Sustainability and its impact on business planning

The totality of our lives and that of countless other living organisms depends on a thin smear of green on the outside of a rocky ball spinning through space. Whether you are a proponent of the emergence of this amazing edifice 'by chance' or 'by design', none of us can deny the beauty of this complex web of life, in which every organism is linked in some way to all others. Microbes, plants, insects, fish, birds and mammals all play their miraculous part in the cycles of energy, nutrients and waste that flow through our life support system

Yet, in no time, geologically speaking, we have managed to ravage, pollute and systematically undermine the support system upon which all life depends. After 250 years of unfettered industrial progress, the web of life has started to unravel and even with an immense range of resources we have failed to create a world in which everyone has access to the basic requirements of food, shelter, healthcare and education.

This is the situation now! What will happen in 2025 (comfortably within the lifetime of most readers of these pages and, certainly, their children) when the world's population is projected to exceed 8 billion? There are those who believe that technology will overcome our current concerns and provide us with a way of continuing to grow economically and socially. Others believe that increasingly acute resource shortage is an inevitable consequence of current trends and that such shortages are most likely to end in human conflict.

Over the past few years and in response to the situation outlined above, a new word has crept into our language to describe consumption and resource use in our society. This word is sustainability. It means quite simply our capacity for continuance into the long-term future.

Whilst current concerns about non-sustainability largely have an environmental (or ecological) basis, it is clear that we can reach a situation of un-sustainability for economic and social reasons as well. Examples of social un-sustainability include: the use of forced labour or child labour or breaches of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The economic dimension of non-sustainability includes inappropriate allocation and distribution of scarce resources through force or illegal practices and the undermining of local economies associated with globalization.

Since the late 1990s, Caleb has assisted companies in the construction, construction products, aviation fuelling and beverages sectors to tackle their sustainability impacts. More recently, we also assisted Regional Development Agencies in building their capacity to address sustainability challenges as part of their duties to develop economic and spatial strategy.

Caleb is authorized to deliver the foundation course in sustainable development for professionals issued by the Institution of Environmental Science.

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