Sustentabilidade ambiental no Hospital Veterinário da Universidade Federal de Uberlândia

Abstract

Veterinary hospitals share many characteristics with conventional human hospitals. In addition to medical services, they offer services such as accommodation, the supply of medicines and food, among others (Brasil, 2019). The Veterinary Hospital of the Federal University of Uberlândia (HV-UFU) is a major reference in the Triângulo Mineiro region, being one of the largest in the country in terms of the number of cases attended. In 2015, the United Nations established the 2030 Agenda, aimed at global collaboration to achieve the end of poverty, protect the environment and climate and ensure that people have access to peace and prosperity. To this end, 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were established, divided into 169 targets. These goals are integrated, indivisible and aim to balance the three dimensions of sustainable development: economic, social and environmental. The following research question was therefore established: to what extent are the actions developed by the HV-UFU aligned with the SDGs, and how can these actions be improved to effectively contribute to environmental sustainability, considering the economic, social and environmental dimensions? In this context, the aim was to analyze the adherence of the actions implemented by HV-UFU to the SDGs, identifying practices that promote environmental sustainability and proposing improvement strategies aligned with the economic, social and environmental dimensions. To assess adherence to the SDGs, a Balanced Scorecard-based tool called ODS Performance was used, which was applied to people in management positions at HV-UFU. Next, environmental indicators were developed for the HV-UFU based on the SDG targets and, finally, these indicators were applied to the hospital with data from the years 2022 and 2023, obtained through the Access to Information Law (Brazil, 2011). The results show that the HV-UFU has greater adherence to SDG 4, Quality Education, and SDG 3, Good Health and Well-being, with greater emphasis on the No Discrimination evaluator. On the other hand, in the view of its managers, HV-UFU has totally unsatisfactory adherence to SDG 2, Zero Hunger and Sustainable Agriculture, SDG 13, Climate Action, and SDG 14, Life Below Water. It also scored poorly on the Learning indicator, according to the SDG Performance tool. The HV-UFU collaborates directly with 19 targets set by the 2030 Agenda, and it is possible to create indicators to measure the achievement of these targets. Two indicators were adapted from those proposed by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) and another 17 were created. By applying these indicators, it was found that HV-UFU is working towards achieving the SDGs. Using the tools and methods applied, it was possible to see that the HV-UFU collaborates directly with the 2030 Agenda and has room to make further progress in achieving the SDGs by improving management processes and its internal policies aimed at sustainability.