Sustainable business

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Sustainable business, or green business, is enterprise that has no negative impact on the global or local environment, community, society, or economy—a business that strives to meet the triple bottom line. Often, sustainable businesses have progressive environmental and human rights policies.

A sustainable business is any organization that participates in environmentally-friendly or green activities to ensure that all processes, products, and manufacturing activities adequately address current environmental concerns while maintaining a profit. In other words, it is a business that “meets the needs of the present world without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs.”[1][2] It is the process of assessing how to design products that will take advantage of the current environmental situation and how well a company’s products perform with renewable resources.[3]

The Brundtland Report emphasized that sustainability is a three-legged stool of people, planet, and profit.[1] Sustainable businesses with the supply chain try to balance all three through the triple-bottom-line concept—using sustainable development and sustainable distribution to impact the environment, business growth, and the society.[4][5]

Everyone affects the sustainability of the marketplace and the planet in some way. Sustainable development within a business can create value for customers, investors, and the environment. A sustainable business must meet customer needs while, at the same time, treating the environment well.[6]

Contents

[edit] Environmental sphere

A major initiative of sustainable businesses is to eliminate or decrease the impact made on the environment by harmful chemicals, materials, and waste generated by processes to manufacture products and services.[7] The impact of such human activities in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases produced can be measured in units of carbon dioxide and is referred to as the carbon footprint. The carbon footprint concept branched off from ecological footprint analysis, which examines the ecological capacity required to support the consumption of products.[8]

The Gort Cloud written by Richard Seireeni, (2009), documents the experiences of sustainable businesses in America and their reliance on the vast but invisible green community, referred to as the gort cloud, for support and a market.

One of the most common examples of sustainable business initiatives is the act of going paperless.[6] On a higher level, sustainable business practices can include reviewing processes in order to eliminate or recycle waste, making all products recyclable, and eliminating the use of nonrenewable resources via alternatives energies.

Sustainable businesses also look at inputs to determine what products are harmful to the environment and try to find green alternatives that can function at the same or a better level and, preferably, at a lower cost. Company leaders also take into account the life cycle costs for inputs of items purchased. Inputs costs must be considered in regards to regulations, energy use, storage, and disposal.[9]

A business’s green initiatives can include conserving materials through remanufacturing, converting harmful gases into clean energy, generating greener power, and improving fuel economy.[3] Designing for the environment (DFE) is also an element of sustainable business. This process enables users to consider the potential environmental impacts of a product and the process used to make that product.[9]

Henry Ford was a pioneer in the sustainable business realm, experimenting with soy-based materials and ethanol during the days of the Model T.[6] Ford Motor Company also shipped the Model A truck in crates that later became the vehicle’s floorboard upon reaching its destination. This was a form of upcycling, a key element to DFE. Upcycling is the process of retaining high quality in a closed-loop industrial cycle.[9]

Ford currently uses green fabrics and materials in the next generation of their vehicles—seat fabric made from 100 percent post-industrial materials, renewable soy foam seat bases, and the like. Ford executives recently appointed the company’s first senior vice president of sustainability, environment, and safety engineering. This position is responsible for establishing a long-range sustainability strategy and environmental policy. The person in this position will also help develop the products and processes necessary to satisfy both customers and society as a whole, while working toward energy independence.[3]

In Korea, rice husks are used as a nontoxic packaging for stereo components and other electronics. The concept of waste is diminished because of inclusive shipping in freight costs the goods would already incur. The same material is later used to make bricks.[9]

[edit] Social sphere

Organizations that give back to the community, whether through employees volunteering their time or through charitable donations are often considered to be socially sustainable. Organizations can also encourage education in their communities by training their employees and offering internships to younger members of the community. Practices such as these increase the education level and quality of life in the community.

In order for a business to be truly sustainable, it must sustain not only the necessary environmental resources, but also its social resources, including employees, customers (the community), and its reputation[10]

[edit] Organizations

The European community’s Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive restricts the use of certain hazardous materials in the production of various electronic and electrical products. Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directives provide collection, recycling, and recovery practices for electrical goods.[6] The World Business Council for Sustainable Development and the World Resources Institute are two organizations working together to set a standard for reporting on corporate carbon footprints.[6] Lester Brown’s Plan B 2.0 and Hunter Lovins’s Natural Capitalism provide information on sustainability initiatives.[11]

[edit] Standards

Enormous economic and population growth worldwide in the second half of the twentieth century drove the impacts that threaten the health and the world — ozone depletion, climate change, depletion and fouling of natural resources, and extensive loss of biodiversity and habitat. In the past, the standard approaches to environmental problems generated by business and industry have been regulatory driven "end-of-the-pipe" remediation efforts. In the 1990s, efforts by governments, NGOs, corporations and investors began to grow substantially to develop awareness and plans for investment in business sustainability.

One critical milestone was the establishment of the ISO 14000 standards whose development came as a result of the Rio Summit on the Environment held in 1992. ISO 14001 is the cornerstone standard of the ISO 14000 series. It specifies a framework of control for an Environmental Management System against which an organization can be certified by a third party. Other ISO 14000 Series Standards are actually guidelines, many to help you achieve registration to ISO 14001. They include the following:

  • ISO 14004 provides guidance on the development and implementation of environmental management systems
  • ISO 14010 provides general principles of environmental auditing (now superseded by ISO 19011)
  • ISO 14011 provides specific guidance on audit an environmental management system (now superseded by ISO 19011)
  • ISO 14012 provides guidance on qualification criteria for environmental auditors and lead auditors (now superseded by ISO 19011)
  • ISO 14013/5 provides audit program review and assessment material.
  • ISO 14020+ labeling issues
  • ISO 14030+ provides guidance on performance targets and monitoring within an Environmental Management System
  • ISO 14040+ covers life cycle issues

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b United Nations General Assembly (1987) Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future. Transmitted to the General Assembly as an Annex to document A/42/427 - Development and International Co-operation: Environment. Retrieved on: 2009-02-15.
  2. ^ Anderson, D. R. (2006). "The critical importance of sustainability risk management." Risk Management. Vol. 53, no. 4.
  3. ^ a b c Rennie, E. (2008). "Growing Green, Boosting the bottom line with sustainable business practices." APICS Magazine. Vol. 18, no. 2.
  4. ^ Galvao, A. (2008) "The Next Ten Years: Energy and Environment." Crossroads 2008 presentation, MIT TechTV beta, 55 min., 51 sec.
  5. ^ Galvao, A. "Mind Your Own Business, Why sustainable operations must be everyone’s chief concern." APICS Magazine, Vol. 18, no. 5
  6. ^ a b c d e Rennie, E. (2008). "Painting a Green Story." APICS Extra. Vol. 3, no. 2.
  7. ^ Becker, T. (2008). "The Business behind Green, Eliminating fear, uncertainty, and doubt." APICS magazine. vol. 18, no. 2.
  8. ^ Hawken, P., A. Lovins, and L. Hunter Lovins. (1999). Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution. Little, Brown.
  9. ^ a b c d Penfield, P. (2008). "Generating for the Environment, Drive down costs while helping Mother Nature." APICS Magazine, Vol. 18, no. 6.
  10. ^ Hahn, Keenan. 2008. What is sustainable business?
  11. ^ Ron Sullivan. 2007. Enduring Success, Using the APICS body of knowledge to achieve greater sustainability. APICS magazine. vol. 17, no. 8.

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