Published Article / The study presents the results from a project that was aimed at determining the level of awareness and understanding of sustainable development at Central University of Technology, Free State (CUT) among staff and students at the time of the commencement of the institutional Sustainable Development Project. The objectives of the study was twofold, firstly to assess the level of students' knowledge and understanding of sustainable development; and secondly to find out whether staff and students are interested in sustainable development and if they find it relevant to the university's mission. In achieving the objectives of the survey a pilot study was undertaken to test the understanding and awareness of sustainable development at CUT.

Due to the rapid economic growth and industrial development in China, the constantly soaring upGDP has made many people believe that the golden age of China has come. But along with the boomingdevelopment, the neglect and violation of the natural environment has brought intensive discussion and criticism.Moreover, during past decades, frequent natural disasters and extreme weathers resulting from human activitieshave made local dwellers suffer from economical loss, as well as physical harm. Thus more attention fromwithin the country has been drawn to the environmental issues; media reports, national debates and researcheshave been going on for years. Among which, the problem of air pollution has caught a large public concern,especially when the PM 2.5 in Chinese metropolises like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xi’an etc. exceeded900 micrograms per cubic meter. In previous analysis of PM 2.5 pollutants in developing countries, it has beenfound that most of those aerosol particles are from the burning of fossil fuels and biomass, and in China’s case,coal burning has been blamed largely, due to the fact that the use of coal takes up about 70% of total energyconsumption. Based on data analysis and chemical ratio examination, this thesis is to find out the connectionbetween PM 2.5 and Coal burning in China’s capital city Beijing.

<p>Environmental problems are seen as the first priority that all countries try to find as a solution to be more sustainable. These issues arise due to the lack of our responsibility to the world. Researchers agree on that the starting point in changing our society to be green is to increase environmental awareness (Jiang et al., 1999). Several sectors accept this idea like UNESCO which focuses on education as a tool to promote sustainable development (UNESCO, 2002).</p><p> </p><p>Following UNESCO, our study investigates university students’ environmental awareness. The Authors hope that the outcome not only reflects university performance, but also helps to develop the environment in the future.  Hence, the authors selected the University of Gävle or HiG, as a case study because it is a best practice in Environmental Management System (EMS). Moreover, HiG received the ISO 14001 certificate and it has a continuous improvement program (Sammalisto, 2007, p.69). </p><p> </p><p>The study was started by reviewing research literatures concerning Environmental Management System (EMS), Sustainable Development (SD), Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Environmental Awareness. The authors found that there are few studies talking about students’ awareness in universities after being awarded ISO 14001. Notice that the research was seen only from environmental perspective (Flint, 2004).</p><p> </p><p>To answer research questions, two surveys were adopted. The first part focused on teachers and officers (or staffs) who work on environmental issues. While, the second part focused on the students which were divided into Swedish and international.</p><p> </p><p>The research outcomes indicate that HiG has a good EMS performance supported by annual environmental audits, regular policy revision and the attempts to minimize non-conformities. Conversely, when the authors pointed at student awareness, it shows that students have insufficient environmental knowledge. Moreover, some students have lower environmental awareness and act in a less ecological friendly way. Nevertheless, a knowledge problem was also found among several university staffs. This is because of the lack of communication about environmental issues inside the staffs community and lack of environmental education for students.</p><p> </p><p>Whatever the university situation is, there are some groups of staff and students eager to develop themselves and their university. This point of strength could be the best driving force. It can push the university forward until the university reaches sustainable development and it brings the aware graduates into society.</p>

