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The purpose of this paper is to raise awareness on different aspects that interconnect energy efficiency projects and human behavioral aspects. Perception of energy, as the physical phenomenon, inevitably should be taken into consideration within elaboration of governmental strategies and performing of energy efficiency projects.

Quantitative and qualitative data as well as legislation analysis were performed to link consumer behavioral and the duality of perception of energy aspects while performing insulation projects in Latvia. The results confirm prior findings that link together the energy consumption trends and consumer behavioral and rebound effects. The problems are stated clear: society in general is not ready to invest into energy efficiency maintenance, information on energy efficiency projects is weakly disseminated, and lack of proper information on positive aspects about energy saving projects has negative feedback on public opinion and sustainable education in the topic suffers in this case.

As the response for solving these issues recommendations are proposed new strategies should be elaborated to perform effective and innovative marketing for promoting positively oriented trends on energy saving issues and behavioral changes in society; and awareness on energy efficiency projects should be raised to show positive examples from successful ones for the good of sustainable education.

Such type of study about consumer behavior have not been performed in country that is on transition stage for developing the energy-efficient societal thinking.

The chapter highlights the necessity to develop interventions for the mitigation of climate change (CC) and to provide CC education as one of the cornerstones of climate action. Although a mandatory environmental protection course has been included in all study programmes of higher education institutions in Latvia, they have considerable autonomy in implementing CC education content across the curriculum. It is important that training programmes on CC are designed considering the target groups’ background knowledge and labour market needs due to the highly interdisciplinary content, rapidly changing concepts and emerging new terminology.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the development and character of climate policy in Latvia with a special emphasis on policy instruments.

In order to implement policies and measures effectively and monitor progress in achieving its mitigation targets, Latvia uses a wide mix of policy instruments, including regulations (e.g. environmental impact assessment procedures, environmental permits and standards, restrictions and prohibitions), economic and fiscal instruments (the natural resources tax, the excise tax for energy resources, user's charges), and voluntary agreements, also raising public awareness.

The combination of the policy instruments with the economic and fiscal instruments support consideration of the needs to support industrial developments and consider national growth interests, but at the same time keeping in line with the leadership in the climate change mitigation and adaptation leadership.

The approaches used in Latvia for climate policy development supports prioritising of climate change issues and put the development of adaptation measures as key issues, at the same time stressing efforts in mitigation.

The character of development of climate policy combining different policy instruments in line with limited availability of resources is analysed.

The aim of this paper is to assess how the indicator sets presently used to monitor sustainable development in the European Union (EU) and Latvia reflect resource consumption and the production and use of anthropogenic substances.

The study was conducted by analyzing different sources as well as statistical information on development character in Latvia and human impact at first in respect to use of chemicals.

Many of the analyzed sustainable development indicators related to resource consumption interpret a reduction in consumption as a negative phenomena and thus contradictory to sustainability. The only relevant EU and Latvian indicator related to the use of anthropogenic substances is production of toxic chemicals. The EC Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation is being implemented in the EU in an attempt to ensure the safety of chemicals through the whole chemical supply chain.

A sustainable development indicator should consider the decrease in resource consumption as a positive trend. As an important aspect at the assessment of sustainability is monitoring of use of chemical substances. In Latvia, the information on production, import, distribution and use of chemical substances is dispersed between several institutions and thus an overall picture is lacking. As the REACH regulation requires registration of chemical substances exceeding certain quantities, there is a necessity to elaborate an approach to identify such substances. Enterprises that already provide data on chemicals to responsible authorities are important for a targeted enforcement of REACH requirements in Latvia. The existing approach of chemical substance management represents an attempt to manage point sources of anthropogenic substances with little attention being devoted to the more numerous small diffuse sources, which could be the hidden part of the iceberg. The limited access to compiled data on chemical substances within REACH makes it difficult to use it as a warning sign in political or public discussions regarding one of the central aspects of sustainability.

One of the main risks to global sustainability is the exceedance of the Earth's carrying and assimilative capacity through excessive resource consumption and anthropogenic loading. In the analyzed EU and Latvia, sustainable development indicator sets the reduction in consumption is frequently interpreted as a negative trend thus making the overall assessment regarding resource consumption inconclusive. As long as gross domestic product as a major indicator for macro‐economic activity does not reflect environmental sustainability and well‐being and society does not adequately value natural and human resources and until more comprehensive indicators are developed which better take into account social and environmental aspects, striving for economic growth will be the main cause of resource overconsumption.

Arguments for the design of sustainable university buildings have emerged in South Africa. Energy being a major determinant of the sustainability of buildings, the purpose of this study was to examine the influence of various building and indoor environmental parameters on the energy performance of university buildings in South Africa.

A quantitative survey research method, administered within the context of university buildings in South Africa, was used. Data about 16 buildings from three universities were collected. Relevant, inferential statistical analyses were conducted to examine the relative influence of the building parameters on the energy consumed in the buildings. Also, regression models within building parameters were developed independently and in a combination that could be used to estimate energy consumption in the university buildings.

Findings suggested that building and indoor environmental parameters of humidity, indoor temperature, volume, illumination, and window width ratio (WWR), in that order, influenced energy consumption significantly, and also, had direct empirical relationships.

Optimising the building and indoor environmental parameters in design will enhance energy-efficiency in university buildings in South Africa.

This study contributes to the literature in terms of understanding the order of influence of building parameters on energy consumption in university buildings in the temperate climatic zone of South Africa. It also established empirical models between building and indoor environmental parameters and energy consumption, both independently and in combination, that could assist in designing energy-efficient and sustainable university buildings.

This study aims to describe the different elements included in campus sustainability plans (CSPs) in colleges and universities across the USA.

It examines the contents and specific areas of emphasis of 155 CSPs using a document analysis approach. It determines the types and characteristics of the institutions that have adopted these plans.

The first CSP was written in 2000 and at least 155 plans have been written as of 2021. Only a small percentage of US institutions of higher education have a written CSP, and among those, large public institutions had the most. The quality of these plans varied greatly, indicating a lack of standardization. Engagement was the most discussed topic, and some aspect of campus operations was mentioned in every plan. Social equity was the least prevalent topic.

This research focusing on US colleges and universities may have overlooked plans that have other titles. Nevertheless, it is a fairly comprehensive analysis of campus sustainability planning efforts to date in the USA.

This study has important practical implications for institutions that aspire to craft their first sustainability plan or those that wish to revise their existing plan in a comprehensive manner.

This study builds on a conceptual foundation of plan review by several other authors but presents a more robust and comprehensive method of application specific to CSPs. It fills a wide gap in the literature on the quality and content of CSPs by examining over five times more plans than were analyzed in an older study and addresses some of the research questions from previous articles.