No abstract

Generation of goods and services are highly dependent on the use of natural resources. Until very recently, there was an implicit belief that the physical expansion of the economic system could be unlimited, as if the planet would have conditions and time enough to recover and continue to supply resources. This belief implies a confidence in an economic system that would provide whatever is necessary for a continuous growing production and consumption. Even believing that technology alone is not enough to solve the current environmental problems, it is certain that it can collaborate to mitigate climate change and to adaptation to changes in the environment. By bringing environmental aspects into discussions, eco-innovations can affect and transform the innovation system in order to create sustainable processes. However, the main challenge towards the transition to a more sustainable, cleaner and more equitable society is to set innovation in a new context, as until very recently it only considered the economic variables. This change means to value the social and environmental dimension of the innovation. In addition to eco-innovation, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is spreading in the industrial environment, offering promising perspectives. LCA is considered a valuable methodology in the environmental sustainability of industry. In this context, the present study addresses LCA and its relationship with the generation of ecoinnovations. Drawing on contributions from literature on eco-innovation and LCA, the paper analyses available evidence on this relationship in a context of the transition towards sustainable development. To structure the debate, the paper offers a conceptual approach and an illustrative case on international researchers' and practitioners' perceptions on the potentially positive relationship between eco-innovation and LCA. The study gathers data in the Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection and in Scopus, in order to provide a picture of the distribution of documents retrieved from these databases, dealing with both eco-innovation and LCA topics. The paper concludes that the convergence of the eco-innovation and LCA studies is quite plausible, but at least in its initial phase, the literature that unites both themes is scarcely found in publications in the area of innovation, being more frequent in the area of engineering and management that usually addresses LCA studies.

The impact of the human consumption of materials and energy exerted on the environment has gained more relevance in the last decades, being the pollution an emergency to be solved, since the generation of waste is one of its main factors. The management and reduction of these should be considered in the various sectors of society, including civil construction projects, where the studies that approach the subject are recent. Therefore, the objective of this work is to review the concepts of circular economy and analyze its application in the civil construction industry according to the types of waste generated, aiming to elicit proposals of application. For this, the study was based on an in-depth bibliographic survey of articles, technical documents and monographic works, followed by an analysis of the information obtained. As main results, it was possible to perceive the researches regarding the application of the concepts of circular economy in the civil construction are a growing and represent a strong tendency of the sustainability in this sector.

Goal: this paper goal is presenting sustainability experiences using Life Cycle Assessment perspective in two Latin America higher education institutions (HEI). What similarities do these HEI have in common regarding sustainability? What are the major challenges they face? In which way is Circular Economy effective on university campuses? Since universities face challenges posed by a changing and competitive environment, there ought to be sustainable management that is more appropriate to higher education institutions’ real environment, which is characterized by complexity, paradoxes, ambiguities, and conflicts. Methodology/Approach: Multiple Case Study. A resilience threshold of global ecosystem should be considered. Ecosystem dynamics require effort in mapping its functions. Results: the results considered that the difference between environmental approach failure and success lies in knowing how to realign their strategic plans. Limitations of the investigation: comparing private and public HEI and different levels of education (technical, undergraduate and graduate courses). Practical implication: the practical implication leads to an understanding that Circular Economy in HEI can be perceived as a guideline to innovation towards a more sustainable economy. Originality/value: the originality/value of this work is the ability of enabling scientists to empathize with both Brazıl and Colombia’s LCA perspectives in HEI.

Purpose: This study performs a systematic review through a global analysis of selected articles on food waste and the Circular Economy in the period between 2011 and 2020, indexed in the Scopus and Web of Science databases. Methodology/Approach: It performs a qualitative analysis of 19 selected articles to identify how the Circular Economy can be used in the strategy to reduce food waste. Findings: The main focus is to avoid a global collapse, provoked by the unrestrained increase in production and consumption since the industrial revolution, intensified in the middle of the 20th century. That culminated in the degradation of the soil, seas and the consequent air pollution caused by all these factors, and in the social issue, the increase in social inequality between countries and people, and the evolution of food insecurity, especially among the most vulnerable. Research Limitation/implication: This research contributes to academia and society, by identifying principal authors, keywords, and gaps in the selected literature and then, proposes suggestions for future research. Originality/Value of paper: The growing waste of food has directly affected the economic, social and environmental spheres, a subject widely discussed and included in the Sustainable Development goals of 2030.