The reliability of sustainability reporting can impact sustainable development and should provide relevant information to financial analysts, investors, and other stakeholders by reducing information asymmetry between them and management. Nevertheless, its utility is often undermined by a lack of the disclosure information’s trustability. This paper aims to evaluate if the completeness of the sustainability report’s environmental quantitative information is a reliable indicator of the company’s real commitment to environmental sustainability. The paper analyzes the relationship between the report’s completeness and the environmental performance evaluated by data of an independent third party. Fifty Italian companies that have submitted complete data on CO₂ emissions to the European Union Emissions Trade Scheme (EU ETS) in the six years from 2008–2013 and published sustainability reports have been evaluated. Results indicate that reporting completeness is not correlated with better environmental performance, and consequently with greater commitment to environmental sustainability, thus suggesting the potential existence of credibility gaps.

Objetivo do estudo: Aplicar a ferramenta STARS na análise da sustentabilidade das operações dos campi da Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina.Metodologia/Abordagem: Utilizou-se o STARS (Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System), que tem sido amplamente empregado por universidades e em pesquisas científicas para a análise da sustentabilidade de processos organizacionais.Originalidade/Relevância: Desde a década de 1970 a Organização da Nações Unidas reconhece o papel do ensino superior na promoção da sustentabilidade. Universidades têm visado promovê-la em todas as suas dimensões, seja no ensino, pesquisa, planejamento e operações (i.e., consumo de energia e água, emissão de gases de efeito estufa, geração de resíduos sólidos, compra de alimentos, transporte entre outros).Principais resultados: Os resultados demonstraram que no momento do estudo a Instituição não contava com práticas de sustentabilidade estáveis e estruturadas, sendo relevante o papel do governo federal nesse contexto.Contribuições teóricas/metodológicas: O presente estudo foi o primeiro a usar o STARS em uma universidade brasileira. O estudo trouxe novos dados para a discussão sobre a sustentabilidade em universidades, além de destacar o papel do governo federal enquanto promotor de políticas públicas nesta área.Conclusão: A Instituição precisa se estruturar para avançar em termos de sustentabilidade operacional, sendo que o governo federal pode ser um grande impulsionador nesse sentido.Palavras-chave: Sustentabilidade em universidades. Análise da Sustentabilidade em Universidades. Gestão Ambiental. Sustentabilidade no Serviço Público.

Purpose: In today’s highly competitive global business environment, there is a growing demand for professionals who possess well-developed soft skills. Such abilities include flexibility, effective communication and other skills. Soft skills are personal attributes and qualities that are more closely related to the emotional side of human beings. Individuals must cultivate and hone soft skills during their undergraduate studies. These skills, also known as interpersonal or non-technical skills, are essential to complement hard skills and pave the way for a thriving career trajectory. Soft skills are developed over the course of one’s career and are indispensable in establishing a strong, professional presence in the corporate or academic realm. The field of engineering is no exception in this regard, and the business approach during the engineering course is of significant relevance. By acquiring soft skills, engineering graduates will become competitive and adaptable professionals capable of handling the current and future challenges of the job market. The purpose of this study is to investigate the soft skills that students perceive as being better developed during their business classrooms in the engineering course and identify areas for improvement in the business education process. Design/methodology/approach: The research method consisted in four different phases from variables identification to statistical analyses. Then, as part of this approach a structured questionnaire was administered at the end of the engineering course, where students rated their perception of the degree of development of each of the soft skills covered in the course on a scale of zero to ten. The collected data were analysed using multivariate analysis techniques, including factorial analysis. Findings: The results of the study demonstrate that the set of skills acquired by individuals in business classrooms pursuing a degree in industrial engineering is in high demand by potential employers. Such skills are deemed essential for the successful operation of businesses in modern-day industries. The findings of this research validate the significant role that industrial engineering students play in fulfilling the requirements of the job market and pave the way to meaningful insights on how to approach this topic during the business education process in engineering courses. Practical implications: The findings bring about significant insights for national educational councils and ministries, universities and educational stakeholders in the process of updating, rethinking and implementing new curricula criteria in higher education, particularly in the Latin American context. Originality/value: This paper enriches the literature by assessing the development of soft skills of engineering students in the Latin American context. The research reinforces the importance of developing soft skills aligned with those required for the context of current and future labour markets.