In the last few years, sustainable development and environmental management have become one of the main interests of higher-education institutions. This has been revealed mainly by the educational approach on environmental management and the practical examples incorporated in campi operation. The present work shows a systematization of procedures and a model whose purpose it is to implement an adapted environmental management system (EMS) at a university campus, making it possible for a higher-education institution to control and prevent environmental impacts and adjust to legislation and regulations, even in the infrastructure planning phase. The proposal is based on PDCA tools and on a comprehensive survey of national and international benchmarks for sustainable university campi. The examples presented indicate isolated actions in the surveyed universities, most of them implemented when the campus is already functioning. This situation shows a growing concern regarding the adaptation of universities in search of sustainable development, not only regarding educational aspects, but also regarding environmentally correct practices.
university; campi; environmental management; sustainable development
