Air University Centre for Sustainability Goals and Growth
The Air University Centre for Sustainability Goals and Growth (AU CSGG) drives sustainable development, clean energy integration, socio-economic impact, and institutional growth across all campuses.
Sustainability Impact Counters
About Air University CSGG
Air University (AU), Islamabad, is committed to embedding sustainability in its teaching, research, operations, governance and community engagement. In line with the vision of the Vice Chancellor, the university has established the Air University Centre for Sustainability Goals and Growth (AU-CSGG) as the central platform for advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across all faculties, departments, campuses and administrative offices.
The Centre's name reflects its dual purpose. Sustainability Goals refers to the university's commitment to the 17 SDGs and to national priorities on climate, energy, water and inclusive development. Growth refers to turning that commitment into measurable institutional progress: stronger research output, innovation and commercial activity, better national and international ranking performance, and a staff and student body that is sustainability-literate.
AU-CSGG works in close partnership with the Quality Enhancement Cell (QEC), the Office of Research, Innovation and Commercialization (ORIC), academic faculties, and administrative directorates. While AU-CSGG delivers sustainability-focused learning, research coordination and outreach, QEC provides the structured feedback and assessment mechanism that measures awareness and identifies knowledge gaps. Together they form a continuous improvement cycle for sustainability at Air University.
Guiding principles:
Whole-institution approach
Sustainability is the shared responsibility of every faculty, department, campus and office, not of one unit alone.
Evidence-based action
Every initiative is documented, measured and reported so it can inform quality assurance and ranking submissions.
Impact over activity
The Centre prioritises outcomes (knowledge gained, research published, technologies transferred, resources saved) over the number of events held.
Partnership
Collaboration with government, industry, civil society, international universities and development partners.
Continuous improvement
A Plan–Do–Check–Act cycle linked to QEC feedback and self-assessment.
Oversight Committee & Panels
The committee meets at least twice a year to approve the annual sustainability plan, review progress against KPIs, endorse ranking submissions and approve the annual SDG report.
Air Marshal (Retd) Vice Chancellor
Patron-in-Chief, AU CSGG
Provides strategic leadership and institutional guidance for sustainable campus expansion.
Prof. Dr. Sustainability Director
Director CSGG
Oversees operational initiatives, sustainability roadmap execution, and national partnerships.
Registrar, Air University
Committee Secretary
Integrates sustainable growth mandates into core university administration and operations.
Centre leadership and Thematic Units
The Director AU-CSGG leads the Centre, reports to the Vice Chancellor, and is supported by a Deputy Director and Assistant Managers/Coordinators for each unit, with administrative and data support staff.
- - Staff and student training on SDGs
- - Orientation for new faculty and staff
- - SDG integration in curricula and courses
- - SDG tagging of publications and projects
- - Thematic research clusters
- - Grant mobilisation for SDG research
- - Green innovation challenges
- - Start-up and incubation pipeline (with ORIC)
- - IP, licensing and consultancy
- - Energy, water and waste audits
- - Sustainable procurement and mobility
- - Carbon footprint baseline and reduction
- - Central SDG evidence repository
- - THE Impact, QS, GreenMetric, HEC submissions
- - Joint data work with QEC
- - MoUs with industry, government, NGOs
- - Community and school outreach
- - Policy briefs and public engagement
SDG Focal Persons Network
Each faculty, academic department, sub-campus and administrative directorate nominates an SDG focal person. Focal persons collect evidence, coordinate SDG activities locally, submit quarterly activity reports to AU-CSGG through a standard template, and help disseminate training opportunities and QEC surveys.
Sustainability Literacy Assessment with QEC
Air University assesses the sustainability literacy and knowledge of its academic and professional/administrative staff through two complementary mechanisms. AU-CSGG provides sustainability-focused learning and awareness opportunities, and QEC's Feedback Portal provides a structured way to collect and analyse staff feedback on institutional activities, awareness, training and related initiatives. QEC systematically reviews and screens this data to assess awareness levels and to identify where further sustainability knowledge, training or capacity building is needed.
Assessment Workflow
- Plan: AU-CSGG prepares the annual training and awareness plan.
- Deliver: Sessions, workshops and orientations for faculty and staff.
- Assess: QEC gathers feedback and knowledge responses through the Feedback Portal.
- Analyse: QEC screens data by staff category, department and campus.
- Identify gaps: Joint AU-CSGG and QEC review of findings.
- Improve: Targeted training and revised plans; results reported to the Steering Committee.
Suggested Assessment Instrument
To strengthen evidence for rankings, the QEC feedback form can include a short sustainability literacy section covering:
- Awareness of the 17 SDGs and their relevance to the respondent's role.
