Sustainability: A shift from "I" to "we"

Globalization has increased awareness of environmental concerns, including carbon emissions, animal extinction and global warming. In response, treaties like the Kyoto Protocol and the Copenhagen Accord aim to place an element of control and social responsibility to alleviate and manage some of these negative bi-products of globalization. In general there has been an increase in environmental policy in international business.

Compliance with environmental policies can be costly and in general, " At the level of the firm targeted by  international environmental policies, the corporate response in terms of compliance depends upon its expected economic benefits (Rugman & Verbeke, 1998)." Rugman & Verbeke (1998) posit that the focus should shift to firm-level strategic decision-making rather than government policy making. Managers must not only be aware of environmental issues, but they must also have a strategy to deal with environmental regulations (Rugman & Verbeke, 1998).

McGuire (2010), suggests the following elements as part of such strategy: development of green management modules, establishment of a green contract, environmental scenario planning, environmental auditing, green product redesign, environmental labeling, corporate consciousness, and environmental outreach. Interestingly, it is also suggested to place focus on Human Resource Development (HRD) to promote and remind organizations of their social and moral responsibilities and to foster environmentally responsive innovation and change (McGuire, 2010).

In addition, Tilbury (1995), posits that education is the key to fostering change. The UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), highlighted the need to integrate the complementary disciplines of development education and environmental education, positing that, " Education is critical for promoting sustainable development and improving the capacity of people to address environment and development issues (Tilbury, 1995)." Perhaps this is also why there has been such a push in summits and conferences on sustainability.

In contrast, many feel that there is no issue when it comes to the environment and economics. For example, The World Business Council for Sustainable Development sees no conflict between the growth of the global market and environmental stability, “we can have an open vigorous and healthy trading system and achieve sustainable development”(Hopwood, Mellor & O'Brien, 2005). Furthermore, Pangloss posits, "to improve the “environmental quality of the developing world, securing growth so as to lift these people out of hunger and poverty is of the utmost importance since … only when we are sufficiently rich can we start to … deal with environmental problems (Hopwood, Mellor & O'Brien, 2005) ”.  Maybe the real issue here, is not at the government or firm level, but rather, a lack of appreciation and lack of close links between the environment and society at the individual level. To take this a step further, perhaps culture that is the real culprit here. " The fundamental source of conflict in this new world will not be primarily ideological or primarily economic. The great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of conflict will be cultural (Lee, 2013)."

So  how can we curb emissions without, at least less, hurting our economy? Perhaps businesses need to shift their perspective on sustainability from nuisance to opportunity- " offering avenues for lowering cost and risk or even growing revenues or market share through innovation." And perhaps that innovation can be passed along to emerging economies to help them get on board with preserving the environment while continuing economic growth (Hart & Milstein, 2003). Naturally, we will need a shift from  "I" to "we".  Is this possible? Thoughts?

References:

Hart, S. L., & Milstein, M. B. (2003). Creating sustainable value. The Academy of Management Executive, 17(2), 56-67.

Hopwood, B., Mellor, M., & O'Brien, G. (2005). Sustainable development: mapping different approaches. Sustainable development, 13(1), 38-52. Retrieved fromhttp://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/9387/1/Mapping_Sustainable_Development.pdf

Lee, J. W. (2013). Week 3 Compiled Lecture Notes [PDF document]. Retrieved fromhttps://onlinecampus.bu.edu/bbcswebdav/courses/13fallmetad655_ol/Week03/metad655_W3.html

McGuire, D. (2010). Engaging organizations in environmental change: A greenprint for action. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 12(5), 508-523.

Rugman, A. M., & Verbeke, A. (1998). Corporate strategy and international environmental policy. Journal of International Business Studies, 819-833.

Tilbury, D. (1995). Environmental education for sustainability: Defining the new focus of environmental education in the 1990s. Environmental Education Research, 1(2), 195-212.