaching, research and operations has on increasingly accessing education online. accordance with the Global Reporting The Bike Hub won a Green Gown Award Initiative (GRI) Standards: Core option. the environment. We welcome your enquiries In line with GRI requirements, this report RMIT Sustainability Committee and feedback on this report. presents our significant economic, Please email: [email protected] The VC became a Pay Equity Ambassador for Workplace Gender social and environmental impacts and Equality Agency (WGEA) contributions, both current and those that are reasonably foreseeable. We address where these impacts occur and how we RMIT completes the New Academic Street (NAS) project transforming contribute to them throughout this report. Step Inputs the City campus. The information contained in this report 1. A review of: has not been the subject of any external Identify • Issues listed as material in the 2016 report assurance. A desktop review to develop • RMIT University’s operating context in global sustainable Installed another 100kW of solar on our campus in 2017 a longer list of sustainability issues development (including the UN Sustainable Development Goals This report covers all Australian entities and the World Economic Forum’s Global Risk Report 2017) • RMIT University’s risk register listed under the RMIT Annual Report with • RMIT University’s strategy RMIT partnered with the Melbourne Renewable Energy Project additional data from our international • Direct interviews with nine internal and eight external to collectively purchase renewable energy from a new wind farm campuses in Vietnam where available and stakeholders on content and key issues • Issues identification exercise with more than to be built in Victoria indicated. This report does not contain and 100 students, through the ‘butterfly’ exercise. restated information. In preparing this report RMIT has 2. A review of: The Sustainable Events Guide launched Prioritise considered the following GRI Reporting • Sector-specific lists of material issues (e.g. from GRI and SASB) Ranking of issues Principles for defining report quality to • The sustainability reports and websites of peers • Issues reported in the media RMIT celebrated Reconciliation Week with the opening ensure a high quality sustainability report • Survey of internal and external stakeholders to rank issues of its new Ngarara Willim Centre at Bundoora campus is achieved: • Accuracy 3. A review of: • Balance Prioritise • The 2016 report against the GRI Standards 2016 Ranking of issues and known best practices in reporting. • Clarity • Direct interviews stakeholders on content • Comparability and areas for improvement. • Reliability • Timeliness 4. Validate Workshop with the University’s Sustainability Presentation of prioritised Committee to review and validate the results issues at RMIT University 4 RMIT Sustainability Annual Report 2017 5 — — 2. Message from 3. About RMIT the Vice Chancellor In 2017, RMIT celebrated 130 In recognition of the inherent value of The conclusion of the Sustainable Urban 3.1 Organisational profile The University enjoys an international For more information on our key statistics years since we were founded Indigenous Australians, our journey to Precincts Program and the expansion of reputation for excellence in professional visit our website: https://www.rmit.edu. with a motto of “a skilled a shared future includes commitments on-campus solar projects saw us reduce RMIT is a global university and vocational education, applied and au/about/governance-and-management/ hand, a cultivated mind”. This that go beyond the fundamentals of our carbon emissions by 34 per cent of technology, design and innovative research, and engagement with key-university-statistics reconciliation. As part of our Reconciliation from our 2007 baseline. This reflects our the needs of industry and the community. vision remains as relevant enterprise in which teaching, The University is a significant landholder Action Plan (RAP) and, among many ongoing commitment to action on climate RMIT is ranked in the top one per cent of today as it was then, as we research and engagement are in the City of Melbourne, owning achievements, we proudly opened the new change through energy conservation. global universities, rising to equal 247th in central to achieving positive approximately 6 per cent of Melbourne’s continue to prepare students Ngarara Willim Centre at Bundoora West the 2017 QS World University Rankings. For the first time in Australia a group of central business district. This positions us for the changing world of work campus to further support our Aboriginal impact and creating life- The University is ranked eighth in Australia local governments, cultural institutions, to take a leading role in driving sustainable and shaping the world with and Torres Strait Islander students. changing experiences for for employer reputation, and 30th in East universities and corporations are collectively urban outcomes for the city. In total RMIT’s impactful research. our students. Asia and the Pacific. Supporting our staff and students and the purchasing renewable energy, directly property portfolio comprises more than 130 A cornerstone of our current Ready for evolving needs of families, we opened a enabling the build of a wind farm in regional One of Australia’s original educational RMIT prides itself on the strong industry buildings in Melbourne (more than 460,000 Life and Work strategy is sustainability: brand new RMIT City Campus Children’s Victoria in 2018. As a proud partner of the institutions founded in 1887, RMIT links it has forged over its 130-year history. m2 gross floor area) and a further nine environmental, social and economic. Led Centre, providing long-day childcare Melbourne Renewable Energy Project, we University now has 87,000 students and Collaboration with industry is integral to the buildings on overseas campuses with a by our organisational values, we are proud services. The purpose-built centre provides will purchase 25 per cent of our electricity 11,000 staff globally. We embrace diversity University’s leadership in applied research total floor area of 54,000m2. to challenge and champion important a progressive, inclusive and consistently from this wind farm from 2019. as a critical driver for positive economic and education, and to the development of The consolidated 2017 net operating result issues across our communities and high-quality children’s service in a facility and social change. With 45 per cent of our highly skilled, globally focused graduates. Striving for the best sustainable outcomes for RMIT University and its subsidiaries was the world. that, of course, has strong sustainability higher education student body representing and practices is, and always will be, With three campuses in Melbourne (City, attributes in its