Corporate Sustainability

The large-scale and long-term nature of sustainability makes it uniquely challenging, especially in the context of business decision making.

Sustainability is a complex issue but a simple concept: it is about making sure that our economic growth allows us to maintain a model that produces fair outcomes for all of us; and about ensuring we don’t consume more resources than the earth has to offer. Why complex? Because it’s in everything we do when we do business (e.g. operations, products and services) and it is related basically with everything that belongs to the context where our business is taking place.

Sustainability can be framed as the seeking of halting the consumption of our stocks of natural, human and social capital faster than they are being produced. Unless we control the rate of this consumption, we can’t sustain these vital stocks in the long term.

A sustainable strategy is about:

• Understanding the organisation’s business model

• Adopting a comprehensive approach to stakeholder managementBalancing the short-term with the long-term objectives

• Appreciating the trade-offs across multiple performances

• Acknowledging the demands/requests of investors and analysts

• Implementing leading practices and new regulations

To prosper over time, every company must not only deliver financial performance , but also show how it makes a positive contribution to society and provide benefit to all stakeholders (e.g. investors, employees, customers, governments, NGO’s, etc).

Jeffrey Sachs , an American economist, public policy analyst and Professor of Sustainable Development at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs and of health policy and management at Columbia's School of Public Health. He is considered the father of Sustainable development solutions network and initiatives and he is known as one of the world's leading experts on economic and the fight against poverty. With his knowledge, he was one of the strongest advocates of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a set of 17 global goals adopted at a UN summit meeting in September 2015.

In 2015, Sachs was awarded the Blue Planet Prize for his contributions to solving global environmental problems. Natural capital is nowadays becoming a key concern on every CEO’s agenda. A lot of work is yet to be done on this front by regulation bodies, companies and also individuals.

Sustainability development is the central challenge of our times , this is why our leaders are hard at work on a new development agenda (including a set of sustainable development goals) to help guide humanity to safety and prosperity for the benefit of us all.