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The sugar and alcohol sectors are dynamic as a result of climate alterations, the introduction of sugarcane varieties, and new technologies. Despite these factors, Brazil stands out as the main producer of sugarcane worldwide, being responsible for 45% of the production of fuel ethanol. Several varieties of sugarcane have been developed in the past few years to improve features of the plant. This, however, led to the challenge of which variety producers should choose to plant on their property. In order to support this process, this research aims to test the application of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method to support producers to select which sugarcane variety to plant on their property. To achieve this goal, the research relied on a single case study performed on a rural property located inland of São Paulo state, the main producer state in Brazil. The results demonstrate the feasibility of the approach used, specifically owing to the adaptability capacity of the AHP method.

Knowing how cities are planning, monitoring, and implementing the 2030 Agenda has been considered by the literature as crucial to the advancement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this context, the main purpose of this article was to investigate the performance of the municipality of Birigui (São Paulo State, Brazil) in the implementation of the SDGs. To achieve the objectives proposed in this study, first a literature review was carried out on the subject of the SDGs and the importance of the counties for their effectiveness. Next, a case study was realized to understand “how” and “what” practices had been adopted by the county. The results confirm the importance that counties have, as well as the relevance of partnerships for the effective implementation of the SDGs. In addition, it presents the various practices adopted to leverage the SDGs in the county that may serve as an example for other counties in Brazil, in emerging countries and around the world, or for various types of sectors and organizations. Therefore, this work fills an important research gap in bringing to light a personalized study of how the SDGs have been planned, monitored, and implemented in a local government (city) in Brazil.

Made available in DSpace on 2022-04-29T08:39:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2022-02-01 The development of indexes for human development and environmental sustainability issues are an emerging topic in the current literature. However, the literature has put less emphasis on municipal indexes, which is the focus of this research. In this paper, we considered municipal environmental management as the adoption of environmental activities and the development of infrastructural and technical capacities in municipalities. This article aims to create a sustainable human development index with municipal data from the state of São Paulo in Brazil. Using information from the Municipal Human Development Index (IDHm) and the GreenBlue Municipal Program (PMVA), we applied the data envelopment analysis (DEA) technique to connect human development and environmental sustainability in 645 Brazilian municipalities. Our findings show that regions with higher human development present better DEA scores on the Sustainable Human Development Index. In contrast, regions with a low or a middle level of human development do not present significant change considering both dimensions. Moreover, our findings reveal that PMVA certification has a different and statistically significant impact on the DEA score considering certified, qualified, or not qualified regions. We found similar results for urbanized and service-oriented municipalities. Our indicator is an essential and straightforward tool for regional policymakers, helping to allocate resources and to find human development and environmental sustainability benchmarks among developing regions. Department of Production Engineering School of Engineering of Bauru São Paulo State University (UNESP), Campus Bauru Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering School of Engineering of Bauru São Paulo University (UNESP), Campus Bauru Department of Production Engineering Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul (UFMS), Campus Nova Andradina Innovation Economics Institute of Economics University of Hohenheim Department of Economics Institute of Social and Applied Sciences Federal University of Ouro Preto (UFOP) Department of Production Engineering School of Engineering of Bauru São Paulo State University (UNESP), Campus Bauru Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering School of Engineering of Bauru São Paulo University (UNESP), Campus Bauru

This paper identifies, through a literature review, how 53 circular economy (CE) practices are related to the capability approach (CA) proposed by Sen. The main goal was to identify how a virtuous cycle between CE and CA can be developed. Five instrumental freedoms (IF) were analysed: economic facilities, social opportunities, protective security, political freedoms, and transparency guarantees. These relationships were analysed in three flows: CE practices positively impacting IF, CE practices negatively impacting IF, and the feedback influence of IF on CE practices. The results show that 32 of the 53 practices previously mentioned have not yet been studied from the CA context, which indicates that there are several research opportunities. From the practices considered, 72 articles were analysed in the final sample. The results suggest that several CE practices are aligned with the CA, considering that all five IF were identified as positive outcomes of CE practices. However, in some contexts, certain practices can have negative outcomes, which indicates that CE, at least in some cases, may not be considered as sustainable, as it decreases IF and, therefore, the social aspect of sustainability. The results also highlight that there is a feedback from IF to CE, in such a way that investing in the expansion of IF can facilitate the development of CE practices. Therefore, this study concludes that CE is indeed a way to fully operationalize sustainable development.