Relating sustainability theory to practice at Auckland airport: An engaged scholarship endeavour involving students

This paper results from an engaged scholarship endeavour involving an academic, a practitioner, and students. It describes salient interactions which sought to inform Auckland Airport's sustainability planning efforts, and which also provided research and learning opportunities. The company wanted to develop a comprehensive approach to sustainability following best practice. However, the practical reality was that staff were working under the mandate that the formal introduction of sustainability into the business needed to add value. Novel ideas were somewhat difficult to generate when the company was already deemed to be doing well; external stakeholders were not so willing to engage; sustainability performance reporting did not always find a ready audience; and external awareness of the company's sustainability initiatives was relatively low. These challenges to the business case offered excellent opportunities for student engagement. They also provided a test as to how theoretical ideals embracing broader systems thinking relate to on‐the‐ground practice.