Xinqun Yuan

Campus sustainability assessments increasingly rely on broad indicator systems, yet their empirical foundation remains heavily dependent on institutional self-reports, administrative records, and checklist-based scoring. These data types capture governance and educational activities effectively. However, they are less suitable for evaluating spatially heterogeneous or temporally dynamic environmental conditions, such as greenspace distribution, land use composition, and thermal environments. Such conditions are difficult to verify through self-reporting alone. Remote sensing and GIS offer potential solutions by providing externally verifiable and cross-campus comparable measurements, but their integration into formal assessment standards remains underdeveloped. The literature reveals three persistent gaps: an evidence gap (over-reliance on self-reports), a spatial gap (limited inclusion of spatially explicit indicators), and a standardization gap (case studies without transferable protocols). These gaps are relevant in China, where diverse campus forms intensify comparability challenges. To address these issues within the Chinese context, this review proposes a conceptual two-level framework. The framework comprises a comprehensive assessment structure covering governance, education, operations, environment, and participation. It is paired with a separate spatial evidence module based on remote sensing and GIS. This framework is a conceptual reference and an operational pathway, rather than an empirically validated or calibrated tool. The framework intends to guide the systematic integration of spatial evidence into future Chinese green campus standards. However, threshold values, weighting schemes, and contextual adjustment factors would require further empirical testing and policy deliberation.

Within the context of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), this study draws on a Web of Science dataset (n = 815, 1991–2025) and employs a mixed approach combining scientometric mapping with framework analysis and tool comparison. It systematically reviews the knowledge structure, methodological evolution, and tool genealogy of Campus Sustainability Assessment (CSA). The results reveal a paradigmatic shift from an operations-oriented focus to a whole-of-institution and impact-oriented perspective. Representative tools can be grouped into five categories by purpose—improvement-oriented, ranking and benchmarking, education and curriculum, standards and certification, and policy advocacy and recognition—and can be mapped onto the four domains of governance, academics, operations, and engagement in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Synthesizing quantitative and qualitative evidence, three systemic shortcomings are identified: excessive reliance on self-reporting with limited verification, insufficient evidence of learning outcomes and key competencies, and weak interoperability of indicators across educational stages and frameworks. Looking ahead, four actionable research pathways are proposed: (1) assessment of key competencies centered on learning outcomes with stronger curriculum–practice alignment; (2) policy–indicator interoperability and vertical integration grounded in SDGs and national or sectoral standards; (3) stakeholder co-design enabling an assessment–improvement loop; and (4) remote-sensing-based multi-scale monitoring and data governance. The contribution of this study lies in advancing a unified four-domain framework under a process–outcome–impact evidence chain, while suggesting cross-stage and cross-tool alignment and complementarity. This provides methodological support and an implementation roadmap for shifting CSA from measuring performance to empowering improvement.

Greenspaces on university campuses have gained recognition for their multifaceted impact on the physical, social, emotional and intellectual well‐being of students. The allocation of resources towards the development and maintenance of greenspaces is regarded as a strategy in the pursuit of sustainable development goals. However, the research on greenspaces within higher education has been inadequate. This study conducts an assessment of greenspaces within 2556 Chinese universities using remote sensing and geospatial technology, analysing the disparities in their distribution and exploring the spatial patterns and driving factors on a national scale. A national university greenspace database is obtained. Unexpectedly, the study finds that greenspace area and proportion within Chinese universities are relatively low in comparison to the greenspace areas outside the campus and of the city. There is heterogeneity and a decreasing trend in university greenspace. Compared to university faculty and off‐campus population, university students have the lowest per capita greenspace area. Of concern is the significant issue of greenspace inequality. Our research suggests that the inequality in greenspace provision for university students can be explained by factors of economic development, educational investments and provincial greenspace supply. This study provides an in‐depth analysis of the state of greenspaces in Chinese universities and calls for interdisciplinary and interdepartmental cooperation to address issues of greenspace inequality and campus greening, ensuring the sustainability and livability of urban areas and university campuses.

This study evaluates the effectiveness of the Green School Program (GSP) as a tool for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Focusing on 98 primary and secondary schools in Beijing’s Xicheng District, it employs a multiple, descriptive case study approach supported by statistical analysis. The research assesses various aspects of ESD for 2030, such as policy implementation, learning environments, educator roles, youth engagement, and local initiatives. An innovative aspect of the study is the use of remote sensing technology to assess educational quality. The findings highlight effective methods for measuring ESD and provide China’s experiences and recommendations to contribute to global school-based sustainable development efforts, suggesting the importance of stakeholder collaboration in advancing SDGs. The study offers significant insights into the operational assessment of ESD in schools and contributes to global sustainable development initiatives.

This paper analyses the integration of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the revisions of China's primary, secondary and high school curriculum standards. Employing a word frequency analysis of SDGs‐related keywords across ten disciplines, the study reveals an increasing trend in SDGs integration, particularly in Physical Education and Health, and Biology, but notes a lack of growth in the Arts discipline. Key findings include the widespread presence of SDG3 (Good Health and Well‐being) and SDG11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), with a notable absence of SDG5 (Gender Equality) and SDG12 (Responsible Consumption and Production). This study suggests enhancing SDGs coverage in Arts education, broadening the scope to include underrepresented SDGs and promoting a balanced integration of all SDGs across disciplines. It emphasizes the critical role of Geography Education in addressing global challenges and advocates for interdisciplinary teaching methods. The study highlights the importance of regular assessment in curriculum standards to ensure effective SDGs integration, aiming to align China's educational framework with global developmental objectives for a sustainable future.

