From Sustainable Logistics to Sustainable Communication: An Exploratory AMOR-Based Analysis of How the Sustainable Logistics Plans of Federal Universities in Northeast Brazil Communicate Sustainability

Brazilian federal universities are required to adopt Sustainable Logistics Plans (PLSs), yet little is known about how these plans communicate sustainability to the people expected to understand, discuss and sustain them. Rather than their logistics content, this study examines their communicational dimension through an exploratory application of the AMOR framework of Sustainable Communication (Accessibility, Mediation, Social Organization of Information and Intergenerational Relevance) and its Sustainable Communication Index (ICS), which are formative tools rather than validated measures. The most recent publicly available plans of 18 of the 20 federal universities in Northeast Brazil were coded against 12 documentary criteria with an explicit rubric and a page-referenced evidence matrix (generative AI-assisted evidence extraction under author verification). The mean ICS among the included universities was 69.7% (SD = 18.1); eight plans were classified as consolidated, seven as under construction and three as developing. Mediation was the lowest-scoring dimension (mean 4.90/10) under every scoring variant tested: only four plans documented an open public consultation and one foresaw community participation in revising targets. Plans drafted under the 2021/2023 federal reference model scored higher, mainly in Social Organization of Information. The findings describe documented features, not implementation or outcomes, and point to participation and feedback as the weakest part of the plans’ communicational design.