Sustainability Means More than Cleaning Up the Environment
Heightened awareness of corporate sustainability is leading many businesses to make major changes to their core value systems. They are no longer pursuing old models of mass production and consumption, with profit as the single goal. Companies today are being forced to reconsider their roles in the economy, in human societies, and in the environment. Anticipating these changing roles, companies are seeking innovations that challenge previous value systems.
The UN World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg, 2002 adopted a concept of the three pillars of sustainability: environmental sustainability, economic sustainability, and social responsibility.
Eco-Sustainability
Environmental innovations, also called “eco-innovations”, seek to use technology and science in balance with nature. Such eco-innovations as low emission vehicles, energy saving appliances and compact fluorescent light bulbs permeate everyday life. Consumer awareness of environmental issues has led to the immense popularity of eco-friendly products and this popularity is reinforced by the promise of saving money while protecting the environment. The economic benefits of eco-innovative products are very easy to assess. A business’ long term success may hinge on the company’s ability to position itself as environmentally responsible and an eco-innovator.
Economic Initiatives
Innovations in economic and social sustainability often grow out of answering the fundamental needs of communities. And often grow out of severe social injustice and economic impoverishment. Market opportunities for social innovations are not often as easily defined, and often their profit potential is underrated, thus there are fewer examples of successful economic and social innovations to point to.
One example of a social and economic innovation is the micro-financing phenomenon Grameen Bank which began, in 1976, issuing small loans to the impoverished without requiring collateral using a group borrowing model that uses peer pressure to ensure repayment. The Grameen model resulted in 98% of loans going to women in the community raising women’s economic outlook in the poor nation. Grameen Bank and its founder, Mohammed Yunus, were jointly awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for their work developing the economy from the bottom up. Today Grameen bank is largely owned by the collection of borrowers as shareholders.
Since the advent of the internet age, and with the apparent success of Grameen, other micro-financing entities have grown. Now individuals all over the world can make an investment loan through microventures.com, microplace.com and kiva.org, just to name a few. Anyone can lend as little as $25 to an individual that may be able to make a substantial difference in their lives for a very small amount.
Social Strides
Another organization that is making great strides in societal innovation is&nUshahidi, a not-for-profit organization in Kenya which creates open-source software and tools. Ushahidi is dedicated to the democratization of information, societal transparency and lowering the barriers for individuals to share their stories.
The organization began in response to the media blackout put in place after the 2008 Kenyan elections. It was difficult for citizens to find any information about the riots. Ushahidi developed open-source software that would collect information posted by the public via SMS, email and internet, and then represent that information on a map. The software was developed so that anyone using it would be able to learn what was happening and where.
Since it was developed in response to unrest following the Kenyan elections, Ushahidi has found popular use in other countries where the free flow of information is curtailed. Its use has expanded, and Ushahidi has been very effective in gathering information on the ground during natural disasters such as the earthquakes in Haiti and Japan. There is the potential for commercial applications as well.
Initiatives in service of social or economic change would not, in the past, have been considered economically profitable. Today, however, those initiatives are succeeding at anticipating social needs and changes in consumer awareness and becoming commercially successful. Sustainable companies of the future will need to balance economic profitability with environmental and societal responsibility, and be ready to innovate to respond to the changing global world.
Reference:
http://www.uncsd2012.org/about.html
http://www.ushahidi.com/
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