Corporate Sustainability Benchmarking in Academia …
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territory, SC has a Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.840—lower only than that
of the capital Brasília (0.874), higher than the one of Brazil’s largest cities, São Paulo
(0.833), and higher than the country’s HDI as a whole (0.699). Brazil itself ranks
73rd in the HDI world ranking.
A brief survey among Brazilian universities and of the literature in general shows
a lack of such basic comparative data and, therefore, a further aim of this paper is
to prompt a deeper understanding of sustainability issues, especially in Brazil. This
impression is reinforced when consulting the websites of a selection of universities in
Santa Catarina, which showed evidence of the embryonic growth around the concepts
of green campuses and living laboratories. In this way, collecting and compiling data
from HEIs and comparing this with like institutions that may be recognized as having
a more established approach to sustainable development, a greater awareness will
permeate the sector in Brazil. The following sections contextualize the main aspects
of this study and represent some of the most relevant issues under discussion today.
1.1 Climate Change
Climate change poses the single biggest threat to humanity in 2020 and over the next
ten years, according the Global Risks Report (World Economic Forum 2020). While
society is increasingly concerned with this problem, especially among the younger
generation, there is still little political will to act. However, this crisis is striking
faster and harder than previously expected: the last five years are on track to be the
five warmest on record set and global temperatures are to increase by at least 3 °C at
the end of this century. The potential impacts of climate change include loss of life,
increased migration, stress of ecosystems, food and water crisis, economic impacts
and the exacerbation of geopolitical tensions.
In this context, there is growing pressure to advance sustainability in all environments including HEI campuses. University campuses work as small cities, consuming
water, energy and food and producing waste. Potentially, better management of these
resources can prove less costly to a HEI with less impact on the environment. Implementing environmentally sustainable processes in the same location where environmental research happens makes sense, as universities are highly appropriate places for
researching and developing objectively those new advanced approaches and methods
to reduce environmental impact.
1.2 Green Campuses
Due to growing concerns over climate change, HEI campuses are being used increasingly as an experimental platform for greening experiences (Leal Filho et al. 2015)
and, in this respect, the concept of a Green Campus has emerged. Green campuses
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territory, SC has a Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.840—lower only than that
of the capital Brasília (0.874), higher than the one of Brazil’s largest cities, São Paulo
(0.833), and higher than the country’s HDI as a whole (0.699). Brazil itself ranks
73rd in the HDI world ranking.
A brief survey among Brazilian universities and of the literature in general shows
a lack of such basic comparative data and, therefore, a further aim of this paper is
to prompt a deeper understanding of sustainability issues, especially in Brazil. This
impression is reinforced when consulting the websites of a selection of universities in
Santa Catarina, which showed evidence of the embryonic growth around the concepts
of green campuses and living laboratories. In this way, collecting and compiling data
from HEIs and comparing this with like institutions that may be recognized as having
a more established approach to sustainable development, a greater awareness will
permeate the sector in Brazil. The following sections contextualize the main aspects
of this study and represent some of the most relevant issues under discussion today.
1.1 Climate Change
Climate change poses the single biggest threat to humanity in 2020 and over the next
ten years, according the Global Risks Report (World Economic Forum 2020). While
society is increasingly concerned with this problem, especially among the younger
generation, there is still little political will to act. However, this crisis is striking
faster and harder than previously expected: the last five years are on track to be the
five warmest on record set and global temperatures are to increase by at least 3 °C at
the end of this century. The potential impacts of climate change include loss of life,
increased migration, stress of ecosystems, food and water crisis, economic impacts
and the exacerbation of geopolitical tensions.
In this context, there is growing pressure to advance sustainability in all environments including HEI campuses. University campuses work as small cities, consuming
water, energy and food and producing waste. Potentially, better management of these
resources can prove less costly to a HEI with less impact on the environment. Implementing environmentally sustainable processes in the same location where environmental research happens makes sense, as universities are highly appropriate places for
researching and developing objectively those new advanced approaches and methods
to reduce environmental impact.
1.2 Green Campuses
Due to growing concerns over climate change, HEI campuses are being used increasingly as an experimental platform for greening experiences (Leal Filho et al. 2015)
and, in this respect, the concept of a Green Campus has emerged. Green campuses