Sustainability initiatives at the main campus of Rio de Janeiro Federal University in Brazil are supported by a green financing instrument. They are based on the concept of ‘living laboratory’, which encourages user involvement in open innovation processes, thereby engaging all stakeholders in a real-life context. Long-term targets have been set for energy efficiency, generation of renewable energy, water use efficiency and urban mobility using local shared transport alternatives. This paper focuses on the development of a monitoring system to compare actual sustainability performance with targets, helping to support decision making on new projects.
This article discusses the issue of water quality restoration in Guanabara Bay, a much polluted estuary, located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which serves as drainage basin for 11 million people. The theoretical basis for analyzing the problem is the systems approach, and the focus is on devising actions to achieve the modernization of the sanitation sector. In order to restore the bay’s water quality, specific targets measured in terms of the level of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) need to be attained. The Guanabara Bay system contains five components: decision support tools, physical infrastructure, financing, governance, and administration. The article proposes a policy approach that seeks to attend to the environmental concerns associated with the restoration of the bay’s water quality by advocating an effective governance structure able to provide sanitary services to all citizens that will also mitigate the bay’s pollution problems.
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