It is important to note that there are many activities that an organization can undertake for the benefit of the environment. Some of these activities may be sustainable, but many of them are not truly sustainable yet very beneficial as they reduce the negative impact on the environment. These environmentally beneficial activities embraced by corporations become the guidelines that are followed, better known as “principles.”
As a result of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989, a group of investors launched the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies (CERES). This group, which subsequently went by the name CERES, consisted of over 130 institutional and socially responsible investors, environmental and social advocacy groups, and other public interest organizations. This organization developed a set of 10 principles that organizations should adopt in order to achieve sustainability. In addition to the CERES principles, other organizations adopted their own set of principles with associated goals. Some of these other principles include the following:
The Hannover Principles
Precautionary Principle
CommunityPrinciples of Sustainable Development for MinnesotaOntario Round Table on Environment and Economy (ORTEE)The Netherlands National Environmental Policy Plan (NEPP)The Earth CharterInternational Council of Local Environment Initiatives (ICLEI)
Natural resourcesAmerican Petroleum Institute (API) Environmental, Health, and Safety PrinciplesForest Stewardship Council (FSC) Principles and Criteria for Forest StewardshipMarine Stewardship Council (MSC) Principles and Criteria for Sustainable FishingThe Asilomar Declaration for Sustainable Agriculture
Ecological designThe Five Principles of Ecological DesignTodds' Principles of Ecological DesignThe Sanborn PrinciplesUS Green Building Council and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)
BiosphereDeep Ecology's Basic PrinciplesCharter of Rights and Responsibilities for the EnvironmentBiomimicry PrinciplesMollisonian Permaculture Principles
UN 2030 AGENDA
In September 2015, the United Nations passed a resolution titled Transforming our world: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Included in this agenda were 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) along with 169 targets. The purpose of the goals and targets was to stimulate action over the next 15 years in areas of critical importance for humanity and the planet. More specifically, the agenda focused on the following five areas:
1 People—We are determined to end poverty and hunger, in all their forms and dimensions, and to ensure that all human beings can fulfill their potential in dignity and equality and in a healthy environment.
2 Planet—We are determined to protect the planet from degradation, including through sustainable consumption and production, sustainably managing its natural resources and taking urgent action on climate change, so that it can support the needs of the present and future generations.
3 Prosperity—We are determined to ensure that all human beings can enjoy prosperous and fulfilling lives and that economic, social, and technological progress occurs in harmony with nature.
4 Peace—We are determined to foster peaceful, just, and inclusive societies that are free from fear and violence. There can be no sustainable development without peace and no peace without sustainable development.
5 Partnership—We are determined to mobilize the means required to implement this Agenda through a revitalized global partnership for sustainable development, based on a spirit of strengthened global solidarity, focused in particular on the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable and with the participation of all countries, all stakeholders and all people.
THE 17 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
The 17 SDGs adopted by the United Nations in 2015 are most often depicted as a table such as Figure 3.1.
FIGURE 3.1 2015–2030 Sustainable development goals.
The SDGs were written as a blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for everyone on the planet. They address the global challenges that are before everyone, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate, environmental degradation, prosperity, and peace and justice. The SDGs interconnect with a target to be successful by 2030. The 17 SDGs can be summarized as follows:
1 No poverty—End poverty in all its forms everywhere.Extreme poverty has been cut by more than half since 1990, but more than one in five people still live on less than the target figure of US$1.25 per day. That target may not be adequate for human subsistence, however, as there is always an effort to increase it. People also live in poverty if they lack basic services such as healthcare, security, and education. They also experience hunger, social discrimination, and exclusion from decision-making processes.Gender inequality plays a large role in perpetuating poverty and its risks. Women face potentially life-threatening risks from early pregnancy and frequent pregnancies. This can result in lost hope for an education and for a better income. Poverty affects age groups differently, with the most devastating effects experienced by children. It affects their education, health, nutrition, and security, impacting emotional and spiritual development.Achieving SDG 1 is hampered by growing inequality, increasingly fragile statehood, and the impacts of climate change.
2 Zero hunger—End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture.SDG 2 states that by 2030 we should end hunger and all forms of malnutrition. This would be accomplished by doubling agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers (especially women and indigenous peoples), by ensuring sustainable food production systems and by progressively improving land and soil quality.Other targets deal with maintaining genetic diversity of seeds, increasing access to land, preventing trade restriction and distortions in world agricultural markets to limit extreme food price volatility, eliminating waste with help from the International Food Waste Coalition, and ending malnutrition and undernutrition of children.A report by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) of 2013 stated that the emphasis of the SDGs should not be on ending poverty by 2030, but on eliminating hunger and under-nutrition by 2025. The assertion is based on an analysis of experiences in China, Vietnam, Brazil, and Thailand. Three pathways to achieve this were identified: (i) agriculture-led; (ii) social protection- and nutrition- intervention-led; or (iii) a combination of both of these approaches [1].
3 Good health and well-being—Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.Significant strides have been made in increasing life expectancy and reducing some of the common killers associated with child and maternal mortality; however, the number of children dying under age five is still extremely high at 41 deaths per 1000 live births [2]. Additional key strategies for meeting SDG 3 will be to reduce adolescent pregnancy (which is strongly linked to gender equality), provide better data for all women and girls, and achieve universal coverage of skilled birth attendants.Continued improvement on access to clean water and sanitation will reduce the spread of malaria, tuberculosis, polio, and HIV/AIDS. SDG 3 also aims to achieve universal health coverage, including access to essential medicines and vaccines. Attention to health and well-being also includes targets related to the prevention and treatment of substance abuse, deaths, and injuries from traffic accidents and from hazardous chemicals and air, water, and soil pollution and contamination.
4 Quality education—Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.Major progress has been made in access to education, specifically at the primary school level, for both boys and girls, but there is still a ways to go. Target 1 of SDG 4 is to ensure that, by 2030, all girls and boys complete free, equitable, and quality primary