Desempenho ambiental do campus Curitiba da UTFPR com base no ranking de sustentabilidade em universidades UI GreenMetric

Abstract

The Brazilian Constitution provides for the promotion of environmental education at all levels of education and awareness of environmental issues. Combining this premise with the relevance of making the University a sustainable environment, where good practices are routinely carried out. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) play a considerable role in promoting the above, since their teachings transcend academic knowledge and become a reference for the community. In those terms, the expression Sustainable University emerged, and some tools were developed to measure the sustainability of HEIs. This work aimed to make a diagnosis of the environmental fulfillment of the Curitiba campus of UTFPR and analyze its performance against the environmental indicators related by the UI GreenMetric raking. This index is internationally known, in which universities are ranked in relation to six thematic axes, through scores. These categories are: Infrastructure and Environment, Energy and Climate Change, Water, Waste, Transport and Mobility and, finally, Study and Research. These seek to identify the dimensions covered in the concept of sustainability within an HEI. Using the Technical Guide and the spreadsheets made available by the ranking itself, the necessary research was started to satisfy the exposed questions. The collection of such data took place through interviews, online searches, access to documents related to management, face-to-face visits, survey and organization of data arranged in isolation. With the information collected, a simulation of the score obtained for each of the 6 categories was carried out and it was concluded that the UTFPR-CT would reach a total of 4,250 points (out of a total of 10,000), which would mean a position equivalent to 34th among the 40 Higher Education Institutions in Brazil registered on the platform. The highest scores were achieved in the Transport and Mobility categories with 1,050 out of 1,800 points, and the Environment and Infrastructure thematic axis scored the lowest, reaching only 25% of the total value dedicated to the topic, especially due to the lack of monitoring of data, which resulted in the impossibility of answering some questions. The results demonstrate that there is much to be done in relation to the studied parameters, however, with a joint effort by the institution and its collaborators, especially in relation to the availability and organization of data, it is possible to move up in the ranking and officially submit the Curitiba campus to this ranking. international sustainability. It should also be noted, as indirect benefits, that due to the search for a prominent position, new management practices focused on sustainability can be institutionalized on all UTFPR campuses, further improving the institution's visibility at national and international level.