Environmental sustainability: an overview of Brazilian Federal Institutes of Education, Science, and Technology

The Federal Institutes of Education Science and Technology (IFs) are higher education institutions specialising in providing professional and technical education in Brazil. The aim of this paper is to present an overview of educational institutions in Brazil in the context of environmental sustainability and to propose a set of guidelines that incorporate sustainability efforts. To accomplish this, a survey at the Federal Institutes of Education, Science and Technology (IFs) was conducted. The results showed that the IFs has achieved national coverage and has revealed a substantial array of environmental-related activity in teaching and research, while outreach activities were low. In the activities related to campus life, there is still a great lack of initiative which should be embraced. In order to improve sustainability in these institutions, main constraints, barriers and suggestions for way forward have been identified.