- Knowledge of climate change, resource conservation, energy efficiency and waste management practices.
- Awareness of AU sustainability policies and initiatives.
- Self-reported sustainable behaviours at work.
- Usefulness of AU-CSGG training attended, and topics where further training is wanted.
Reporting Strategy: Results should be reported annually as the percentage of staff assessed, average literacy scores by category, and the actions taken in response.
Link with Research, Innovation and Commercialisation
A central aim of AU-CSGG is to move sustainability beyond awareness into knowledge creation and economic value. The Centre works with ORIC along a single pipeline, from idea to impact.
Pipeline Overview
- Research: SDG-aligned research clusters, grants, theses and publications.
- Innovation: Green innovation challenges, prototypes and FYP-to-product support.
- Protection: Invention disclosures, patents, copyrights and designs through ORIC.
- Enterprise: Incubation, start-ups and spin-offs with a sustainability focus.
- Commercialisation: Licensing, consultancy, contract research and industry projects.
- Impact: Policy briefs, community benefit, and evidence for rankings and HEC.
1. Research
- - Set up interdisciplinary SDG research clusters drawing on AU's engineering, computing, aviation, management, social sciences and health strengths.
- - Offer seed grants for SDG-focused research and interdisciplinary teams.
- - Encourage open-access publication and research visibility so AU's SDG work is discoverable and citable.
- - Track SDG-tagged publications annually as a core KPI.
2. Innovation
- - Hold an annual AU SDG Innovation Challenge with industry judges and prizes.
- - Create a green technology showcase for final-year projects.
- - Link student societies and entrepreneurs with mentoring from faculty and alumni.
3. Commercialisation
- - Screen sustainability research for commercial potential jointly with ORIC.
- - Support IP filing, licensing and technology transfer for green technologies.
- - Offer consultancy and training services to industry and public-sector organisations on sustainability, energy efficiency and environmental compliance, creating an income stream for the university.
- - Build industry-academia linkages that lead to sponsored research and joint ventures.
Functions
1. Awareness, training and capacity building
- - Conduct and coordinate awareness sessions, orientation programmes, workshops, seminars and webinars on the SDGs, environmental sustainability, climate change, resource conservation, energy efficiency, waste management and sustainable institutional practices.
- - Design a tiered Sustainability Literacy Programme for academic staff, professional/administrative staff and students (foundation, intermediate and champion levels).
- - Include a sustainability module in induction for all newly appointed faculty and staff.
- - Maintain attendance records, pre/post knowledge checks and certificates as evidence of participation and learning.
2. Curriculum and academic integration
- - Support departments in mapping courses and programme learning outcomes to relevant SDGs.
- - Encourage SDG-focused final-year projects, theses and dissertations, and maintain a register of them.
- - Promote a university-wide elective or general education course on sustainable development.
3. Research coordination
- - Map AU publications, funded projects and theses to the SDGs using recognised mapping approaches.
- - Develop thematic research clusters on areas of institutional strength.
- - Identify national and international funding calls for SDG research and support proposal development jointly with ORIC.
4. Innovation and commercialisation
- - Run annual green innovation and SDG challenge competitions for students and faculty.
- - Channel promising projects into ORIC's incubation, IP protection and technology transfer processes.
- - Promote industry-sponsored sustainability projects, consultancy and contract research.
5. Green campus operations
- - Conduct periodic energy, water and waste audits with the Works/Estate directorate and set reduction targets.
- - Promote solar and energy-efficient systems, water reuse, waste segregation and recycling, paperless processes, tree plantation and sustainable transport.
- - Draft and review university sustainability policies.
6. Data, evidence and reporting
- - Maintain a central, dated SDG evidence repository organized by SDG and by ranking indicator.
- - Coordinate data collection and submissions for THE Impact Rankings, QS Sustainability Rankings, UI GreenMetric, and HEC.
- - Publish the annual AU Sustainability / SDG Report and update the Centre's web pages.
7. Partnerships and outreach
- - Establish MoUs and joint initiatives with government bodies, industry, NGOs, UN agencies and international universities.
- - Organise community outreach, school engagement, public lectures and SDG awareness campaigns.
- - Prepare policy briefs that translate AU research into recommendations for policymakers.
8. Monitoring and continuous improvement
- - Work with QEC to assess staff and student sustainability knowledge and satisfaction through the QEC Feedback Portal.
- - Review findings, identify gaps and revise the annual training and activity plan accordingly.
