Sustainability Reporting in State Universities: An Investigation of Italian Pioneering Practices

Recent years have witnessed an increasing interest towards sustainability reporting from scholars all over the world, especially focusing on large corporations. Research has only recently been carried out regarding sustainability reporting in the public sector; however, very few studies have been published with reference to universities. In Italy, despite the fact that sustainability reporting is not mandatory, two guidelines have been issued to promote it within state universities. To date, only few studies have been published on this topic. To bridge this gap, the current work aims to review and assess the state of sustainability reporting in Italian state universities and therefore it contributes to the international debate about the development of sustainability reporting in the public sector. In doing so, this paper represents one of the first attempts at investigating sustainability reports in universities, and more broadly in the public sector.