Sustainability Podcast: Recent Episodes
Sikand
The Environmental Pillar
The environmental pillar often gets the most attention. Many companies are focused on reducing their carbon footprints, packaging waste, water usage, or other damage to the environment. Besides helping the planet, these practices can also have a positive financial impact. For example, reducing the use of packaging materials means lower spending, and improved fuel efficiency also helps with the company's budget.
Sustainability is most often defined as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs. Broadly speaking, a company implements sustainable practices by reducing its consumption of limited resources, or finding alternative resources with lower environmental consequences.
Sustainability has three main pillars: economic, environmental, and social. These three pillars are informally referred to as people, planet, and profits.
What Is Corporate Sustainability?
Corporate sustainability has become a buzzword in companies big and small. Walmart Stores, Inc. (WMT), McDonald’s Corporation (MCD), and many other corporate giants have named sustainability as a key priority moving forward. Now other corporations are under pressure to commit to finding sustainable ways to deliver their goods and services.
However, it's not immediately clear what "corporate sustainability" means. Below are the three key elements of a corporate sustainability strategy.