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(Chapter 1) : Introduction To The Core Concept of Sustainability

The document provides an overview of sustainability and sustainable business practices. It discusses how sustainability focuses on meeting present needs without compromising future generations' ability to meet their own needs. It also explains that using traditional sustainability methods will not be effective given the higher complexity of environmental, social, and economic issues today. Sustainable businesses aim to minimize their negative impact on the environment, community, and society while creating long-term value.

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Shah Aasif
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52 views15 pages

(Chapter 1) : Introduction To The Core Concept of Sustainability

The document provides an overview of sustainability and sustainable business practices. It discusses how sustainability focuses on meeting present needs without compromising future generations' ability to meet their own needs. It also explains that using traditional sustainability methods will not be effective given the higher complexity of environmental, social, and economic issues today. Sustainable businesses aim to minimize their negative impact on the environment, community, and society while creating long-term value.

Uploaded by

Shah Aasif
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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(CHAPTER 1)

Introduction to the Core Concept of


Sustainability
By

Dr. Mohd Asif Shah


Sustainability?

•Sustainability focuses on meeting the needs of the present without


compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.
•As we realize the impacts of climate change, we begin to feel its morality as
possibly the biggest challenge.
•How can we justify the fact that our actions today will almost certainly
threaten the planet’s future?
•We are failing to meet the most basic obligation of each generation, i.e. to
provide for the future of our children.
•This raises a moral question typical for sustainability and justice. How can
we organize a fair distribution of goods and burdens throughout the
generations?
• Today, we are in a profoundly different situation. The industrialized,
globalized world has reached a level of complexity that makes quick fixes
impossible.
• Using traditional sustainability methods will not make much difference. The
higher complexity presents itself in environmental, social and economic
terms.
• First, the resource crisis of today is global in its dimensions meaning that
any local sustainability strategy is bound to fail if not followed through
everywhere.
• Second, socio-economic relationships are no longer purely local.
Everything we do in our local communities has effects on communities
around the world, especially in poor countries.
• Third, the economy seems far removed, almost immune from its natural
resource base.
• Human needs can only be met if environmental and
developmental goals are pursued together.
1.How could a protected environment meet the basic
needs of the poor, if no development takes place?
2.And how can development be beneficial, if it comes
at the price of losing the environment?
• Structurally, this argument reflects a two-scales model
of sustainable development. The environment sits on
one side of the scales, development on the other; the
art is to keep both in balance.
Sustainability encourages businesses to frame decisions in terms of years and
decades rather than on the next quarter's earnings report and to consider more
factors than simply the profit or loss involved.

Usually, a company will issue sustainability goals and will work towards them.

The goals are often reasonable cut emissions by 5%, for example, so that when the
business achieves their sustainability marks, they are able to call themselves
"green" or "sustainable.“

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

However, moving toward sustainable production is often a complex


process for companies.

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.
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.
SUSTAINABLE MARKET

Sustainable marketing is the promotion of environmental and socially


responsible products, practices, and brand values.
If you’ve ever spent a little bit more on something because you know it was
locally sourced or 100% recyclable, you’ve experienced sustainable
marketing.
Responsibility is becoming a common brand value and several companies
have announced environmental and social initiatives that put the
responsibility back onto the customer, challenging them to choose
between the cheaper option and the morally better option.
However, it is essential to plan and execute sustainable marketing carefully
or your brand can leave itself open to heavy scrutiny.
SUSTAINABLE MARKETING EXAMPLE

LEGO is one company that has nailed sustainable marketing.

Dedicating a section of their site to its sustainability programs, it is a brand


that has a clearly-defined goal for its environmental efforts written in its
tone of voice:

"Our mission is to make all LEGO bricks sustainably by 2030. We want


to make bricks out of things that we can grow again or are recycled.”

This is not easy as we want sustainable LEGO bricks to have the same high
quality that you are used to, but what we know is this: big ideas may start
small, but they will help us build a greener planet one brick at a time."
KEY ASPECTS OF SUSTAINABLE MARKETING

1. Your plan is long-term

Social and environmental issues are extremely large and need to be tackled
on a larger time frame than seasonal promotions. The public knows that
sudden change is almost impossible, so you need an objective that
targets high-scale change over a large timeframe.

Take the LEGO example mentioned earlier, its mission is to have production
of its LEGO bricks be sustainable by 2030.

The LEGO announcement was announced at the end of 2018, meaning this
is a 12-year plan.
KEY ASPECTS OF SUSTAINABLE MARKETING

2. Your plan is consistent

You don’t just need a sustainable idea – you need to be specific. It is easy to tell your
customers that one aspect of your brand is eco-friendly, but what about other elements?

For example, imagine your brand sells a drink and you switch to new ingredients that are
sustainably sourced. You may be tempted to shout about how responsible your brand is,
but are the bottles you sell that drink in recyclable? What about the labels used on the
bottle?

Such a problem was brought to light when McDonald’s replaced its plastic straws with
paper ones. Due to the thickness of the new straws, the company said that they were
not yet easily processed and recycled by the company’s waste solution providers, so
they should be put in the general waste.  
KEY ASPECTS OF SUSTAINABLE MARKETING

3. You deliver your plan responsibly

OVO Energy prides itself on winning Supplier of the Year, but its primary selling points are
its supply of green energy solutions and its vision of a zero-carbon lifestyle.

Sustainable marketing is, therefore, a core part of the company's strategy and aims to form
a strong bond between the brand and the concept of renewable energy in the mind of
customers.

But how does OVO Energy get this message out to the public? Surely not through
traditional marketing material wrapped in plastic and driven in smoke-spewing lorries
across the country.

The marketing strategy, “will see the company prioritise digital marketing and no longer use
non-digital advertising in public places.”
SUSTANIABILITY LEADERSHIP

Sustainability encompasses 3 key interlocking aspects: environmental,


social and economic.
According to John Elkingon’s triple bottom line, the People, the Planet and
Profits are inter-reliant: “society depends on the economy and the
economy depends on the global ecosystem, and whose health
represents the ultimate bottom line.”

Sustainability Leadership embraces the triple bottom line concept; the


definition is: mindful actions and behaviors embracing a global world-view
to recognize the connection between the planet and humanity; thereby,
through personal and organizational choices, effects positive
environmental and social change.
SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS

Sustainable business, or a green business, is an enterprise that


has minimal negative impact on the global or local
environment, community, society, or economy.

Often, sustainable businesses have progressive environmental


and human rights policies.

Simply put, sustainability is a business approach to creating


long-term value by taking into consideration how a given
organization operates in the ecological, social and economic
environment.

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