As one of the most important agricultural production types in the world, orchards have high economic, ecological, and cultural value, so the accurate and timely mapping of orchards is highly demanded for many applications. Selecting a remote-sensing (RS) data source is a critical step in efficient orchard mapping, and it is hard to have a RS image with both rich temporal and spatial information. A trade-off between spatial and temporal resolution must be made. Taking grape-growing regions as an example, we tested imagery at different spatial and temporal resolutions as classification inputs (including from Worldview-2, Landsat-8, and Sentinel-2) and compared and assessed their orchard-mapping performance using the same classifier of random forest. Our results showed that the overall accuracies improved from 0.6 to 0.8 as the spatial resolution of the input images increased from 58.86 m to 0.46 m (simulated from Worldview-2 imagery). The overall accuracy improved from 0.7 to 0.86 when the number of images used for classification was increased from 2 to 20 (Landsat-8) or approximately 60 (Sentinel-2) in one year. The marginal benefit of increasing the level of details (LoD) of temporal features on accuracy is higher than that of spatial features, indicating that the classification ability of temporal information is higher than that of spatial information. The highest accuracy of using a very high-resolution (VHR) image can be exceeded only by using four to five medium-resolution multi-temporal images, or even two to three growing season images with the same classifier. Combining the spatial and temporal features from multi-source data can improve the overall accuracies by 5% to 7% compared to using only temporal features. It can also compensate for the accuracy loss caused by missing data or low-quality images in single-source input. Although selecting multi-source data can obtain the best accuracy, selecting single-source data can improve computational efficiency and at the same time obtain an acceptable accuracy. This study provides practical guidance on selecting data at various spatial and temporal resolutions for the efficient mapping of other types of annual crops or orchards.

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) when facing major global development issues. It includes formal, informal, and nonformal education, with an emphasis on a shift from “teaching” to “learning.” Using a data tracking approach and a questionnaire, this study aims to provide theoretical and practical suggestions for implementing ESD in senior high schools. Taking a Chinese senior high school as an example, the students in the school surveyed are compared with the global public in different language regions with respect to attention priorities for SDGs; students’ performance between the attention priorities and learning situation related to SDGs and subjects integrated into SDGs between learned and nominated are also analyzed. Gender equality and good health and well-being are the SDGs that students and the public both care most about. And the majority of SDGs receive less concern of the students and the public. By comparing the average amount of news about the SDGs in seven languages, the amount of news in English is far greater than other languages. Besides, different linguistic news has similarities and differences in their attention priorities to the SDGs. The students in the school surveyed only show greater learning performance in one SDGs, climate action. Only politics and economics, geography, and biology are the subjects with outstanding learning performance and high nominations by the students. The languages used to promote SDGs represent different populations and geographical distribution. The high school students’ attention to SDGs is affected by different linguistic media with the global public views, but it also has its particularities. Regarding the deficiency in SDGs awareness and learning performance, the implementation of ESD displays a nonideal status. It is also revealed that ESD should be strengthened. Additionally, during the process of ESD implementation, it is crucial to take full advantage of the combination of formal, informal, and nonformal education, advancing media campaigns for all 17 SDGs as well as fully mobilizing all course subjects to integrate SDGs. To achieve the curriculum reorientation of ESD, all subjects are recommended to connect to SDGs through unique characteristics. Considering the priorities of the students and the public, this research appeals to strengthening ESD through formal, informal, and nonformal channels under the influence from the global development and different linguistic regions’ media promotion. The recommendations can be used as an initiative and a reference for ESD implementation.

Education is an essential component of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Through a questionnaire survey among students from a Chinese senior high school, this study measured the self-reported knowledge, sources of information, learning situations, priorities, the impact of personal life and career planning with respect to the SDGs to understand their cognition, learning motivation and social readiness. The results show that students’ knowledge and information sources in relation to the SDGs are limited, and there is no significant difference between boys and girls in relation to their knowledge of the SDGs, the source of information, the learning level of the SDGs, impact of personal life on the SDGs and career planning related to the SDGs. It is also shown that students have a better understanding of the number of the SDGs and the countries to which the SDGs are addressed and students receive information about the SDGs via formal education and traditional media. Regarding the penetration of the SDGs in course subjects, Chinese and native culture, foreign language, biology and geography have included all the SDGs. Through an analysis of responses and popularity rates, gender equality, quality education, reduced inequalities, no poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being are shown to be the students’ priorities with higher attention rates. Gender equality, quality education, clean water and sanitation are the top three goals in relation to which students consider that their personal life can have a greater impact. Students prefer to adopt the SDGs (decent work and economic growth, quality education, industry, innovation and infrastructure, sustainable cities and communities) as their personal career choice in the future. Suggestions for improving the implementation of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) include comprehensive formal and non-formal education, publicity and curriculum integration to promote learning about the SDGs. A model of ESD in the school surveyed is presented for practical application. Based on this research, guidance and suggestions are provided to enhance students’ awareness, knowledge and competencies in relation to sustainability and to encourage student engagement in global sustainable development.