Environmental problems are seen as the first priority that all countries try to find as a solution to be more sustainable. These issues arise due to the lack of our responsibility to the world. Researchers agree on that the starting point in changing our society to be green is to increase environmental awareness (Jiang et al., 1999). Several sectors accept this idea like UNESCO which focuses on education as a tool to promote sustainable development (UNESCO, 2002).   Following UNESCO, our study investigates university students’ environmental awareness. The Authors hope that the outcome not only reflects university performance, but also helps to develop the environment in the future.  Hence, the authors selected the University of Gävle or HiG, as a case study because it is a best practice in Environmental Management System (EMS). Moreover, HiG received the ISO 14001 certificate and it has a continuous improvement program (Sammalisto, 2007, p.69).    The study was started by reviewing research literatures concerning Environmental Management System (EMS), Sustainable Development (SD), Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Environmental Awareness. The authors found that there are few studies talking about students’ awareness in universities after being awarded ISO 14001. Notice that the research was seen only from environmental perspective (Flint, 2004).   To answer research questions, two surveys were adopted. The first part focused on teachers and officers (or staffs) who work on environmental issues. While, the second part focused on the students which were divided into Swedish and international.   The research outcomes indicate that HiG has a good EMS performance supported by annual environmental audits, regular policy revision and the attempts to minimize non-conformities. Conversely, when the authors pointed at student awareness, it shows that students have insufficient environmental knowledge. Moreover, some students have lower environmental awareness and act in a less ecological friendly way. Nevertheless, a knowledge problem was also found among several university staffs. This is because of the lack of communication about environmental issues inside the staffs community and lack of environmental education for students.   Whatever the university situation is, there are some groups of staff and students eager to develop themselves and their university. This point of strength could be the best driving force. It can push the university forward until the university reaches sustainable development and it brings the aware graduates into society.

La réflexion développée dans cette thèse s’inspire conjointement de travaux de recherche en management stratégique et en systèmes d’information (SI). Elle tend à analyser la relation entre le développement durable (DD), la responsabilité sociale d’entreprise (RSE) et les systèmes d’information (SI) en s’intéressant à un nouvel objet dans ce champ : le Green IT. Comme peu de recherches y ont encore été consacrées, elle vise simultanément à décrire ce phénomène émergent, à comprendre les raisons de son adoption et de sa diffusion au sein des organisations et à en concevoir une instrumentation. La théorie néo-institutionnelle et l’approche socio-rationnelle de la diffusion d’une innovation ont été mobilisées pour élaborer un cadre d’analyse de l’adoption. Une réflexion sur la valeur du Green IT a été menée et associée à une revue de modèles de pilotage dans la perspective de créer un instrument de mesure du Green IT. À l’issue d’une recherche ingénierique, un outil d’évaluation de la maturité éco-responsable du SI, inspiré des tableaux de bord prospectifs, a été co-construit. Il a ensuite été testé dans deux contextes organisationnels distincts fournissant une première lecture du phénomène. Afin de compléter cette vision et d’examiner les facteurs susceptibles d’affecter l’adoption du Green IT, une enquête par questionnaire a ensuite été réalisée. Les résultats mettent en exergue l’importance des pressions institutionnelles, des bénéfices escomptés, des obstacles perçus, des attitudes environnementales et de la politique RSE dans la décision d’adoption. / The reflection developed in this thesis is jointly inspired by research in strategic management and information systems (IS). It tends to analyze the relationship between the sustainable development (SD), the corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the information systems (IS) in addressing a new object in this field: Green IT. As not much research have yet been dedicated to this subject, it simultaneously aims to describe this emerging phenomenon, to understand the reasons for its adoption and its diffusion within organizations and to design instrumentation. The neo-institutional theory and the socio-rational approach to the diffusion of innovation have been mobilized to develop a framework for analysis of the adoption. A reflection on the value of Green IT was led and associated with a review of governance models to create a measuring instrument of Green IT. At the end of an engineering search, an evaluation tool of the eco-responsible maturity of IS, inspired by Balanced Scorecards, was co-built. It was then tested in two distinct organizational contexts providing a first interpretation of the phenomenon. To complete this vision and examine the factors that may affect the adoption of Green IT, a survey was then realized. The results highlight the importance of institutional pressures, expected benefits, perceived obstacles, environmental attitudes and the CSR policy in the decision to adopt.