FOCUS FEATURE


SUSTAINABILITY


Universities are key to sustainability-related research and education


The concept of business-administered sustainability is not a modern phenomenon. In fact, there was an identified need for sustainable development in the Brundtland commission’s Our Common Future report in 1987. An example is forest management, locally in the 15th


Century and regional at the beginning of the 18th Century. The overexploitation of forests led to the conservation of the stability - and natural regeneration ability - of forests, which is a balance of the three dimensions of sustainability: environmental, economic and socio-cultural. Benefits from a sustainable forest management were, for


example, protection from forces of nature like floods, avalanches, the emerging and expanding of fallow, protection of the biodiversity, securing employment and intangible values like scenery, exploration area and playgrounds for children. This concept was later expanded beyond resource use. The original meaning of sustainability is to maintain or


endure. A simple and radical definition of sustainable systems is that a system has the ability to indefinitely operate on a certain level or rate and tolerate small perturbations without becoming unstable. In the example of forest management, reduction of the


cutting down of trees ensured they stayed in business and didn’t exhaust their own product base. Even though this definition is simple, and businesses are operating to stay in business, the complexity is added by the system itself. The larger the operation scale is, the more complex it can become; specially in consideration of global markets, environmental impact on the atmosphere and water cycle and networking of a global community due to the internet. In addition, the dynamic of systems can add another degree of complexity. Since the human population is growing and its needs adapted to new technology and environmental challenges, experts, leaders and others agree the need to seek sustainable development. Businesses are based on the economically sustainable


concept. Therefore, they try to optimise their productions and services to maximise profit and to continue operating. Incorporating environmental and social aspects mainly reduces costs for businesses but has far-reaching positive effects. Environmental aspects in regard to resource management were introduced in the 18th Century. In the 1950s corporate social responsibility emerged. Businesses went beyond the requirements enforced by laws to treat the environment with care and to further social good. Different studies had contradictory conclusions about the relation between financial and social benefits. Mainly a neutral impact on business finances was stated for corporate social responsibility. Further concepts similar to corporate social responsibility were developed and an increasing number of businesses implemented environmental and social sustainability in their business models. An example is the affiliation of companies, among


48 business network March 2018


them are prominent and high-performance companies, for sustainable development with clearly defined goals and milestones, known as Plan A. In the future more projects and integrated business


sustainability are likely to develop and business plans will adopt sustainable development. The main driving force is that business leaders want to identify themselves with the values of the company they lead. Employees similarly identify with the values of a company. Other stimuli are competitive markets, inspiration to imitate, working in partnerships, laws and financial support. The customer has the potential to be a main driving force, but it is important to conduct the necessary investigation to find products and services which are sustainable. Labelling in a similar way to fair trade products might be a possibility, though if more companies provide similar products and services on different sustainable effort levels, an indicating label has to change to a scaled label. It is in the interest of companies to provide customers with simple comparable indicators. Direct benefits of sustainable business, to businesses and


the environment, is in the reduction of energy and material consumption and the generation of waste. The reduction of energy consumption has by far the biggest impact, though it is often lessened by the increasing total energy demand. Reducing material consumption can be achieved by optimising design, and reintegrating remnants into the production by direct recycling. Further remnants can be indirectly recycled if a reconditioning in quality is needed or downcycled if the material is of lower quality. During the optimisation of production processes waste formation is often reduced. The remaining waste can be used in recycling processes or can be raw material for new products. If further use of waste materials is not possible, inertisation and systematic storage or landfilling are recommended. Systematic landfilling reduces unknown risk and provides


the opportunity for future generations to exploit known deposits for further usage as the environment benefits from a diminished exploitation of limited resources of raw materials. The reduction of energy indirectly could reduce the


emission of greenhouse gases due to burning of fossil fuels in conventional thermal power stations or reduce the amount of radioactive waste from nuclear power plants. Indirect positive effects of environmental sustainability


are on human health. For example, emission of combustion gas and particle emission from engines are responsible for more indirect deaths compared to direct loss of life through accidents. According to the World Health Organisation, air pollutions are linked to ill health and premature mortality. A reduction of air pollutions, for example due to catalytic converters and particle filters, could reduce costs on the health system and decrease sickness absence of employees for companies. An effective way to reduce emissions from traffic is to reduce the number of vehicles.


Reducing material consumption can be achieved by optimising design


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