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What Is Sustainability?

The document discusses sustainability which focuses on meeting present needs without compromising future generations' ability to meet their needs. It has three pillars - economic, environmental, and social. The document also discusses how sustainability works for businesses and the challenges around moving businesses toward more sustainable practices.

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Rudraksh Parey
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35 views

What Is Sustainability?

The document discusses sustainability which focuses on meeting present needs without compromising future generations' ability to meet their needs. It has three pillars - economic, environmental, and social. The document also discusses how sustainability works for businesses and the challenges around moving businesses toward more sustainable practices.

Uploaded by

Rudraksh Parey
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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What is Sustainability?

The term sustainability is broadly used to indicate programs, initiatives and actions aimed at
the preservation of a particular resource. Sustainability focuses on meeting the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. The
concept of sustainability is composed of three pillars: economic, environmental, and social
—also known informally as profits, planet, and people.
Economic sustainability
Economic sustainability aims to maintain the capital intact. If social sustainability focuses on
improving social equality, economic sustainability aims to improve the standard of living. In
the context of business, it refers to the efficient use of assets to maintain company
profitability over time. 
Environmental sustainability
Environmental sustainability aims to improve human welfare through the protection of
natural capital (e.g. land, air, water, minerals etc.). Initiatives and programs are defined
environmentally sustainable when they ensure that the needs of the population are met
without the risk of compromising the needs of future generations.
Social sustainability
Social sustainability aims to preserve social capital by investing and creating services that
constitute the framework of our society. The concept accommodates a larger view of the
world in relation to communities, cultures and globalisation. It means to preserve future
generations and to acknowledge that what we do can have an impact on others and on the
world. Social sustainability focuses on maintaining and improving social quality with
concepts such as cohesion, reciprocity and honesty and the importance of relationships
amongst people. It can be encouraged and supported by laws, information and shared ideas
of equality and rights.

How Sustainability Works


Sustainability encourages businesses to frame decisions in terms of environmental, social,
and human impact for the long-term, rather than on short-term gains such as next quarter's
earnings report. It influences them to consider more factors than simply the immediate
profit or loss involved. Increasingly, companies have issued sustainability goals such as
commitment to zero-waste packaging by a certain year, or to reduce overall emissions by a
certain percentage.

These companies can achieve their sustainable needs by cutting emissions, lowering their
energy usage, sourcing products from fair-trade organizations, and ensuring their physical
waste is disposed of properly and with as small of a carbon footprint as possible.

Challenges Around Sustainability


The push for sustainability is evident in areas such as energy generation where the focus has
been on finding new deposits to outpace the drawdown on existing reserves. Some
electricity companies, for example, now publicly state goals for energy generation from
sustainable sources such as wind, hydropower, and solar.

However, moving toward sustainable production is often a complex process for companies.
By basing decisions on longer timelines, some of the higher upfront investments in efficiency
and renewable sources are easier to justify. Investors have had to adjust their expectations
for returns because a company that commits to the sustainable development of resources
may have more modest earnings results in the near term.

Many companies have been criticized for exploiting cost-cutting measures such


as offshoring production to obtain cheaper labor. This practice, although beneficial for the
bottom line, often comes at the price of compromised worker safety and security.

Obtaining cheap offshore labor famously occurred in the clothing industry following the
2013 Savar factory collapse in Bangladesh, where over 1,100 people died. As a result, many
of the companies that are most sensitive to consumer backlash, usually retailers and
restaurants, have announced sustainability plans to reduce carbon footprints, packaging
waste, and animal suffering.

For example, a factory that allows its waste to flow into a nearby body of water to avoid the
short-term costs of proper disposal can cause expensive and significant long-term
environmental damage.

This has caused some investors to shy away from sustainable investments—at least until
companies become more transparent with their financial and business practices.

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