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Purpose: The study of sustainability within universities is recognized as essential for debates and research; in the long term, the "sustainable university" concepts can contribute to sustainability from a larger perspective. This study aims to propose a conceptual model for evaluating the students' sustainability considering their interactions with the university and the environment. The proposed model is titled Sunshine model. It is applied to students of the La Salle University, Peru. Design/methodology/approach: The model combines academic performance, happiness and the ecological footprint to quantify university students' sustainability. A structured questionnaire survey was elaborated and applied to get the raw data that feeds the three methods. The students' average grades evaluate academic performance. Happiness is quantified by the happiness index method, and the ecological footprint is measured by the demand for food, paper, electricity, transport and built-up areas. Results are evaluated under both approaches, overall group performance and clusters. Findings: The proposed model avoids misleading interpretations of a single indicator or discussions on sustainability that lack a conceptual model, bringing robustness in assessing students' sustainability in universities. To have a low ecological footprint, the student needs to need up to 1 planet for their lifestyle, be considered happy with at least 0.8 (of 1) for happiness index, and have good academic performance with at least a grade of 7 (of 10) in their course. Regarding the case study, La Salle students show a high academic grade degree of 7, a high level for happiness index of 0.8 and low performance for ecological footprint by demanding 1.8 Earth planets, resulting in an "environmentally distracted" overall classification for students with 2019 data. From a cluster approach, 81% of evaluated students (n = 603) have low performance for ecological footprint, whereas 31% have low performance for indicators of recreational activities of happiness. Changing lifestyles and making more recreational activities available play crucial roles in achieving higher sustainability for the La Salle students. Research limitations/implications: The happiness assessment questionnaire can be subject to criticism, as it was created as a specific method for this type of audience based on existing questionnaires in the literature. Although it can be seen as an important approach for diagnoses, the proposed model does not consider the cause-effect aspect. The decision-maker must consider the sociocultural aspects before implementing plan actions. Practical implications: University managers can better understand why university students have high or low sustainability performance and provide more effective actions toward higher levels of students' sustainability. Originality/value: The proposed model, Sunshine model, overcomes the single-criteria existing tools that access the sustainability of universities. Rather than focusing on university infrastructure, the proposed model focuses on the students and their relationship with the university.

To face the growing challenges of urbanization, urban management models grounded in the principles of sustainability and smart cities are being proposed. Despite their acknowledged importance, these models are often misunderstood or improperly applied due to a lack of thorough conceptualization, and they are frequently viewed as interchangeable. The aim of this study is to verify whether a correlation exists between indicators of sustainability and smartness in cities. For a sample of 130 Brazilian cities, their Sustainability Synthetic Indicator of System (SSIS) was computed using the Five-Sector Sustainability Model (5SenSu) and data sourced from the 'Mandala ODS' framework. Data concerning smart city were directly sourced from the 'Connected Smart Cities' framework. Results show that the 5SenSu model emerges as an alternative multicriteria method, epistemologically grounded in a conceptual model capable of quantifying the sustainability of cities. This approach enables quantitative diagnostics, rankings, and benchmarks, providing information to support decision-making processes. Moreover, the correlation analyses employed reveal a moderate linear correlation (Pearson coefficient of -0.61) and a moderate rank-order correlation (Spearman coefficient of -0.59) between sustainability and smartness. Hence, it would be premature to assume that a city deemed smart would automatically be sustainable, or vice versa. Acknowledging the existing limitations, this study contributes to discussions on the conceptual understanding and quantification through indicators of sustainable and smart cities, providing information for shaping effective public policies aimed at fostering more sustainable urban environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The study of sustainability within universities is recognized as essential for debates and research; in the long term, the "sustainable university" concepts can contribute to sustainability from a larger perspective. This study aims to propose a conceptual model for evaluating the students' sustainability considering their interactions with the university and the environment. The proposed model is titled Sunshine model. It is applied to students of the La Salle University, Peru. Design/methodology/approach: The model combines academic performance, happiness and the ecological footprint to quantify university students' sustainability. A structured questionnaire survey was elaborated and applied to get the raw data that feeds the three methods. The students' average grades evaluate academic performance. Happiness is quantified by the happiness index method, and the ecological footprint is measured by the demand for food, paper, electricity, transport