Flinders University Achieves STARS 3.0 Gold Rating

Flinders University has become not just the first Australian university to achieve a Gold rating under the newly released Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System™ (STARS) 3.0 criteria, but the first in the world, marking a significant milestone in its sustainability journey. This achievement aligns with the university’s 2030 Sustainability Strategy, which uses STARS as a framework for benchmarking and progress tracking for future years. Choosing STARS 3.0 over 2.2 was a strategic decision that reflects the university’s commitment to robust reporting, continuous improvement, and aligning with international best practices in sustainability assessment.

Flinders University excelled across several sustainability areas, contributing to its Gold rating, including:

• 100% renewable electricity sourcing, with energy supplied from both on-site solar and off-site wind generation.
• Strong social equity programs, recognising gender diversity and inclusion initiatives.
• Sustainability-driven research across all disciplines, with each college hosting sustainability-focused centres or institutes.
• Governance and planning that embeds sustainability into institutional leadership, working groups, policies, and strategy.
• High performance in wellbeing and fair work, with a focus on pay equity, employee rights, and staff wellbeing initiatives.
• Resource recovery programs ensuring that general waste is minimised via organic, container deposit, battery and e-waste collection.

Achieving a STARS rating for the first time presented some challenges. In particular:

• Decentralised workstreams — Sustainability activities across the university and various colleges are not always centrally coordinated and documented, requiring extensive internal consultation, and review of documents and news archives to identify initiatives.
• Transitioning to STARS 3.0 — Flinders began working on its submission before the new framework was finalised, initially using draft guidelines before adapting to the official release.

The STARS framework underpins the updated Flinders University 2030 Sustainability Strategy, ensuring alignment with international best practices. The Gold rating has had a positive impact on sustainability engagement across the university, including:

• Strengthened strategic focus, helping to prioritise key areas for improvement.
• Greater internal engagement, with the recognition of ongoing sustainability efforts fostering collaboration among staff and students.
• Increased visibility, positioning Flinders as a sustainability leader within the higher education sector.

Looking ahead, the university will continue advancing its 2030 Sustainability Strategy, further embedding sustainability across research, governance, and operations.

William Van Ausdal, Head of Sustainability, Property, Facilities and Development at Flinders University, recommends integrating the STARS Framework into an organisation’s Sustainability Strategy to ensure it becomes “more than just a badge— serving as a catalyst for meaningful organisational change, providing clear direction and capturing the full breadth of sustainability progress across academics, operations, engagement, planning and administration.”

Flinders University recommends:

• Embedding STARS into sustainability strategy to ensure it aligns to University policies. processes and strategies to drive meaningful change rather than being just a reporting tool.
• Engaging key stakeholders across faculties and departments to streamline data collection and collaboration.
• Securing senior leadership support to encourage participation and ensure sustainability initiatives receive adequate resources.
• Celebrating successes widely to maintain engagement and inspire further action.
• Sustaining long-term momentum by ensuring adequate resources are allocated beyond the initial rating process.

You can learn more about the Flinders University Sustainability Strategy here.

Learn more about their Gold STARS Rating here.