Sustainability Performance

• Objectives
– To gain insights into the nature of economic, social
and environmental sustainability performance
• Intended learning outcomes
– Assess the economic, social and environment
sustainability performance of a firm using the GRI
framework►

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 Sustainability Performance
Meeting the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own
needs
United Nations Brundtland Commission,
1987

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 Economic System

• Sum-total of institutions and patterns of behavior

that organize economic activity in a society
• A system of production, resource
allocation and distribution of goods and
services within a society
• Three basic questions: what to produce, how to
produce and in what quantities and who receives the
output of production
• Types of economic systems: Capitalism, Socialism,
and Mixed economy. ►
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 Economic System:
What It Comprise of
• Methods of control over the factors or means of
production
• A decision-making system
• A coordination mechanism
• An incentive system
• Organizational form
• A distribution system
• A public choice mechanism- law-making, establishing
rules, norms and standards and levying taxes►
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 The Main Functions of The
Economic System
1. Bring about a balance between supply and effective
demand for goods and services
2. What goods and services are to be produced and in
what quantities
3. Allocate scarce resources among the industries
producing goods and services
4. Determine the best possible productive methods
for the full utilization of the resources of the society
5. Distribute the products of agriculture and industry
among members of the community►
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 Global Justice

Point Counter Point

• ↑ FDI → ↑Job creation →
↑ Wealth
• ↑ FDI → ↑ Inequalities &
Poverty by depressing
wages of poor & middle
class while enhancing
wealth of economic elites
• Workers are often treated
as disposable tools ►

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 Economic Sustainability
Performance
Organization’s contribution to the sustainability
of a larger economic system
• Economic Performance ►
– Economic value, benefit plans, Govt. Assistance
• Market Presence
– Local sourcing, pay/ considerations thereof
• Indirect Economic Impacts
– Expenditure in social aspects ►

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 Morality and Environment

• World Commission on Environment and

Development (Brutland report 1987)
• Moral obligation to obey the law, avoid intervening in
the political arena to defeat or weaken
environmental legislation
– Excess use of natural resources
– Externalities of production (pollution)
• Obligations in an ascending order of difficulty in
carrying out
– Avoiding harm → preventing harm → doing good►
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 Capital:
Natural and Human Made
• Natural Capital
– Naturally occurring organic and inorganic
resources, including not just physical items but
also genetic information, biodiversity, life-support
systems
• Human-made Capital
– People, their skills, intelligence, virtues,
institutions ►

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 The Funnel Metaphor

Sustainable
Systems and Restoration
Organizations

https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=EbZcQe9J-EE

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 Cycles of Nature
Open system with https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Gng
respect to energy
0tfOuNM
Closed system with
respect to matter
1) Nothing disappears
2) Everything disperses

« Photosynthesis
pays the bill »
Sustainability is
about the ability of
our own human
society to continue
indefinitely within
these natural
cycles

Slow geological cycles Slow geological cycles

(volcano eruptions and (sedimentation and
weathering) mineralization)

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 How we Influence Cycles of Nature

Physically inhibit
nature’s ability to
run cycles
Create
barriers to
people
meeting their
basic needs
worldwide

Introduce persistent
compounds foreign to
nature
Extract large flows of
materials from the
Earth’s crust

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 Environmental Performance
• An organization’s impacts on living and non-living
natural systems, including ecosystems, land, air, and
water.
• Indicators cover performance related to inputs (e.g.,
material, energy, water) and outputs (e.g., emissions,
effluents, waste).
• In addition, they cover performance related to
biodiversity, environmental compliance, and other
relevant information such as environmental
expenditure and the impacts of products and services
►
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 Assessment Parameters

1. Materials- use by weight/ volume/ recycled

2. Energy- efficiency/ renewable energy
3. Water- recycle/ reuse
4. Emissions, Effluents, and Waste- type/ extent
5. Biodiversity- habitat protection
6. Products and Services- Green products/ packaging
7. Transport- energy efficiency
8. Compliance- Fines paid, etc.
9. Overall- Expenditure on associated aspects
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 Social Equity
Sustainability Performance

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 Human Needs and
9 needs Principles for Meeting the needs
Nine Needs Five Principles
1. Subsistence 1. Health
2. Protection 2. Influence
3. Participation 3. Competence
4. Undertaking 4. Impartiality
5. Affection 5. Meaning making
6. Idleness
7. Creation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
8. Identity FyT9TMlzC6s
9. Freedom
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 Social Equity Sustainability

1. Labor Practices And Decent Work

Performance , 6 aspects &16 Indicators ►
2. Human Rights Performance, 8 aspects & 12
Indicators ►
3. Society Performance, 5 aspects & 11
Indicators ►
4. Product Responsibility Performance, 5
aspects & 9 Indicators ►

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 Illustration

• Sustainability report (ESG) of Infosys

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 Course Summary

1. Ethical theory and business

2. Individual moral development
3. Corporate moral development
4. Ethics and functional areas of management
5. Corporate social responsibility
6. Sustainability performance

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 End-Semester Examination

• Section – A
– Assess understanding of concepts thru MCQs
• Section – B
– Assess ability to create perspectives/ solutions by
analyzing given contexts applying learnt concepts
and by evaluating alternatives

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