and built-up areas. Results are evaluated under both approaches, overall group performance and clusters. Findings: The proposed model avoids misleading interpretations of a single indicator or discussions on sustainability that lack a conceptual model, bringing robustness in assessing students' sustainability in universities. To have a low ecological footprint, the student needs to need up to 1 planet for their lifestyle, be considered happy with at least 0.8 (of 1) for happiness index, and have good academic performance with at least a grade of 7 (of 10) in their course. Regarding the case study, La Salle students show a high academic grade degree of 7, a high level for happiness index of 0.8 and low performance for ecological footprint by demanding 1.8 Earth planets, resulting in an "environmentally distracted" overall classification for students with 2019 data. From a cluster approach, 81% of evaluated students (n = 603) have low performance for ecological footprint, whereas 31% have low performance for indicators of recreational activities of happiness. Changing lifestyles and making more recreational activities available play crucial roles in achieving higher sustainability for the La Salle students. Research limitations/implications: The happiness assessment questionnaire can be subject to criticism, as it was created as a specific method for this type of audience based on existing questionnaires in the literature. Although it can be seen as an important approach for diagnoses, the proposed model does not consider the cause–effect aspect. The decision-maker must consider the sociocultural aspects before implementing plan actions. Practical implications: University managers can better understand why university students have high or low sustainability performance and provide more effective actions toward higher levels of students' sustainability. Originality/value: The proposed model, Sunshine model, overcomes the single-criteria existing tools that access the sustainability of universities. Rather than focusing on university infrastructure, the proposed model focuses on the students and their relationship with the university. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water and wastewater treatment plants are essential for the supply of drinking water for consumption and the treatment of effluents produced by human/industrial activities. However, few studies deal with the investments and sustainability of these services, which consider both the contribution of nature and society. This study uses the emergy approach to evaluate a wastewater treatment plant located in the northeastern part of Romania, in Iași city. An assessment of the environmental costs of natural fluxes required for the treatment processes was performed, considering that the treated effluent is, still, loaded with contaminants that have to be absorbed by the receiving water natural system. The work done by nature to assimilate this load, generally considered free, is esteemed as a further cost in the total emergy budget of the wastewater treatment processes. The sustainability perspective was approached by calculating and analyzing the emergy yield ratio (EYR), environmental load rate (ELR), and emergy sustainability development index (ESI). The use of local renewable natural resources in Iași municipal wastewater treatment plants is negligible (1.71% of the total plant emergy budget), as compared to that of the purchased resources (98.29% of the total plant emergy budget) mainly processed with the support of fossil fuels' generated energy. The unit emegy value was, also, calculated and compared to other studies relevant for wastewater treatment plants. The analysis suggests that the large amount of emergy that wastewater contains is proportional to the number of resources employed for wastewater treatment and the extensive effects on surrounding ecosystems, where wastewater is discharged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Students play an unequivocal role in sustainable universities as they are theorized to embody the mission of a sustainable university through a sustainable lifestyle and spread sustainability practices during their professional careers. Despite this, it is not well known how or why students come to embody a sustainable lifestyle. This study aims to better understand the relationship between happiness, academic achievement and sustainability behaviors among the student population in a Mexican higher education institution. Design/methodology/approach: In a questionnaire study, engineering and psychology university students at a large public university in northwestern Mexico answered questions regarding their environmental sustainability behaviors, happiness and academic performance. A stratified random sampling technique was used to obtain the sample population that best represents the entire population. After chi-square tests, it was confirmed that the three variables were independent of one another. Therefore, a series of correspondence analyses were conducted to examine clusters or patterns that could indicate relationships among the three variables. Findings: The main finding from this work was that the happiest and most academically astute participants were only slightly environmentally sustainable or not sustainable at all. The lack of environmental sustainability in students from one of the most top-rank sustainable universities in Mexico does not align with previous sustainability reports. External factors to the university, such as cultural values and extreme weather conditions, may have influenced students' sustainability behaviors. Research limitations/implications: As with any other questionnaire study, the provided data is subject to interpretation, judgment and bias. In addition, the environmental and happiness index used in this study are not free of criticizing, and some author had disputed its