Key Performance Indicators and Reporting
The indicators below are proposed for approval by the Steering Committee. Baselines should be set in the first year and targets fixed thereafter.
| Area | Key performance indicator | Data source |
|---|---|---|
| Literacy and training | Percentage of academic and professional/administrative staff trained on sustainability each year | AU-CSGG records |
| Literacy assessment | Percentage of staff assessed and average sustainability literacy score | QEC Feedback Portal |
| Curriculum | Number and percentage of courses mapped to SDGs | Departments, QEC |
| Research | Number of SDG-tagged publications and share of total output | ORIC, Scopus/SciVal |
| Funding | Value and number of SDG-related grants secured | ORIC |
| Innovation | Number of green innovations, invention disclosures and IP filings | ORIC |
| Commercialisation | Start-ups incubated, licences signed, consultancy income generated | ORIC, Finance |
| Campus operations | Change in energy use, water use, waste recycled and renewable energy share | Works/Estate |
| Partnerships | Active SDG-related MoUs and joint projects | AU-CSGG, ORIC |
| Rankings | Participation and position in THE Impact, QS Sustainability, UI GreenMetric | Rankings cell |
Reporting Cycle
- Quarterly: Focal persons submit activity and evidence reports to AU-CSGG.
- Biannually: Director AU-CSGG presents progress to the Steering Committee.
- Annually: QEC and AU-CSGG issue a joint sustainability literacy assessment report; AU-CSGG publishes the AU Sustainability / SDG Report.
Strategic Link with University Rankings
Sustainability performance now carries direct weight in major ranking systems. AU-CSGG serves as the university's single point for organising sustainability evidence so that every relevant activity contributes to ranking outcomes.
| Ranking system | What it looks at | AU-CSGG contribution |
|---|---|---|
| THE Impact Rankings | Performance against the SDGs; SDG 17 (Partnerships) is mandatory, plus the institution's strongest other SDGs. Covers research, stewardship, outreach and teaching. | Selects priority SDGs, compiles policies and evidence per metric, coordinates the annual submission. |
| QS Sustainability Rankings | Environmental impact, social impact and governance. | Provides policies, climate and energy data, sustainability education and research evidence, and governance documentation. |
| QS World University Rankings | Includes a sustainability indicator within its overall methodology, alongside reputation, research and international measures. | Feeds sustainability data into the university's QS submission through the ranking cell. |
| UI GreenMetric | Setting and infrastructure, energy and climate change, waste, water, transportation, and education and research. | Leads data collection with Works/Estate, Transport and academic departments. |
| HEC and national reporting | Quality assurance, research, innovation and community engagement indicators. | Supplies SDG-related evidence to QEC and ORIC for HEC reporting. |
Evidence Mapping (Sample)
| AU-CSGG activity | Relevant SDGs | Evidence produced | Responsible office |
|---|---|---|---|
| Staff sustainability literacy training and QEC assessment | SDG 4, 13, 17 | Training records, attendance, survey results, gap-analysis report | AU-CSGG, QEC |
| SDG-mapped publications and funded projects | All relevant SDGs | Publication lists, SciVal/Scopus SDG reports, grant records | AU-CSGG, ORIC |
| Energy, water and waste audits | SDG 6, 7, 12, 13 | Audit reports, utility data, reduction targets | AU-CSGG, Works/Estate |
| Industry and community partnerships | SDG 9, 11, 17 | Signed MoUs, joint project reports, event records | AU-CSGG, ORIC, Outreach |
| Sustainability and inclusion policies | SDG 5, 8, 10, 16 | Approved, dated policy documents with review dates | AU-CSGG, Registrar, HR |
| Start-ups and technology transfer from SDG projects | SDG 8, 9 | Incubation records, IP filings, licensing agreements | ORIC, AU-CSGG |
Research & Sustainable Innovation
Air University faculty and researchers drive impactful study in sustainable growth practices, renewable integration, and environmental policy models.
Smart Energy Microgrid Lab
Developing AI-driven load balance algorithms for university campuses in South Asia.
Journal of Sustainability & Growth
Bi-annual peer-reviewed publication sponsored by AU CSGG.
Reports & Publications
Official institutional downloads and disclosures
SDG Annual Report 2025-26
Published: 2026 | Format: PDF (9.45 MB)
SDG Annual Report 2024-2025
Published: 2025 | Format: PDF (7.44 MB)
SDG Annual Report 2023-2024
Published: 2025 | Format: PDF (5.39 MB)
SDG Annual Report 2022-2023
Published: 2025 | Format: PDF (3.16 MB)
SDG Annual Report 2021-2022
Published: 2025 | Format: PDF (2.76 MB)