ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses various programs committed to sustainability at the University of Melbourne, namely the Sustainability Unit, the Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute (MSSI), the Climate Energy College/Energy Transition Hub, the Melbourne Energy Institute, and the Office of Environmental Programs. Despite its commitment to sustainability, the University of Melbourne has been in a laggard in divesting from fossil fuels and resisted efforts on the part of the student-organized Fossil Free Melbourne. In late 2021, the University of Melbourne dissolved the MSSI for unstated reasons, perhaps in part since other programs such as Melbourne Climate Futures and the Melbourne Centre for Cities had begun to take on some of MSSI's activities. To a limited degree, the University of Melbourne and other Australian universities are committed to a program of ecological modernization which includes a commitment to increasing reliance on renewable energy sources and energy efficiency. Sustainability discourse becomes a way of appearing to be concerned and committed about environmental sustainability, but is in truth more interested in actually maintaining a business-as-usual approach in terms of the overall institutional program and a logic that is predicated on the myth of perpetual economic growth.
