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Integrated solutions


Integrated solutions


Integrated solutions

About the Institute

The Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation is the hub of Arizona State University’s sustainability research initiatives. The institute advances research and business practices for an urbanizing world. Its sister program, the College of Global Futures, both within the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory, offers transdisciplinary degree programs focused on finding practical solutions to social, economic and environmental challenges.

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Our Mission

Arizona State University established the ASU Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation to:

  • Articulate and exemplify Arizona State University’s university-wide commitment to sustainability
  • Actively support and encourage Arizona State University units and their partners in the teaching, learning, discovery and innovation of sustainability
  • Implement, extend, share and promote sustainable practices locally, nationally, globally
  • Connect scientists, scholars, humanists, engineers, technologists, policymakers, business leaders, students and communities to enhance the capacity to address challenges that impact humanity’s ability to thrive

Vision for Sustainability@ASU

ASU is a leader in the global movement to address the enduring challenges of sustainability: promoting human prosperity and well-being for all, while protecting and enhancing the earth’s life support systems. By extending the academic tradition to include all ASU units and working with external partners, we educate, discover solutions and implement practices that will help people drive the transition to a sustainable world.

Our Strategy

The Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation provides leadership and coordination for university sustainability initiatives. Our College of Global Futures trains the next generation of practitioners, entrepreneurs and leaders. An emphasis on systems and design thinking across the curriculum directs coursework, research, and outreach toward solving today’s most important problems. A university-wide commitment to sustainable operations encompasses all units at all four campuses.

Our Focus on Urban Environments

With more than half of the world’s population living in cities, the key to global sustainability is making our cities sustainable. The Institute places special emphasis on urban environments in research and education, particularly focusing on greater Phoenix as an urban laboratory where solutions to water, energy, transportation and livability are largely applicable to other rapidly urbanizing areas around the world.


Sustainable Development Goals

The Sustainable Development Goals, officially known as Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, is a set of seventeen aspirational “Global Goals.” The goals and targets integrate economic, social and environmental aspects and recognize their interlinkages in achieving sustainable development in all its dimensions to ensure peace and prosperity.


Sustainability Overview

Our prospectus, Sustainability at ASU: Toward a more sustainable world, provides an overview of ASU’s efforts to advance sustainability across the university and beyond. Understand how sustainability underlies our teaching, learning and doing.


Sustainability Highlights

Every year the Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation tackles new and exciting challenges. Its accomplishments include high Alumni employment, increased enrollment in sustainability-related programs, and ever-growing involvement in sustainability research and solutions-focused partnerships.


Sustainability Operations at ASU

Arizona State University is a model for sustainability operations and practices around the country and has made significant strides in several key areas.


Thought Leader Book

The series invites essay contributions from a diverse pool of sustainability’s most celebrated thinkers and problem-solvers, who offer expertise that prompts reflection, provokes the imagination and encourages action.


What is Sustainability

We get that question a lot, and the answer is wondrously complicated. Sustainability can apply to virtually anything you can think of – it’s a powerful word that defies a simple definition. Still, most people agree that sustainability has three fundamental pillars – sometimes called the Three Ps.