Fiji National University - Fiji

What is the name of your institution?

Fiji National University (FNU)

Why did you sign up for the Race to Zero for Universities and Colleges?

The purpose is to achieve zero carbon and as educational institutions to become leaders to pave the way toward a sustainable nation and achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) synergically.
To fight climate change prevent future threats and contribute to sustainable growth.
To increase stakeholder engagement including the staff, students, and the wider community to become responsible in their actions.

What have you achieved since you joined the Race to Zero for Universities and Colleges?

Product – advocating for sustainability through PRs, and consultations with Colleges.
Promoting short courses to enrol students in sustainability certificate programmes.
Place/People- The University Sustainability Initiatives Committee (SIC) has been advocating sustainability across all Campuses and Centers of FNU located in the Western, Central, and Northern Divisions through its people, the Student Environmental Ambassadors and Sustainability Champions while ensuring that the wider community is part of the initiatives to create a global impact.
Price - Financial sustainability by maximizing utilisation of dormant and underutilised properties and capturing this in the Master Plan 2021-2026.
Implementations of 3Rs initiatives for a greener environment
Green projects – Solar PV installation for clean energy and reducing operational cost - Total Yield to date since June 2020 – 812.07 MWh
Equivalent to a reduction in emissions by 243,621 KG CO2 or 243.6 tonnes of CO2.
Incorporated Rainwater Harvesting Projects in buildings to reduce cost. The Sports complex building at the FNU Nasinu Campus has a rainwater harvesting system installed and to date 967 cubic meters of rainwater used for the washroom facility this year which is a saving for the university.
Participation in Times Higher Education Impact Ranking - FNU was one of the 1,525 institutions across 110 countries worldwide to participate in the impact rankings for 2022, achieving a rank of 801
The Fiji National University (FNU) and Monash University launched a partnership formalising the establishment of the Monash-FNU Pacific Island Countries (PICs) Climate Change Research Centre (CCRC). It will be jointly based at the two institutions

How are you leading the transition to net-zero? Consider the Leadership Practices and how you are engaging others to join the Race to Zero for Universities and Colleges or other Race to Zero campaigns.

The University launched the Sustainability Plan 2021-2026 and signed up for Race to Zero in June 2021.
The University declared Climate Emergency and committed to achieving net zero by 2050.
Sharing regular dialogues and tracking progress of sustainability through quarterly reports.
Creating partnerships and having MoUs with organisations to achieve the goals synergically.
Outreach activities
Participation in green events and ensuring that Colleges and Centres market sustainability programmes to broaden.
Staff participation through Asian Productivity Organisation (APO)
Ensuring that the Sustainability Initiatives Committee which is a sub-committee of the Senior Leadership Team, is continuously driving the sustainable practices to leverage university performance.

What challenges have you had?

Due to the resource constraints (Human and Financial) and the ongoing COVID-19 impacts, the implementation of the sustainability initiatives has been affected and delayed.

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