efficacy. Finally, this study's findings did not determine any causality or directionality between any of the latent variables. However, causality and directionally between environmental sustainability-happiness and happiness-academic performance have to be found in both directions. Practical implications: Despite the unsustainability of students in this study, this study has several contributions. First, it provides an evaluation of a sustainable university from the perspectives and behaviors of students. The views of students as they relate to the complexities and visions of a sustainable university have remained relatively underexamined. Second, these analyses point to specific sustainability-oriented challenges and inadvertent barriers (e.g. extreme weather patterns) toward the embodiment of a sustainable lifestyle. These challenges and barriers suggest that sustainable universities need to address the dynamic changes inherent in sustainable development. Finally, this study indicates that the link between happiness, academic performance and sustainability may be more complicated and driven by cultural and structural barriers. The issue of barriers, as they relate to sustainability behaviors, is highly relevant and presents important opportunities and questions for future research. Originality/value: This study provides an evaluation of a sustainable university from the perspectives and behaviors of students. Students' views as they relate to the complexities and visions of a sustainable university have remained relatively underexamined. Second, these analyses point to specific sustainability-oriented challenges and barriers as they relate to the embodiment of a sustainable lifestyle. These challenges and barriers suggest that sustainable universities need to address the dynamic changes inherent in sustainable development. Finally, this study indicates that the link between happiness, academic performance and sustainability may be more complicated and driven by cultural and structural barriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability assessment is a fundamental step to support decisions towards sustainable development, and several procedures to assess the sustainability of antrophic production systems have been suggested. However, most of them lack a scientific-based construct supporting their conceptual model of sustainability, which usually results in a choice of indicator(s) without criterion that can best represent a fraction of the larger and deeper concept of sustainability. This work proposes a novel framework, named Sustainability Assessment Procedure for Operations and Production Processes (SUAPRO), supported by the PDCA four-step management method (plan, do, check, and act) and the five sectors sustainability (5SEnSU) model. Grounded on scientific bases, SUAPRO provides the steps for a sustainability assessment, including its contextualization (objectives, functional unit, boundaries, energy diagram), the choice of indicators based on the 5SEnSU model, the quantification step including goal programming as a multicriteria tool, and conclude the first cycle with a sensitivity analysis. To illustrate an application of SUAPRO, the road and railroad transportation options for soybean in Brazil are considered as a case study. Results show that the railroad mode has better performance as for the Sustainability Synthetic Indicator (SSIS of 3.6 ± 0.4) than the road mode (SSIS of 4.0 ± 0.3). Towards a SSIS improvement, the sensitivity analysis highlights that public policies or even private actions should be mainly focused on reducing the e m ergy invested in the railroad system, while the road transportation option claims effort in reducing its global warming and acidification potentials. SUAPRO is the main contribution in this work, as it tries to overcome shortcomings as usually found in scientific papers aiming to assess the sustainability of antrophic systems. The subjectivity inherent in any multicriteria method is present as the main limitation, thus all criteria used in choosing weights must be clearly presented. Unlabelled Image • A new framework for assessing sustainability is presented and discussed. • SUAPRO is suggested to overcome existing inconsistencies in sustainability assessments. • The 5SEnSU model, goal programming, uncertainty and sensitivity analysis support SUAPRO. • Road and railroad soybean transportation options in Brazil are used as case study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • A method for quantifying the limits to growth of cities is proposed. • Emergy accounting is introduced to assess the limits to growth. • Results claim for more studies considering larger time-period under analysis. • The proposed approach offers a new perspective to assess the limits of urban growth. Abstract Cities are important urban productive systems whose main goal could be considered the supply of innovation to generate economic growth. However, as well as all social organization managed by scale economies, cities eventually tend to reduce or even stop growth. In this scenario, public policies are essential to avoid the potential collapse of society. The sustainability of cities has been studied through different methodological approaches, but few scientific works assessed the limits of their growth. This paper explores the potentialities of emergy accounting in contributing to the discussions about the limits of growth for urban productive systems. The cities of Araraquara, Bragança Paulista, Campinas, São Paulo and Taubaté were considered as case study due to their socio-economic importance in São Paulo State, Brazil. The time period ranges from 1999 to 2011. Results from the dynamics of "empower" (in seJ/yr) indicate that all assessed cities have the same development pattern, and differences are related to their current development degree. All assessed cities showed an efficiency