Ambiente e Sustentabilidade | Artigos em revistas internacionais / Papers in international journals
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Browsing Ambiente e Sustentabilidade | Artigos em revistas internacionais / Papers in international journals by Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) "09:Indústria, Inovação e Infraestruturas"
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- Assessing heavy metal contamination in Sado EstuaryPublication . Caeiro, Sandra; Costa, Maria Helena; Ramos, Tomás B.; Fernandes, F.; Silveira, N.; Coimbra, Ana Paula; Medeiros, G.; Painho, MarcoThe Sado Estuary in Portugal is a good example of a site where human pressures and ecological values collide with each other. An overall contamination assessment has never been conducted in a way that is comprehensible to estuary managers. One of the aims of this work was to select different types of index to aggregate and assess heavy metal contamination in the Sado Estuary in an accessible manner. Another aim was to use interpolation surfaces per metal to compare and gauge the results of the indices and to assess the contamination separately per metal. Seventy-eight stations were sampled within the main bay of the estuary and a set of heavy metals and metalloids was established, Cd, Cu, Pb, Cr, Hg, Al, Zn and As. The sediment fine fraction content, organic matter and redox potential were also analysed. Various indices for contamination, background enrichment and ecological risk were used, tested, compared and performance-evaluated. All metals and metalloids were strongly correlated, and the indices appear to reflect heavy metal variability satisfactorily. Difficulties were found in some indices regarding boundary definition (minimum and maximum) and comparability with other estuaries, thus better methods of standardization should be a priority issue. According to the index that has the highest performance score within the group of ecological risk indices – the Sediment Quality Guideline Quotient – only 3% of the stations are highly contaminated and register a high potential for observing adverse biological effects, whereas 47% display moderate contamination. This index can be complemented with the contamination index, which allows more site-specific and accurate information on contaminant levels. If the aim of work on contamination evaluation is to assess the overall contamination of a study area, the indices are highly appropriate. For spatial and source evaluation per metal, interpolation surfaces should also be used.
- Circular economy in corporate sustainability reporting: a review of organisational approachesPublication . Opferkuch, Katelin; Caeiro, Sandra; Salomone, Roberta; Ramos, Tomás B.A growing commitment from companies to implement circular economy (CE) strategies demands the development of guidelines for consistent related external communication. The fields of non-financial reporting and sustainability are well established with numerous available international reporting frameworks and approaches; however, there is still an absence of standardised reporting principles and procedures for publishing progress on circularity. In this context, this article aims to explore how companies could include CE within their corporate sustainability reports, through an academic literature review and content analysis of existent reporting approaches. Results showed a clear disconnection between CE and sustainability reporting literature. Overall, only a few of the revised reporting approaches explicitly mention CE, and the guidance given to companies is very general, inconsistent and places the responsibility of selecting performance assessment approaches on the companies. The analysis contributes to identifying opportunities for transparent external communication of CE issues, as well as exploring the challenges and limitations.
- Co-creating a sustainability performance assessment tool for public sector organisationsPublication . Ramos, Tomás B.; Domingues, Ana Rita; Caeiro, Sandra; Cartaxo, Joana; Painho, Marco; Antunes, Paula; Santos, Rui; Videira, Nuno; Walker, Richard M.; Huisingh, DonaldOrganisations are increasingly being pushed to manage, assess and report their sustainability performance, including public sector organisations (PSO). Several approaches were developed to implement sustainability assessments at the organisation level. However, the majority are still for the private sector and are often not supported by active stakeholder involvement. Several PSO have adapted private-oriented models to assess their sustainability performance, which are often not adequate due to public administration, whose main mission is to provide public services. The present work aims at developing a conceptual framework to support PSO and to assess their sustainability performance. The proposed approach is supported by two sustainability performance assessment systems – Formal and Informal Sustainability Performance Assessment. The Formal Sustainability Performance Assessment system, which is the main focus of this paper, consists of a checklist of objectives and practices and a set of twenty-nine (29) performance indicators. An initial proposal was drawn from the literature review and then assessed through a participatory process involving practitioners and academics in semistructured interviews, questionnaire surveys and a collaborative workshop. The Portuguese central public administration was used as a case study. The developed checklist of objectives and practices and related performance indicators will allow PSO to assess and communicate complex information about organisational sustainability. Reference values support the normalization of indicators’ results, and consequently, the comparison of sustainability-related performance between PSO integrated into the context of the Portuguese central public administration. This research contributes to the debate on organisational sustainability assessment and communication, and the importance of selecting and developing sustainability indicators using co-creation processes with key stakeholders.
