Ecological footprint assessment of a higher education institution: a case study of NGM College, Pollachi, India for environmental sustainability and policy development

The increasing emphasis on environmental sustainability and responsible resource consumption in higher educational institutions has driven the development and application of ecological footprint (EF) assessment as a tool for evaluating campus environmental performance. This study employs a utilization-based EF approach to quantitatively assess the environmental impacts associated with campus operations. The NGM College campus, located in Pollachi, Tamil Nadu, India, was selected as the case study. Primary data were collected from students, faculty members and administrative staffs using structured questionnaires. Secondary data were obtained from institutional records on resource consumption, including transportation, energy use, water consumption, food consumption, waste management, hostel operations, built-up land and campus vegetation. EF values were calculated using standardized conversion factors and expressed in global hectares (gha). The results showed that the EFs associated with transportation, energy, food consumption and waste production were 0.0448, 0.059, 0.166 and 0.112 gha person −1 year −1 , respectively. Among which, food consumption representing the largest lifestyle-related contributor. The total institutional EF was estimated at 97.615 gha year −1 , corresponding to a per-capita institutional EF of 0.0232 gha person −1 year −1 . Among the institutional components, electricity consumption was identified as the largest contributor. The existing campus vegetation, comprising 575 mature trees, was estimated to sequester approximately 11.5 tons CO 2 year −1 using a screening-level approach, thereby partially offsetting campus carbon emissions. The findings demonstrate that the EFs assessment is an effective decision-support tool for identifying environmental hotspots and prioritizing sustainability interventions. The proposed assessment framework provides a practical and reproducible approach for supporting evidence-based sustainability planning. In the future, this framework could be widely implemented across higher educational institution campuses to promote environmental sustainability.