Indicadores de sustentabilidade ambiental sob a ótica da lógica de ciclo de vida.

Abstract

Under a wide view, the challenge associated to the search of sustainable development can be interpreted as the challenge to make decisions based on some concise information. Much information are published using techniques for measuring environmental performance, such as sustainable indicators, in a way for understand "what is happening" and complement decision making. The objective of this work is to evaluate the hypothesis that an environmental sustainability indicator should be calculated using Life Cycle Thinking. On this context, a definition of sustainability is to assure that natural resources' consumption do not run out of its availability. Since human needs (maintenance of human well-being) are met through products, it is understood that all natural resources' consumption occurs throughout products' life cycle (good or service). This research defines (environmental) sustainability indicator like the gathering of parameters that represents the information on natural resources' consume due the anthropic interaction with the environment. Quantitative tools are needed to help decision makers understand natural resources' consumption thru all anthropic activities. The Life Cycle Thinking (LCT) offers an image that is different and complete about the removal of resources on nature, environment physical modification and deposition and stabilization of rejects due its systemic resolution on responsible causes for impacts associate to all human action to the study object or analysis in check. Therefore literature's good practice principles, classification and selection criteria of environmental sustainability indicator are offered on the decisionmaking context. The application of these criteria make possible to observe the role of LCT as a structure to decision making in the discussion of sustainability.