Sustainability and CSRIn this post, José Vera, a collaborating professor at Bureau Veritas University Center , talks to us about Sustainability in connection with the Official University Master's Degree in Corporate Responsibility .
I allow myself the joke of the subtitle of this writing on "Sustainability" based on two ideas that immediately came to my mind at the same moment in which I received the request to write about this topic, which is so highly topical .
The first and most formal reason is that, until very recently, the Royal Spanish Academy of Language had not included this word in its dictionary . Now it only says:
Sustainability: 1. f. Quality of being sustainable.
And as the Spanish proverb says: “For this trip…” Despite the bank data briefness of the definition, I have the impression (almost certain) that, in recent years, this has been one of the most used words , both verbally and in writing, in all areas of business and political management ; but without being convinced that those who use it know exactly its broader meaning . That is why I usually write it with caution, that is, in quotation marks and in italics.
The second, perhaps somewhat more profound, is based on my personal experience over the last ten years in which I have had the opportunity to touch on this subject quite directly. "Sustainability" , except for large companies and corporations or for some grandiloquent political speeches, remains an unfinished business that, due to this persistent crisis, may take a while to access that second opportunity in September for an eventual recovery .
The concept of “sustainability” remains largely unknown to small and medium-sized businesses and, above all, to the general public . As an essay, I suggest that the reader (who is a bit curious) conduct a small survey among his or her close associates: friends, neighbours, work colleagues, etc., from which he or she can draw his or her own conclusions.
However, despite this slightly pessimistic start, I am firmly convinced that “Sustainability” is “here to stay” (as this modern and journalistic catchphrase says ) and that it will be a topic of primary concern for future managers, both business and political . To argue this, I rely on the following pillars:
The economic pillar. Companies that do not make money are not sustainable.
The environmental pillar. Ecology must be taken into account throughout the entire manufacturing process, in the broadest sense of the word.
The social pillar. By social we mean the entire spectrum of interest groups ( stakeholders ) that interact around a company or institution. And another, no less important, which is...
And the pillar of ethics that, unfortunately, is one of the most abandoned and, above all, least valued in recent times.
The first pillar is self-explanatory. I think there is little more to add. Much has been written about this sine qua non condition for companies to survive. Money is needed not only for the day-to-day running of companies, but also to secure their future with appropriate investments .
Regarding the second pillar, the new generations have become aware of the need to preserve the future of the planet and are increasingly demanding about ecologically sustainable behavior in all aspects of human activity . Although, paraphrasing the engineer-economist Leopoldo Abadía, I am not very clear about whether what should concern us most is what kind of planet we want to leave to our children and grandchildren; or what children and grandchildren we are going to leave to this poor old planet. In any case, I do not think there is much more to add to understand the meaning of this pillar.
The social pillar may seem to be somewhat more subjective. It is not in vain that it is about subjects, about people, both individually and collectively. We could establish a comparison with the roots of a tree, each one encompassing a different group. I am referring to employees (first of all), customers, suppliers, shareholders, citizens in our immediate surroundings and, by extrapolation, the socio-political institutions that are affected by any business activity.
These first three pillars are what form the well-known "Triple Bottom Line" so recommended in all "Sustainability" initiatives as the main element for measuring and assessing companies . See, for example: the GRI ( Global Reporting Initiative ) methodology or the DJSI ( Down Jones Sustainability Index ) of the New York Stock Exchange.