The Evaluation of the Economic Impact of University Campuses Energy Initiatives: The UPC Case Study

Whilst the academia has always contributed to the social and cultural development of the places in which they are located through a sense of civic responsibility, the emerging climate change challenge require a “glocal” engagement to foster the so called “third mission” also in the sustainability management of the campuses. The impacts of a sustainable campus policy by University are essential for remaining competitive and productive internationally while meeting the UN SDGs. Yet, they are notoriously difficult to quantify and often materialise over a number of years. Therefore, this study tries to find out a possible economic quantification of energy activities performed by the universities and to test the proposed over the Polytechnic University of Catalunia (UPC) via a cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) and an impact assessment analysis. This study provided valuable information about the economic impact of such activities on the local economy, enhancing the role of the university as source of social and economic growth. Indeed, despite the relative low percentage of investments with respect to the total annual budget, the repercussion in terms of employment, output and GDP have been important in the case of UPC. Moreover, it can be said that the induced effects of such initiatives are much more impacting than the investments themselves. Possible future researches can be focused on a guideline for a homogeneous data collection, trying to extend the number of universities considered and therefore have thresholds and influencing factors for each case study.