The Role of Sustainability - The Businesss Case

Ultimately, businesses will continue to behave like businesses just like they always have in our financially driven society. Most corporations are focused on profitability, that is their main charter from shareholders and the markets will always drive this dynamic.
Sustainability in the real word is a messy and complex, boots on the ground campaign. While theory is certainly important, getting your hands dirty and grinding out changes at the root level of an organization or product development process is the only thing that really changes the environmental and social impact that a corporation ultimately makes. You will have to fight to incorporate the new environmental and social paradigm in the product development cycle, presenting a solid business case for your argument that is superior to the “status quo” argument of, if it isn’t broke don’t fix it. It is broken if your vision includes the environmental and social impacts as well as the profit margin when analyzing of all the internal issues as well as the externalities. This is the role of the sustainability team adding 3-D vision.
Respect for the sustainably movement within an organization comes when the initiative produces real world results that contributes to the top and bottom line of an organization, increases the market attractiveness of the corporation and it’s products. Ultimately the sustainability team must improve the companies genetic structure.