CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY IN BRAZILIAN PUBLIC HEALTH UNITS WITH HELP OF ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING: ANALYSIS OF ACTIONS AND PRACTICES BASED ON CASE STUDIES
Maxilene Souza de Araújoa Lima, José Salvador da Motta Reis, Gilberto Santos, Luis Cesar Ferreira Motta Barbosa
Abstract: Although its mission is to preserve and promote life, the public health sector generates significant environmental impacts due to high consumption of natural resources and the large volume of waste produced by healthcare services. Growing sustainability concerns reinforce the need to incorporate sustainable practices into public health management, with help of safety and environmental engineering. This article investigates how public health units develop sustainability initiatives and how these actions contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The study is justified by the increasing relevance of corporate sustainability and the need for more efficient natural resource management, with help environmental engineering. Despite the expansion of sustainability debates, the literature still lacks comprehensive empirical analyses on how corporate sustainability principles are incorporated into public health management. This gap is particularly evident in Brazil’s Unified Health System (UHS), where fragmented approaches prevail and municipal-level analyses remain limited. A descriptive qualitative methodology was adopted, combining a literature review of corporate sustainability (2018–2024) with case studies conducted in public health units in a municipality in the Paraíba Fluminense Midfielder region. The research assessed the implementation of sustainable practices with help of environmental engineering and proposed recommendations based on best practices identified in the literature and observed in loco. Comparative analysis revealed significant short-comings, including the absence of sustainability-focused strategic planning, weak monitoring mechanisms, and limited institutionalization of socio-environmental practices. Although isolated initiatives exist, sustainability has not been consolidated as a strategic axis. The study advances the literature by applying corporate sustainability principles to public health management and offers practical recommendations to strengthen governance, transparency, and alignment with the SDG.
Keywords: Corporate sustainability, Environmental engineering, Healthcare sector, Safety engineering, Brazil, Public health units
DOI: 10.24874/PES08.03B.002
Recieved: 11.03.2026 Revised: 05.06.2026 Accepted: 07.07.2026
UDC:
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