Proposta de indicadores de sustentabilidade para avaliar a gestão e o desempenho ambiental da UFRN

Abstract

The university performs a fundamental role in society, its involvement in sustainable development will be decisive in changing current practices, as well as the training of professionals able of thinking and acting in a sustainable way in various spheres of society. In recent years, with the strengthening of the environmental movement in these institutions, with a view to stimulating the insertion of elements and strategies of sustainability in all dimensions of a university system, the sustainability assessment and the adoption of tools to publicize their efforts have been an increasingly frequent field of research, showing that it is possible to improve environmental performance and organizational performance. In this way, the university is challenged to show itself as an example when adopting environmental management initiatives, which contribute to the development of sustainability. However, in the face of the brazilian reality, it is perceived that researches on this subject are still incipient. An example of this can be seen in relation to the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, which, despite its more than 60 years in the service of the norte-rio-grandense society, does not have a sustainability assessment system or a report that exposes their sustainable attitudes. In view of the above, this research aims to propose sustainability indicators, adequate to the reality of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte that can compose a system of evaluation of the management and environmental performance of the institution. This study was characterized as exploratory-descriptive, with qualitative approach being a case study that uses bibliographical research, documentary and interviews to obtain the data. Through the analysis of 9 sustainability reports in universities, 200 indicators were defined, categorized into 11 areas of sustainability management (planning and administration, materials, waste, energy, water and effluents, emissions, biodiversity, construction, transport, food and shopping), which were evaluated by managers / specialists / researchers in each area, through an interview, in order to verify which indicators were used by the institution, which would be feasible and which would not fit their reality. As a result, the research proposes a set of 171 sustainability management indicators for the university in question, so that it can serve as a basis for the sustainability assessment of the institution and its results can be disclosed in a report for this purpose. It is concluded, therefore, that there are challenges to be overcome and that despite this relevant set of sustainability indicators, there is a prospect of new fields of research involving the world order theme, and especially in Brazil, where there is a lack of evaluation studies of sustainability in universities.