- A conceptual model for integrating non-material components in sustainability assessmentPublication . Viégas, Osvaldo; Caeiro, Sandra; Ramos, Tomás B.A adoção do conceito de desenvolvimento sustentável (DS) originou inúmeros sistemas de avaliação da sustentabilidade, para os quais diversos autores têm sugerido a incorporação de componentes não materiais. O presente trabalho teve como objetivo principal o desenvolvimento de um modelo conceitual para a futura integração desses componentes em sistemas de avaliação da sustentabilidade. A revisão da literatura possibilitou construir um modelo conceitual para os componentes não materiais da sustentabilidade e identificar temas associados. Essa proposta foi analisada em escala local-regional, através de entrevistas semiestruturadas dirigidas a atores-chave no estado de Alagoas e na cidade de Maceió, Brasil. A proposta foi considerada pelos atores envolvidos como genericamente adequada, e foram apresentadas propostas de melhoria e ajuste, para facilitar compreensão e aplicação prática. A análise da percepção dos entrevistados permitiu identificar o vínculo preferencial do termo sustentabilidade com a dimensão ambiental e a restrita referência ao compromisso intergeracional.
- How are new sustainable development approaches responding to societal challenges?Publication . Ramos, Tomás B.; Caeiro, Sandra; Pires, Sara Moreno; Videira, Nuno
- Meta-performance evaluation of sustainability indicatorsPublication . Caeiro, Sandra; Ramos, Tomás B.There are many different kinds of frameworks for evaluating environmental and sustainability performance at the organizational level (profit or not-for-profit, private or public), sectoral level (e.g. industry, transport, agriculture and tourism), and local, regional or country levels. Despite the diversity of methods and tools to measure sustainable development, indicators are one of the approaches most used. However, these tools do not usually include evaluation of the performance measurement instrument itself. The main objective of this research is to develop a conceptual framework to design and assess the effectiveness of the sustainability indicators themselves. To put the proposed tool into practice, a set of key good-practice factors and meta-performance evaluation indicators is proposed for adoption in a national case study—the national sustainable development indicators system, SIDS Portugal, and the usefulness of this methodology is demonstrated. This approach aims to evaluate how appropriate a set of sustainability indicators is and allow an evaluation of overall performancemonitoring activities and results. Stakeholder involvement is an essential component of the proposed framework. The tool developed could support continuous improvement in the performance of ongoing sustainability indicator initiatives, allowing greater guidance, objectivity and transparency in sustainability assessment processes.
- Monitorização da implementação dos Objetivos do Desenvolvimento Sustentável: o papel do repositório institucional da Universidade AbertaPublication . Carvalho, Madalena; Caeiro, SandraO presente estudo tem como objetivo perspetivar a relevância do repositório institucional para monitorizar o nível de implementação do Desenvolvimento Sustentável numa instituição de ensino superior e dando continuidade a trabalho realizado anteriormente. Apresenta-se um estudo e reflexão com base em revisão de literatura, sobre desafios e oportunidades dos repositórios institucionais enquanto sistemas de informação que permitem gerar indicadores aplicáveis à gestão das organizações. A Universidade Aberta de Portugal (UAb) avalia, de forma sistemática, o desempenho da Sustentabilidade da Instituição, sendo a análise da produção académica e científica dos seus autores um dos indicadores assinalados. Apresenta-se o trabalho desenvolvido de modo sistemático entre 2019 e 2021, relativo à identificação, monitorização e análise do reporte de ODS dos conteúdos do repositório institucional da UAb e reflete-se sobre a relevância desta abordagem para garantir, de forma sustentada, indicadores aplicáveis à monitorização da implementação do Desenvolvimento Sustentável na Instituição. Efetua-se uma análise, global e segmentada, da representatividade dos ODS no Repositório. Através da análise comparativa dos dados relativamente aos anos anteriores pretende-se aferir a existência de padrões entre as diferentes tipologias de conteúdos, a evolução da motivação dos autores para o cumprimento do objetivo e o alinhamento dos conteúdos do Repositório com as definições do Planeamento Estratégico da Instituição.
