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Open AccessArticle

“Triple Bottom Line” as “Sustainable Corporate Performance”: A Proposition for the Future

by Hasan Fauzi, Goran Svensson and Azhar Abdul Rahman

Sustainability 2010, 2(5), 1345-1360; https://doi.org/10.3390/su2051345 - 11 May 2010

Cited by 98 | Viewed by 31373

Based upon a review of corporate performance, corporate financial performance and corporate social performance, we propose that the concept of “triple bottom line” (TBL) as “sustainable corporate performance” (SCP) should consist of three measurement elements, namely: (i) financial, (ii) social and (iii) environmental. [...] Read more.

Based upon a review of corporate performance, corporate financial performance and corporate social performance, we propose that the concept of “triple bottom line” (TBL) as “sustainable corporate performance” (SCP) should consist of three measurement elements, namely: (i) financial, (ii) social and (iii) environmental. TBL as SCP is proposed to be derived from the interface between them. We also propose that the content of each of these measurement elements may vary across contexts and over time. Furthermore, TBL as SCR should be interpreted to be a relative concept that is dynamic and iterative. Continuous monitoring needs to be performed, adapting the content of the measurement elements to changes that evolve across contexts and over time in the marketplace and society. TBL as SCP may be seen as a function of time and context. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability: An Impossible Future?)

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205 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Eco-nomics: Are the Planet-Unfriendly Features of Capitalism Barriers to Sustainability?

by Merrill Singer

Sustainability 2010, 2(1), 127-144; https://doi.org/10.3390/su2010127 - 06 Jan 2010

Cited by 20 | Viewed by 16047

Abstract

This paper argues that there are essential features of capitalist modes of production, consumption, and waste dispersal in interaction with the environment and its built-in systemic features that contradict long-term sustainable development. These features include: (a) contradictions in the origin and meaning of [...] Read more.

This paper argues that there are essential features of capitalist modes of production, consumption, and waste dispersal in interaction with the environment and its built-in systemic features that contradict long-term sustainable development. These features include: (a) contradictions in the origin and meaning of sustainability; (b) the central role of the productivity ethic in capitalism and its reproduction in emergent green capitalism; (c) the commodification of nature and the continued promotion of expanding consumption; (d) globalism and the contradictions of continued Western-style development; and (e) the emergence of anthropogenic ecocrises and crises interaction. In light of these barriers to capitalist sustainability, an alternative social narrative is needed, one that embraces values, understandings, and relationships that promote ecological stability and justice. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability: An Impossible Future?)

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273 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sustainable Agriculture in the United States: A Critical Examination of a Contested Process

by Douglas H. Constance

Sustainability 2010, 2(1), 48-72; https://doi.org/10.3390/su2010048 - 28 Dec 2009

Cited by 30 | Viewed by 14289

Abstract

This paper investigates the political economy of the development of sustainable agriculture programs and initiatives in the United States. Sustainable agriculture emerged as part of a growing critique of the negative environmental consequences of unquestioned modern farming methods. The USDA/Sustainable Agriculture Research Education [...] Read more.

This paper investigates the political economy of the development of sustainable agriculture programs and initiatives in the United States. Sustainable agriculture emerged as part of a growing critique of the negative environmental consequences of unquestioned modern farming methods. The USDA/Sustainable Agriculture Research Education Program created in 1990 and the National Organics Program created in 2002 are the current government-sponsored programs in support of sustainable agriculture. Recently, private approaches to develop a national sustainable agriculture standard for the U.S. have emerged. The events of the cases developed in the paper reveal that because the concept of sustainability is deeply contested, agribusiness is able to exploit the ambiguity surrounding the definition of sustainable and exercise power in attempts to frame sustainable agriculture in their favor. Most recently, this contested process has focused on whether genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) will be included as part of the national sustainable agriculture standard. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability: An Impossible Future?)

216 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Economy and Sustainability—How Economic Integration Stimulates Stringent Environmental Regulations

by Jale Tosun and Christoph Knill

Sustainability 2009, 1(4), 1305-1322; https://doi.org/10.3390/su1041305 - 15 Dec 2009

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 10399

Abstract

The interaction between economic integration and environmental policy has become an important issue in the last few years. Despite the considerable scholarly attention this topic attracted, actual government responses in terms of environmental policy outputs remain largely untouched by both theoretical and empirical [...] Read more.

The interaction between economic integration and environmental policy has become an important issue in the last few years. Despite the considerable scholarly attention this topic attracted, actual government responses in terms of environmental policy outputs remain largely untouched by both theoretical and empirical work. To fill this gap, we suggest a theory-based disaggregation of the compound variable economic integration for deriving more precise expectations on its differential impact on environmental policy arrangements. In doing so, we show that economic integration may indeed trigger the promulgation of more demanding environmental regulations. To illustrate our arguments empirically, we analyze the development of Turkish clean air policy between 1975 and 2005. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability: An Impossible Future?)

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Review

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661 KiB

Open AccessReview

Sustainability between Necessity, Contingency and Impossibility

by Karl Bruckmeier

Sustainability 2009, 1(4), 1388-1411; https://doi.org/10.3390/su1041388 - 16 Dec 2009

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 11462

Abstract

Sustainable use of natural resources seems necessary to maintain functions and services of eco- and social systems in the long run. Efforts in policy and science for sustainable development have shown the splintering of local, national and global strategies. Sustainability becomes contingent and [...] Read more.

Sustainable use of natural resources seems necessary to maintain functions and services of eco- and social systems in the long run. Efforts in policy and science for sustainable development have shown the splintering of local, national and global strategies. Sustainability becomes contingent and insecure with the actors´ conflicting knowledge, interests and aims, and seems even impossible through the “rebound”-effect. To make short and long term requirements of sustainability coherent requires critical, comparative and theoretical analysis of the problems met. For this purpose important concepts and theories are discussed in this review of recent interdisciplinary literature about resource management. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability: An Impossible Future?)

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