increase estimated by the conversion of input materials and energy (measured in seJ) into outputs of goods and services (measured in $). However, a stabilization of efficiency was not observed along the studied period. This result suggests that the hypothesized limits to growth do not exist, were not reached, or even the time period considered was not long enough to allow for observing a stabilization pattern. The methodological approach used in this work contributes to assess urban productive systems through a macro-perspective approach using an input-output model of systems functioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MATOPIBA is a Brazilian region with 73.2 million ha that has been facing a change in its land use due to agribusiness expansion over the last thirty years. The sustainability-related issues of this land use change raise doubts since it may result in advantages and/or disadvantages for social, economic and environmental aspects. This work assess the sustainability of MATOPIBA by means of a sustainability assessment procedure for operations and production processes (SUAPRO), covering the period 1990–2018 by including both the phases before and after agribusiness expansion. Expressed by the sector sustainability indicator (SSI) from SUAPRO, results show that MATOPIBA's sustainability macroeconomic and social (as the provider function) sectors are increasing along years, while environmental and social (as the receiver function) sectors are worsening. Focusing on MATOPIBA's overall sustainability, the sustainability synthetic indicator of system (SSIS) showed the worst performance for 2000 (4.71) and the best one for 2010 (3.63), while 1990 and 2018 obtained intermediary SSIS values of 4.17 and 4.51. The obtained pulsing behavior for SSIS does not support a conclusion about whether MATOPIBA's overall sustainability is increasing or even decreasing over time, claiming for future efforts to include additional data after 2018 year. Notwithstanding, there is a potential to achieve the maximized SSIS of 1.65 whether the identified actions for improvement were implemented. Besides providing subsidies for decision makers towards a more sustainable MATOPIBA, this work innovates by using nightlights satellite images as a proxy in obtaining data for modelling the SUAPRO. [Display omitted] • Thirty years of agribusiness expansion is affecting the sustainability of MATOPIBA. • The SUAPRO method is applied to assess gains and losses from agribusiness expansion. • MATOPIBA's sustainability has a pulsing behavior over 1990–2018, with best performance for 2010. • The sensitivity analysis provides subsidies for public policies towards higher MATOPIBA's sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The debate about the negative impacts that production and consumption cause on the environment is in vogue. Strategies that point to a sustainable, healthy, and resilient path are being sought. One of these paths is the Circular Economy, which emerges as an alternative to reduce the socio-environmental impacts caused by the linear model of production-use-disposal, presenting opportunities to generate revenue, income, and wealth with circular processes. However, despite the circular economy being considered an essential strategy to improve overall performance toward sustainability in its three dimensions, recent research has shown that the predominant focus of circular approaches is on the economic and environmental dimensions. At the same time, the social aspects still need to be explored. This article addresses this problem, aiming to explore circular economy environmental, economic, and social elements in three economic blocs from 2000 to 2020 using the Five Sector Sustainability Model, establishing a baseline to co-create an equitable and regenerative future. The results showed that ASEAN in 2000 occupied the first position in the general ranking. The European Union had the best classification in the economic sector, and Mercosur was the best regarding social benefits. In 2020, while the European bloc was better positioned in the general ranking, the South American bloc occupied the last post in almost all sectors. Comparatively, the highest-ranked bloc in 2020 in overall sustainability is more in line with the UN SDG due to circular actions oriented towards the three fundamental pillars of sustainability. • CE advocates reducing dependence on finite resources. • The 5SEnSU model is used to monitor sustainability performance. • The sustainability of ASEAN, EU and Mercosur was analyzed. • Economic development influenced the environmental issues of the studied blocks. • EU is the highest-ranked bloc for overall sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is known that the current linear socioeconomic system, characterized by "production-use-destination," is unsustainable and the leading cause of the depletion of natural resources. In the search for sustainable development, several actions to preserve resources in use for as long as possible have been proposed in recent decades, such as cleaner production, ecoefficiency, industrial ecology, industrial ecosystems, industrial symbiosis, and the circular economy. Although circularity and sustainability are increasingly present on the agenda of academics, entrepreneurs, and government sectors, the relationship between the two concepts is still under construction. In this sense, this work aims to verify, using the Five Sectors Model of Sustainability, the relationship between circularity and sustainable development in ASEAN, Mercosur, and the EU, considering economic, social, and environmental indicators in the periods between 2000 and 2020. The selected indicators with their respective goals were applied and weighted through Goal Programming. From the primary and secondary data analysis, it was not possible to conclude that circularity alone guarantees