Corporate Environmental and Social Management (Essay Sample)

Corporate Environmental and Social Management
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Task 1
The Development of global, European and National Policies Relating to Sustainability
Brundtland Definition of Sustainable Development
Several people including an international group of politicians, various environmental experts and some civil servants in the year 1987 came up with a report that enlightened and informed the world on the need of urgency of progressing through developing the economy that would be sustained through neither creating an environmental harm nor the natural resources being depleted as a result. This report was also referred as "Our Common Future”. The Brundtland report defined sustainable development as ‘the development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future’. The primary focus of the Brundtland report was on the needs of human beings and their future as well as equal redistribution of the available resources to the poorer nations and this was meant to boost the growth of their economy. As part of the equity of all humans, the report suggested safeguarding and environmental maintenance as well as encouraging the resource base conservation and enhancement and monitoring the technology used so as not to harm the environment, growth of the economic and ensuring social equity e.g. through basic needs being met like the food, sanitation, water, employment and even energy as per the report. This was encouraged by the report so that while the process of productivity is maintained so as to ensure sustainability, the resources with an equal or greater value can be used as a replacement of the used resources without necessarily the natural biotic systems being endangered or degraded at all.
Change in Altitudes of Public, Politicians and business to the environment management
There have been intensive discussions that have been carried out over time in search of better policy coordination while the nations involved are in pursuit of sustainable development. These discussions are held for the reason that there is need to put measures for integration of the environmental considerations into what is referred to as the sectorial policies and also need for the provision of such policies to serve the people so that the future environmental condition is safeguarded. So as to promote the sustainable development, there is necessity for prerequisites for the integration of both the vertical and the horizontal policies that are in place. In the environmental policy integration process, both the national and international drivers are very important and therefore they are relevant for the whole process of monitoring the environment (Nilsson & Eckerberg, 2007). In each contribution there is an emphasis of the general importance of the environmental policy integration. In Germany for instance it was found out that this environmental policy integration during its creation of the sustainable development plans and the strategies that Germany laid played a very vital role and that it is increasingly important at the Lander level. On the other hand, the horizontal dimension comprises of obviously the action plans and the strategies that focus on climate since climate strategies and climate plans are the ones that affect the various policy arenas for example, the agriculture, energy and transport.
Sustainable development is encouraged since it is possible for the humans to make the development sustainable since they poses the ability to ensure that the present needs are met without compromise as well as ensuring the needs of the future generations are to be met because of the same reason that they have the ability to carry the mantle. For sustainable development to be achieved, change must be exhibited where there is consistence with the present and also the future by the resource exploitation, investment direction, institutional changes and the technical development orientation. The Brundtland report was given key reference as it enlightened that there is an interweaving of both ecology and the economy in various levels i.e. locally, regional level, in the national level and to a larger extent globally into a kind of seamless net constituting of the causes and the effects that are experienced afterwards. One of the global environmental problems that that found to be the major cause is poverty. It was found out that it would be absurd to try to solve problems related to environmental issues without putting at hand the broader perspective that touches on the factors that underlie the international inequality and the world poverty to mention a few. The aim was to establish the environment and the economy’s connection as the foundation to build on an equal and just society, a situation that each individual would hope for.
Most of the environmental plans which were already in use by the year 1992 were weak and they were not even functioning (Steure, M., 2007). The countries involved realized that they had to play a role that was even more active compared to the earlier ones in improving the environment for the good of the public by simply adopting the agenda for the 21st century. The involved authorities had to solve the problems that were associated with the environment and the problems associated with the development of the economy by use of a complex and concerted way in a manner that involved the collaboration of the whole world (UNCED, Agenda 21, 1992) so as to ensure a safe future for humanity. To achieve this objective, there was an underlining of the role of the various governments in the international partnership. In order to prevent the occurrence of a global catastrophe, this document required them to make necessary actions and on top of that the international organizations had to coordinate the efforts of the states so that the goals set could be achieved. To ensure their consistency, all the countries were called to start the development of national strategies so that they could put up national councils that will enable the sustainable development and to also implement the tenet of sustainable development through various plans e.g. the social, economic plans and the environmental plan so that the citizens of these countries would benefit.
International and UK to Sustainable Development Since the Earth Summit of 1992
Earth summit of 1992 took place at Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and this summit was held twenty years after the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (UNCHE) which took place in Stockholm in Sweden. More than 130 countries attended the summit and they all participated in the in signing a convention on biodiversity and the ever changing climate. Plan of action for sustaining the planet all through the 21st century was reached by the delegates. This action plan was referred to as Agenda 21. The negotiations had come to level in terms of matters concerning money. These therefore meant that there was tension and rift in terms the rich and the poor since the industrialized countries have the money and the developing countries need that money and these simply meant that if the industrialized countries need the environmental protection they ought to be ready to pay for it. The summit stated that for the international community to experience the necessary changes, we will need to transform our attitudes and behaviors. The following are some of the policies that the earth summit came up with.
The agreements that were majorly aimed towards change to the approach for development that were traditionally put in place were three and they include, the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development and this was composed of a series of principles which defines the rights and responsibilities of the involved states. The other agreement was on Agenda 21 which was a thorough action program that can be applied in all areas of sustainable development worldwide. The third and the last agreement was The Statement of Forest Principles. This agreement comprised of a fixed number of principles that underlie the sustainable management of the forests globally.
The other conference was held in Johannesburg in the year 2002 in September. It was also referred to as the World Summit. There was reconfirmation of the commitment to sustainable development which was stated on official reports and documents as well as the presentation of the delegates from the 191 countries.
Amongst these agreements were the policies that define the rights and responsibilities of the states and their people i.e. for sustainable development, the human beings are at the center of concerns hence they have a right to a healthy and productive life with nature. There should be no delay in measures that are meant to prevent degradation of the environment which is implying threats that may also be irreversible by the scientific uncertainty. States should not cause harm to other states’ environment as each state has its sovereign right to exploit its own resource.
The responsibility to bear in the international pursuit of sustainable development should be accepted by the developed countries in regard to the view that their societies exert on the global environment and of the technologies and the resources from finance that they instruct to be carried out. All the countries mostly the ones that are already developed should be on the lead to carry out the process of conservation of forests and reforestation, the other one is that to encourage the social and economic policies the specific financial resources should be provided to for program development.
‘Triple bottom line’ Approach to Sustainability
The triple bottom line was an accounting framework that went way beyond the traditional measures of profit and even the returns from the investments made. It comprises...