Designing a localized green ranking system for universities: a mixed-methods study in the context of Iranian higher education

Purpose Existing global ranking systems inadequately capture universities' environmental performance. This study designs the Iran Green Ranking System (IGRS) a locally adapted framework to assess the environmental management of Iranian universities and research institutions within the context of sustainable development. Design/methodology/approach A sequential explanatory mixed-methods design was adopted, combining semi-structured interviews with 20 experts (qualitative phase), three-round fuzzy Delphi with 30 specialists, and a validated questionnaire distributed among 384 faculty members at three leading Tehran universities, analyzed via structural equation modeling. Findings The proposed framework comprises six principal dimensions green infrastructure and campus, energy and climate, waste management, water management, sustainable transportation, and environmental education and research encompassing 42 locally adapted indicators, thereby providing a foundation for the national ranking of Iranian universities. Practical implications Universities should establish sustainability offices, conduct baseline carbon audits, and mandate green coursework across all disciplines. Ministries should integrate IGRS criteria into budget allocation formulas and create national environmental performance databases, shifting sustainability from voluntary aspiration to institutionally enforced practice. Social implications Embedding green ranking into national policy cultivates environmentally conscious graduates, strengthens university-community-industry partnerships, and accelerates Iran's SDG progress. Linking environmental performance to public funding signals that institutional sustainability is a societal obligation, potentially reshaping public expectations of higher education's role in addressing climate change. Originality/value This paper presents the first indigenously validated green ranking framework for Iranian universities, offering policymakers, university administrators, and regional higher education systems a replicable, climate-sensitive, mixed-methods model incorporating nine context-specific indicators absent from all existing international systems.