sustainability, despite contributing significantly to sustainable development. However, the results obtained in the 5SEnSU model made it possible to verify that the EU has a superior performance for sustainable development of the other two blocks and that the impacts generated in the economic system (sector 3) of the analyzed blocks benefited social sectors (4 and 5) to the detriment of environmental integrity (sectors 1 and 2). Some challenges still need to be mitigated, such as those related to excessive consumption and waste discharge, so that a circular economy can effectively contribute to global sustainability. • The sustainability of three economic blocs – ASEAN, Mercosur and EU – is evaluated. • Circularity indicators are combined with socioeconomic indicators to evaluate sustainability. • Circularity indicators are organized using the Five Sectors Sustainability Model. • ASEAN and Mercosur still pursue progress in detriment of the environment. • Deficiencies that limit the blocs' ability to adopt a sustainable approach are highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aquaponics is a food production system that aims higher sustainability by integrating advantages gained from aquaculture and hydroponic production. Aquaponics aims to mimic the biological process that happens in the natural environment in a controlled production system. As it can be applied to small scales, aquaponics is considered an important alternative for urban regions, which have low availability of agricultural land and water resources. Furthermore, the advantage is that it is located close to final consumers. Aquaponics has been labeled as an environmentally friendly food production system, but its demand for energy and materials cast doubt on its sustainability. A systemic understanding of aquaponics production systems is needed to determine the magnitude and balance between its potentialities and constraints, in which emergy synthesis appears as a powerful tool for this purpose. This study applies emergy synthesis to assess the sustainability of two different (scale and marketable products) urban aquaponics farms in Brazil, but differently from other emergy studies, ecosystem services and disservices are included in the analysis as an attempt to represent the system performance holistically. Results show that the type of materials used in aquaponics infrastructures has the highest influence on total emergy demand. Surprisingly, electricity and fish feed showed a low influence on the total emergy, reinforcing the idea that aquaponics systems have a more efficiency feeding management than traditional aquaculture systems. Besides producing vegetables and fish, the inclusion of ecosystem services highlights the importance of aquaponics for educational and tourism purposes. Finally, the obtained indicators from modeling scenarios revealed that replacing the water source and some materials deserves priority attention to increase the sustainability of urban aquaponics farms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A new conceptual model of sustainability is proposed: FIVE SEctor SUstainability (5SEnSU) model. • 5SEnSU model results in a multi-criteria decision making problem solved using the philosophy of goal programming. • 5SEnSU model is applied to the Mercosur countries for illustration purposes. The decision-making process towards sustainability is usually based on quantitative indicators, and becomes more complex the more indicators are considered. The lack of a clear criterion (i.e. a conceptual model of sustainability) supporting the choice of one indicator rather than others creates doubts about the real attainments of such studies. The holistic-based approach in choosing indicators to express sustainability claims for a multicriteria perspective. This work proposes a sustainability assessment tool based on the FIVE SEctor SUstainability (5SEnSU) model that is capable to show the relationships between humans and the natural environment, and the use of goal programming as a multicriteria method. The advantages of the proposed tool are based on clear criteria in choosing indicators supported by the 5SEnSU model, which recognizes the double functions (as a donor and receiver) of natural environment and society, as well the application of goal programming to obtain an easy-to-understand final indicator: the sustainability synthetic indicator of systems (SSIS). The countries that form Mercosur economic bloc were used as a case study to illustrate the application of the proposed model. Results have shown that Uruguay holds the highest sustainability performance among all Mercosur countries, although still demanding efforts from public policies to improve its national happiness level (K52 indicator), employment rate (K41 indicator) and total emergy flow per capita (K12 indicator). Instead of using a single criterion in choosing indicators, this work provides a scientific-based tool in choosing, calculating, and supporting discussions on the sustainability of production systems under a more holistic perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • We assess the stocks of three urban systems using emergy synthesis. • Materials and energy stored increase the size and complexity of the urban systems. • ABC developed and grown relying mainly on economic and social capitals. • Emergy Synthesis provides insight into the reliance of economic activity on natural capital. • Emergy Synthesis may guide the development of effective policies for urban systems. Abstract Environmental assessments of urban systems intend to help city managers to identify feasible measures towards the reduction of urban vulnerability and to the understanding on how cities are dependent on available resources. Through the emergy approach, city managers may recognize subcomponents from each building block that individually and collectively influence the