MAPEAMENTO DA SUSTENTABILIDADE REGIONAL: UM ÍNDICE BASEADO EM ESG PARA INFRAESTRUTURA RODOVIÁRIA
MAPPING REGIONAL SUSTAINABILITY: NA ESG-BASED INDEX FOR ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29183/2447-3073.MIX2026.v12.n4.%25pKeywords:
Socioeconomic Indicators, Environmental Indicator, Spatial Statistics, Machine LearningAbstract
Highways are essential drivers of local development and community change but ignoring social and environmental factors in their planning cand operation can exacerbate inequalities and lead to environment. Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) actions can drive changes in current practices within the road infrastructure sector, when considering local social, economic, and environmental factors. This paper aims to bridge this gap by proposing a Sustainability Index (SI) tailored for road infrastructure contexts, offering a practical and replicable approach to ESG considerations using freely available census and remote sensing data. The SI, computed as a geometric mean of eleven socio-economic and environmental indicators, ranges from 0.00 to 0.56 across the analyzed area. Spatial autocorrelation analysis reveals statistically significant clustering (Global Moran's I = 0.40; z-score = 16.7126; p < 0.0001), while multivariate clustering highlights vegetation cover (R² = 0.752), carbon sequestration (R² = 0.718), and built-up area (R² = 0.665) as the most influential variables. Spatial patterns for urban centers in the South-Central and Amazon Regional Complex highlight significant local sustainability disparities, underscoring the need for regionally targeted ESG strategies. This framework improves analysis of socio-environmental dynamics near major highways, offering a practical tool for decision-making in data-limited regions.
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