Sustainable Development and Society - GSA

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Sustainable Development and Society Measuring and Reporting Sustainability Principles From “Beyond the Triple Bottom Line: Measuring and Reporting on Sustainability,” Occasional Paper, Victorian Auditor-General's Office, Melbourne, June 2004. Adopting the sustainability principles impacts on all aspects of an organisation’s business, from planning to operations to governance arrangements… First and foremost, applying the sustainability principles means going beyond traditional financial reporting to measure and report on at least the environmental, social and economic dimensions of performance . . . However, as critics of these models have pointed out, they use a reductionist approach to measuring and reporting on sustainability. That is, they: • Break sustainability down into three or more pillars • Break each pillar down into a series of topics • Break each topic down to a series of performance indicators • Measure each indicator separately • Use ‘scientific approaches’ to measure each indicator. The reductionist approach is inconsistent with the concept of sustainability, and its principles, for two main reasons. Firstly, sustainability is not a single thing. It is multidimensional… Secondly, sustainability is a vision of wholeness. Breaking it down into disconnected parts and then studying the parts individually will not help us understand the relationships between the parts that make up the whole. Instead, taking the reductionist approach can lead us to oversimplify the complex nature of sustainability . . . Applying sustainability principles has the potential to improve performance, in the short and long terms. For this reason, governments in many countries have adopted sustainability policies, resulting in an explosion of sustainability initiatives… Applying these principles is not a simple task. The interrelated nature of sustainability complicates all aspects of organisational life, from planning to operations to measurement and reporting… The currently available measurement and reporting tools apply some of the principles well. However, approaches that capture the relationships between the pillars are still evolving. Approaches to measuring and reporting on intergenerational equity are even more rudimentary. 99
Sustainable Development and Society Ethics in Action 1 Vancouver City Savings Credit Union sponsors the Ethics in Action Awards to advocate corporate social and environmental responsibility among the business community. Its 2000 award for Ongoing Social Responsibility (Business) was awarded to the Chesterman Property Group (www.chestermangroup.com), of Vancouver British Columbia, for the comprehensive application of sustainable principles to their work. “These real estate developers are changing the standard industry approach to real estate development. The focus is on minimizing environmental impact and on delivering healthy houses (minimizing toxic materials used in building prevents unhealthy interior environments). This focus involves extensive research into purchasing options. conducted extensive research to find a manufacturer who used nontoxic glue and who treated the workers well (most bamboo flooring is made in Asia under poor working conditions). Ecologically sustainable and healthy housing is not yet in high demand in Vancouver, so Chesterman provides these benefits at the same cost as standard housing. This means absorbing the costs of extra research and labor (instead of bulldozing old buildings his workers take them apart by hand so the wood can be reused). Brown also has to get buy-in and support from architects and building teams. He has helped them get experience in environmental processes, which will benefit future projects they are involved in. He also shares his knowledge and expertise with others in the property development industry. “Brown was a cofounder of CBSR, and has been a longtime contributor, supporter, and board member of Tradeworks Training Society.” “For example, President Robert Brown purchases bamboo flooring because it is more environmentally friendly. He has 100 Notes: 1. http://www.ethicsinaction.com/recipients/past.html
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GSA Office of Governmentwide Policy
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Foreword and Acknowledgements Alber
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Contents Hugh Pearce Botts, “Cons
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Sustainable Development and Society
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Preface Lillian Richter, “Childre
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True Life Cycle Costing Socio-Econo
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True Life Cycle Costing Toxic Data
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