Academics, policymakers, business people, members of civil society and individuals have all recognized the significant effect the activities of the private sector have on employees, customers, communities, the environment, competitors, business partners, investors, shareholders, governments and...

Sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) have become mainstays of business activities: the percentage of large global companies professing to practice some form of sustainability and CSR has been steadily increasing, sustainability reporting has become the norm and businesses of...

Corporate governance is the responsibility of the company’s board of directors, which is charged with designing, implementing and monitoring the structures and processes for the direction and control of the company. The fiduciary duties and responsibilities of directors are derived from a...

Sustainable finance has been explained to be a long-term approach to finance and investing, emphasizing long-term thinking, decision-making and value creation, and has also been described as the interrelationships that exist between environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) issues on the...

Corporate sustainability initiatives are most effective when sustainability principles have been integrated into the company’s governance and management processes and proactively and publicly embraced by the board of directors, which is responsible for oversight of the environmental and social...

This chapter works through the evolution of the concept of sustainability that has occurred over the last several decades under the influence of three main groups: ecologists, the United Nation’s World Commission on Environment and Development, often referred to as the “Brundtland...

Arguably the path to becoming a sustainable business begins with acting in a socially responsible manner with respect to the company’s labor practices. One of the most important contributions that a business can make to society is creating jobs, paying wages and other compensation for work...

While organizational performance is a much discussed topic, the reality is that there is a good deal of confusion and argument regarding how it should be defined, conceptualized and measured. The traditional approach has been to focus on the ability of the organization to achieve its economic...

Good governance and effective management is the responsibility of organizational leaders. While all leaders should have a vision and desire to inspire their followers to take collective action to make it happen, sustainability leaders can be distinguished as people who inspire and support action...

The idea of a separate seat among a company’s executive leadership dedicated to sustainability first emerged in the mid-2000s and since then companies have hired professionals to work with directors and chief executive officers to design and implement operational strategies and organizational...