Educational institutions significantly contribute to shaping student attitudes and behaviour. Recently in India, many educational institutions have adopted various eco-friendly initiatives. This paper explores the interplay between self-concept and eco-friendly campus initiatives, emphasizing the role of stakeholder awareness of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the resulting behavioural shifts toward sustainability. Despite the adoption of sustainable practices as part of academic curricula in higher education institutions, policies and practical implementation is sparse. Studies have documented sustainable practices in different types of organizations, falling short of focusing on its impact on stakeholders. A quantitative survey was used to collect responses electronically using a reliable and validated questionnaire. Convenience sampling technique was adopted for this study. The findings indicated a high level of stakeholder awareness about SDGs as well as a positive behavioural change with regard to sustainability due to the policies and initiatives implemented at the university. This study advances the application of Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Mezirow’s Transformative Learning Theory (TLT) and provides a robust framework for understanding the impact of eco-friendly campus initiatives on enhancing the self-concept, awareness, perception, attitude, motivation and behaviour of the stakeholders’ in advancing SDGs. This study provides novel contribution to sustainability research in HEIs, particularly in the Indian context corroborating the National Education Policy 2020 for integrating sustainability in academic and operational practices.