Nurturing the Seeds of Sustainability Governance: Rio+25 Brazilian Higher Education Institution Case Study

Once Brazil hosted United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in 1992 (UNCED, Rio Earth Summit), as well as Rio+20 Conference, the country has shown an important role in promoting United Nations Post-2015 Development Agenda. Brazilian innovations in terms of public policies are also regarded as contributions to economic, social and environmental dimensions in sustainable development integration. In this context, the Brazilian Ministry of Environment created the Environmental Agenda in Public Administration—‘A3P’—to encourage public managers to incorporate sustainable principles enhancing institutions activities. In terms of sustainability, higher education can introduce new trends in the domains of education, research, and extension. However, understanding the Environmental Agenda in Public Administration requires a more careful analysis of information, stakeholder dynamics, public management and conflict of interest. To illustrate the debate, this chapter presents Cefet/RJ, a centennial higher education institution in Rio de Janeiro and discusses the implementation of its ‘A3P’ sustainable agenda in 2017, 25 years after Rio 92 Earth Summit. Thus, Cefet/RJ Rio+25 integrates teaching, research and extension environmental projects. This scenario represents a set of initiatives regarding the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to assess public governance focusing on higher education. This chapter aims to be useful to those who are interested in governmental and sustainable developmental issues.