Quezi

A probably not very sustainable factory (Flickr-NKCR)

You’ll hear a lot these days about sustainable business.  But what does that mean?  What do sustainable business practices look like?  Or more to the point, do sustainable businesses even exist?

The idea of sustainability harks back several decades, at least as far as the Rio Conference in 1992, also known as the Earth Summit, or more formally, the UN Conference on Environment and Development.   This meeting was one of the largest gatherings of world leaders that has ever taken place, before or since.  It produced some of the lasting international frameworks for dealing with global climate change, forestry issue, and what is broadly called sustainable development.

Sustainable development attempts to simultaneously improve the condition of the planet in three key areas: environment, economics, and social justice.  Sustainable practices meet the needs of the present generation without compromising the well-being of future generations.  It’s a tall order.

Governments, non-profit organizations, and individuals can certainly play a central role in advancing the concept of sustainability.  But businesses are widely seen as the key sector to bring on board.  If the vast global economy can somehow be made more sustainable, then  a host of issues, from climate change to peace on Earth, can be more readily achieved.  This has given rise to an entire movement known as corporate responsibility.

A sustainable business, then, is one that embraces the concept of sustainability, and advances it through words and actions.  Some of the steps businesses can take to move towards sustainability include:

• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions, even to the point of being ‘carbon neutral’
• Rework business practices (purchasing, manufacturing, transportation, etc) to minimize reliance on toxic substances and other harsh chemicals
• Insure that a company’s own plants, as well as the plants of its suppliers, are treating its workers properly, paying a living wage, protecting the environment, respecting local communities, and operating well-above legal requirements.
• Run an open, transparent operation, reporting in detail on corporate sustainability through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reporting and other means, while avoiding greenwashing, which simply makes a company sound like they’re doing much more than they are.

No businesses have truly achieved sustainability, and perhaps none ever will.  It is more an ideal goal to be aimed at, than a finish line which one crosses.   Happily, though, there are businesses making considerable, genuine efforts to minimize their environmental footprint in the world, today and in the future, while finding ways to promote more widespread economic well-being and social fairness.

Wikipedia has a reasonably good entry on Sustainable Business if you’d like to know more.  As always, Comments, below, are most appreciated.

David Sarokin