Pesticides have been used for a long time in agriculture to prevent the growth of undesired organisms. However, depending on the type of production (i.e., conventional, organic, and regenerative), they might not be applied. Adequate types and uses of pesticides should not cause any damage to any non-target species or environments due to the exposure to it, especially if all farming operations have been done properly. Reversely, when pesticides are applied in inappropriate time, amount or technique, they may cause several impacts, among which is water contamination. Brazil stands out worldwide for its agricultural potential, but it is exposed to risks concerning the water supply security to its population. The current study is a comparison of the Maximum Permissible Concentrations (MPC) for pesticides in potable water supply in Brazil with the values set in the United States, Canada, European Union countries, Japan, and the guidelines issued by the World Health Organization. The regulations of each country were used, as well as the trading, consumption and agricultural production data. The Brazilian regulation is the one accounting for the largest number of pesticides. However, their MPC is 5,000 times more permissible than that from the European Union for the herbicide known as glyphosate, 300 times than that for 2,4-d and 20 times than that for atrazine. Finally, it was possible to observe the relevance of revising the regulation and public policies in place to minimize the indiscriminate use of pesticides in Brazil and adapt these compounds to the standards in a global level.

This research seeks to contribute to the literature by classifying the operational risks to which companies are exposed and that have an impact on the results of sustainability through taxonomy. This study begins with a systematic literature review that covers 103 documents to build the theoretical constructs and establish the taxonomy; from this, the relationship among the constructs is established through reasoning based on 100 business cases. The results show a relationship between operational risks and corporate sustainability in aspects that generate this link, such as causes and consequences. From this, it is concluded that operational risks could affect corporate sustainability given that, based on case-based reasoning; we found relationship patterns linked by the economic, social, and environmental consequences and temporary effects on companies. The major contribution of this work lies in the proposed classification of operational risks regarding corporate sustainability and the establishment of their relationship. The findings of this study allow the management to classify the operational risk related to sustainability to carry out comprehensive risk management in companies, looking at the effects that this generates in the long term. The main limitation of this research was that the results of the connections can change depending on the analysed case. In addition, the CBR case base includes many sectors of the economy, which is why it provides heterogeneous results. It was identified that the relationship can change if a sectoral analysis is performed.