Environmental governance assessment tool: a study in federal higher education institutions in Ceará
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36517/contextus.2026.96605Keywords:
governança ambiental; relato integrado; accountability; instituições federais de ensino superior; sustentabilidade institucional.Abstract
Background: Environmental governance has established itself as a relevant issue in Brazilian Federal Higher Education Institutions (IFES), especially in light of the transparency and accountability requirements associated with the Integrated Reporting model adopted by the Brazilian Federal Public Administration (APF). Although there are tools designed to assess sustainability in higher education, initiatives aimed at systematically analyzing the environmental governance reflected in the Management Reports of IFES remain limited.
Purpose: To propose an assessment tool for evaluating the environmental governance reflected in the Management Reports of IFES in Ceará for the period from 2020 to 2024.
Method: This is an applied, qualitative, and exploratory study conducted through a documentary analysis of the Management Reports of higher education institutions in Ceará and a literature review on environmental governance, institutional sustainability, Integrated Reporting, and assessment methods.
Results: The results revealed a predominance of descriptive and fragmented reports, with limited use of targets, indicators, and monitoring mechanisms. The most frequently reported categories were energy efficiency and waste management, while topics related to greenhouse gas emissions mitigation, biodiversity, and sustainable land use received less attention. The tool allowed for a comparison of the institutions’ performance and the identification of different levels of development in the reported practices.
Conclusions: This study contributes to strengthening transparency, accountability, and institutional sustainability at Federal Institutions of Higher Education (IFES) by providing a tool capable of systematizing the analysis of environmental information reported in Management Reports and supporting benchmarking and decision-making processes.
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