Resumo (EN)
This work applies the emergy synthesis methodology to evaluate the environmental sustainability of the municipalities that form ABC Paulista, through an approach capable to gather economic and environmental aspects. ABC Paulista is a group of three municipalities: Santo André (SA), São Bernardo do Campo (SBC) and São Caetano do Sul (SCS), which is part of Greater São Paulo. ABC Paulista is an important industrial, technological and housing area that gives support to Greater São Paulo. Automotive and chemical industries are the leading economic activity in this urban system. Despite being neighbor municipalities, some environmental and economic differences are observed between them. Emergy indices were calculated, and results were interpreted with the use of the ternary emergetic diagram. Results show that ABC Paulista, as well as the three municipalities separately, are highly dependent on imported resources from outside its boundaries, being them not sustainable in the long term.
