CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY

Corporate Sustainability in Business

Corporate Sustainability in Businesses

Introduction

Following the international tendency in environmental perception, paired with intensified buyer consciousness, businesses across the world are progressively striving for different anticipations and searching to broadcast the financial, communal and environmental presentation of their businesses proactively (WCED, 1987, 56). Under the contemporary development of Corporate Social Responsibility, various institutions and initiatives are insisting on the improvement in desirability of the various aspects of the environment that the operations of a business affect. Companies establish internal rules of conduct to encourage ethical behaviour of its employees, and prevention of corruption in all its forms.

For first-hand testimony of the primary concern that different businesses entities are giving to corporate sustainability matters, this report aims to discuss the various trends and practices that companies adopt in the present business environment to perform their responsibility of corporate sustainability effectively (Schmidheiny et.al, 1997, 56). The major reason of the report is to investigate the presentation in agreement of businesses with the principle of corporate sustainability.

Background and History

The modern corporate sustainability movement traces its roots back to the United Nations World Commission on Economic Development, which is often cited as first defining “corporate sustainable development” (Schmidheiny, 1992, 78). The work of John Elkington expanded standard business accounting to include what form the three pillars of corporate sustainability: society, environment, and economics.

At the end of the 20th century, the United Nations became increasingly aware of global pollution issues such as pesticide, bio-accumulation and ozone-depletion. The international community was also facing increasing industrialization among the developing nations of the world. One acknowledged that the path many nations had taken in their industrial development was not the best for the health of humans or the environment, and a more careful path to development would be prudent.

To answer the global community's questions on how to guide development, the United Nations convened the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) in 1983, chaired by Gro Harlem Brundtland, the prime minister of Norway (ISO, 2006, 89). As a result of her pioneering work to address the issues surrounding continuing global development, the WCED came to be known as the Brundtland Commission. The Brundtland Commission intended to address the growing concern “about the accelerating deterioration of the human environment and natural resources and the consequences of that deterioration for economic and social development.” The Brundtland Commission's 1987 report, Our Common Future, defined “sustainable development” as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (GRI, 2006, 11).” This definition makes the original and probably the most quoted definition of “corporate sustainable development.” In his 1998 book, “Cannibals with Forks: The Triple Bottom Line of 21st Century Business”, John Elkington introduced the phrase Triple Bottom Line (TBL). The TBL includes the three key elements of corporate sustainability: environment, economy, and society, which must all be considered for sustainable development to occur.

Today, investors are increasingly demanding that businesses act in an ethical and sustainable ...