municipalities' environmental performance. Internal stocks of the urban systems play an important role on cities functioning, and the interactions among economic, social and natural capital influence the municipal performance. This paper uses emergy synthesis to account for the internal stocks of the multi-urban system called ABC Paulista, the role of stocks in ABC development and growth. Three forms of capital (economic, social and environmental) were accounted for, which allowed describing the urban settlements according to their nature (such as service provider or industrial cluster). Results may assist policy makers in regard to urban aggregates sustainability and also in formulating policies for particular cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lamb production in Brazil has the state of São Paulo as its largest consumer market, but due to competition for area with other agricultural activities, sheep farming in São Paulo underwent an intensification of the production system to achieve better economic profitability. This intensification can compromise the sustainability of the system. There is no research concerning about emergy evaluation on lamb production systems applied in Brazil, so this is the first paper to discuss the sustainability of lamb production systems using this method. Therefore, this article proposes to discuss the importance of considering environmental aspects in the economic analysis of production systems, aiming at the sustainable development of the sector. This study assessed the economic and emergy performance of three different sheep farms in Brazil managed under different levels of technology: Intensive, Semi-intensive, and Feedlot. Results show that from an economic perspective, the Feedlot system is more attractive (9,800 US$/yr for net profit) than Intensive and Semi-intensive ones, while emergy synthesis show that Semi-intensive system (30% for renewability) should be prioritized. On the other hand, when emergy is analyzed from an economic perspective based on Emdollars (Em$, with an 'm'), the economic advantage regarding the production cost of Feedlot on the Semi-intensive system becomes less evident. The Intensive system obtained the worst performance for economic, and emergy indicators. More than contributing to the discussions about the importance in considering a systemic perspective when quantifying the economic performance of production systems, this study also (i) establishes the most sustainable sheep farm system that could be supported in Brazil, and (ii) make available new unit emergy values that would enrich the existing emergy databases. • The synthesis emergy together with the economic assessment are performed for three sheep production systems with different levels of technology. • Intensive systems (Intensive and Feedlot) are economically profitable, but generate greater pressure on the environment. • Semi-intensive systems present less pressure on the environment, but are not economically viable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture production in Pakistan is one of the main economic and social sector. It contributes about 20–25% to the country GDP and provides more than 60% employment opportunities for rural peoples, playing a backbone role in the country economy and food security. However, sustainable production of the agricultural system is very important to address a societal concern for environmental impacts and nutritional value, while maintaining an economically feasible production system for farmers. Therefore, this study used various indicators based on emergy accounting method to analyze the sustainability of the agriculture production systems in Pakistan from 2001 to 2015 in four provinces namely Punjab, Sindh, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan are investigated. The analysis indicates that (1) in all selected provinces the maximum portion among all inputs are purchase non-renewable inputs and purchase renewables input. Among in purchase non-renewable comprise inputs the largest portion are for labors, agriculture machinery and fertilizer inputs, while in purchase renewables comprise inputs the largest share are for water that used during irrigation purposes in all provinces. (2) In Punjab and Sindh, among purchase non-renewable comprise inputs the labor, pesticides and diesel were found decreased, while in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan the pesticides, diesel and electricity were found declined. The efficiency of overall output agriculture production in selected provinces are in the order of Punjab > Sindh > Kbyber-Pakhtunkhwa > Baluchistan. The output emergy share of the agriculture production increased by 66% in Punjab, 34% in Sindh, 110% in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and 72% in Baluchistan in the study period. (3) The analysis of overall agriculture performance through emergy based indicators indicates that the NRP% (non-renewable portion) ratio for Punjab declined by 12% while for Sindh, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan increased by 1%, 8% and 1%, respectively. That is why the EIR (emergy investment ratio) value is lower in Punjab and higher in other selected provinces. (4) The ESI (emergy sustainability index) values were declined for Punjab, Sindh, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan by 18.91%, 16.19%, 35.51% and 11.21% respectively, with average values of 0.51, 0.11, 0.22, and 0.21 indicates increased in Punjab than other provinces. We believe this study provides the policy makers and producers the understanding of the important drivers influencing agricultural system productivity and environmental, social and economic sustainability, and to create more adaptable and responsive management practices and strategies for truly sustainable agricultural production systems in Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]