- Reinvigorating the sustainable development research agenda: the role of the sustainable development goals (SDG)Publication . Leal Filho, Walter; Azeiteiro, Ulisses; Alves, Fátima; Pace, Paul; Mifsud, Mark; Brandli, Luciana; Caeiro, Sandra; Disterheft, AntjeThe United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) contain a set of 17 measures to foster sustainable development across many areas. It offers a good opportunity to reinvigorate sustainable development research for two main reasons. First, it comprises many areas of SD research, which have become mainstream thanks to the UN SDGs. Second, the fact that the UN and its member countries have committed to attaining SDGs by 2030 has added a sense of urgency to the need to perform quality research on SD on the one hand, and reiterates the need to use the results of this research on the other. Even though the basic concept of sustainability goes back many centuries, it has only recently appeared on the international political agenda. This is partly due to an awakening of the fact that the human ecological pressure on the planet is still much larger than what nature can renew or compensate for. Based on this state of affairs, this paper presents an outline of the process leading to the agreement on the UN SDGs, and looks at some of the ecological aspects as a result of continued pressure of human activities on natural resources. Furthermore, a set of research needs is proposed – also based holistically on updated research trends – discussing the degree of urgency of some measures and explaining why the UN SDGs need to be accorded greater priority in international sustainable development research efforts.
- Sustainability and distance learning: a diverse European experience?Publication . Bell, Simon; Douce, Chris; Caeiro, Sandra; Teixeira, António; Martin-Aranda, Rosa M.; Otto, DanielHigher Education (HE) is experiencing disruption from technologies, demographics, the globalising world and longer life expectancy. Historically Higher Education has had a legacy of being seen as the requirement for an educated ‘elite’, there has been a policy ambition set in various countries (including the UK) for it to become the expectation for much wider segments of the population as a whole. As students become ‘everyone’ and learning becomes ‘all the time’ Distance Teaching and Research Institutions have a tremendous opportunity but there are also many disruptions and barriers to overcome. Higher Education institutions have an important role within Education for Sustainable Development and sustainable lifestyles; one of the important goals and targets of the United Nations Sustainable Development goals for 2030. Higher Education can contribute to sustainability in many ways – social, technical and environmental; globally and locally. In particular distance-learning universities due to the flexibility in the learning process, use of technologies, and inter-disciplinary approach to teaching and learning, constitute key factors in education for sustainable development. But what will this contribution look like? In this paper, the responses from senior leaders in four major European distance-learning universities are presented, compared and discussed. The tentative conclusions draw out some strategic imperatives for sustainable higher education in the twenty first century
- Sustainability policies and practices in public sector organisations: the case of the portuguese central public administrationPublication . Figueira, Inês; Domingues, Ana Rita; Caeiro, Sandra; Painho, Marco; Antunes, Paula; Santos, Rui; Videira, Nuno; Walker, Richard M.; Huisingh, Donald; Ramos, Tomás B.The adoption of sustainability policies and practices in organisations is a rising trend, in particular in companies. Public sector organisations are also following this occurrence but with slower signs. Despite a relevant amount of research work on sustainability practices implemented by private organisations and by some public agencies, central public sectors have been left out of the scope of these studies. The main goal of this research is to identify the sustainability profile (including adopted policies and practices) of the public organisations, using the Portuguese Central Public Administration as a case study. A questionnaire survey was developed and submitted to Portuguese public sector organisations that fulfilled the following criteria: (i) to belong to the Portuguese Central Public Administration and (ii) to have the major area of activity at the national level. The statistical population was also defined on the basis of these criteria. Descriptive statistics and frequency analysis were used to explore the results in the organisations surveyed. The overall results demonstrate a low adoption level of integrated sustainability policies and practices, despite the expected positive trends related with the mandatory social and economic practices. This research contributes to new knowledge by characterising the sustainability profile of the Portuguese central public sector and where actions are needed, leading to a better transition to sustainable societies. The developed questionnaire can be used in other geographical, institutional and cultural contexts to define sustainability profile of worldwide public organisations, working also as a benchmarking tool.