The green transition as a system: a simulation-based interactive learning environment for whole-institution sustainability in higher education

Purpose This study examines how a simulation-based interactive learning environment (ILE) can support shared understanding and systemic decision-making among institutional actors in higher education institutions (HEIs) during their green transition, and presents its design and application. Design/methodology/approach The research adopts a systems thinking and system dynamics approach combined with participatory modeling. Facilitated group sessions with HEI stakeholders were used to co-develop a whole-institution modeling framework, which was then embedded into an ILE to enable scenario exploration, policy experimentation and organizational learning. Findings The study theorizes and illustrates how the ILE can function as a boundary object that supports shared understanding among institutional actors, makes policy resistance and unintended consequences visible and fosters double-loop learning in sustainability-related decision processes. Originality/value The paper proposes a reusable, learning-oriented modeling framework through an ILE designed to support systemic understanding of decision-making for sustainability transitions in HEIs, addressing a gap between sustainability governance ambitions and the limited availability of tools for holistic understanding and experimentation at the institutional level. Theoretically, it contributes to organizational behavior and learning research by conceptualizing the ILE as a boundary object that supports sensemaking and double-loop learning in decision-making under bounded rationality.