Authentic Sustainability

ISSN： 1832-2077

Source： The International Journal of Environmental, Cultural, Economic, and Social Sustainability: Annual Review, Vol.5, Iss.1, 2009-01, pp. : 107-114

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Abstract

Sustainable development, or sustainability, requires organizations to formulate objectives to determine which sustainability programs, initiatives, processes, and actions to implement that will achieve the highest Return on Investment (ROI) and impart the greatest impact upon the organization, its brand, community, and environment. Given the earth’s limited natural resources with which humanity must intelligently manage, organizations play a critical role in promoting the implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and environmental programs, practices, and initiatives.As an organization moves to implement sustainability programs, it must identify and measure specific, objective criteria to gauge success or failure. How the organization defines and provides support for such criteria, along with drivers for why the organization implements related initiatives will ultimately determine the level of impact the sustainable programs, practices, or actions will have. This paper will show how authentic reasons for sustainability will affect its success and provide specific criteria for determining authentic sustainability. Examples of various reasons and drivers for sustainability and their impact on its success will be given for a number of organizations.