For businesses in Canada sustainability is measured by how a business ethically benefits and minimises its impact on the environment, society with a global perspective in-mind.  Considerable energy is being placed on sustainability in business.  For most companies the first step involves a corporate social responsibility (CSR) policy and following through with it.

The CSR policy provides a framework for an organisation to practice sustainability at every level including ethical corporate governance, procurement and local community outreach. One way to measure this is to create indices for businesses to compare themselves against their prior practices.  Well established measurement and support tools include The Global Reporting Initiative, World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Sustainable Community Indicators Program and Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes.. Some distinguishing features of these tools are listed below;

Principles and Effects on Business

The major categories of a CSR Policy (environmental, economic and social) are pertinent to improving the quality of life and environment locally, as well as supporting efforts to sustain a just, ecologically balanced and participatory community.  Some example strategies are listed below;

Environmental

Reducing consumption rates of virgin material - increase use of recycled, recyclable, rapidly renewable and reusable materials.  For example: recycle all products which are practically recyclable - plastic, glass, metal, wood and aggregates, retain and distribute documentation in electronic form only etc.

Economic

Running business on an equitable basis: continually up-skilling employees, improving work life balance, supporting social networks at work, establishing an ethical procurement policy, planning complete transparency in working and business practices and adapting accounting systems to measure and report sustainability and environmental issues as assets and liabilities.

Societal

Supporting local schools and public services through outreach programmes, regular and planned charitable donations and structured community outreach.  Some examples of outreach include providing regular seminars and workshops to students detailing the latest developments in industry, providing expert input to local charities and community groups and making staff aware of the broader sustainability challenges of their community.

Some sustainability examples are given below:

The University of British Columbia has established a set of sustainability goals (2006 2010):

• SOCIAL: Improve Human Health and Safety; Make UBC a Model Sustainable Community; Increase Understanding of Sustainability Inside and Outside the University
• ECONOMIC: Ensure Ongoing Economic Viability; Maintain and Enhance the Asset Base; Maintain and Maximize the Utilization of the Physical Infrastructure
• ECOLOGICAL: Reduce Pollution; Conserve Resources; Protect Biodiversity

TELUS has a Responsible Procurement Policy and Practices, expanding the use of environmentally preferred products, such as:

• Durable products;
• Reusable products;
• Energy-efficient products
• Low pollution products
• Products that contain the maximum level of post-consumer waste or recycled
  content; and
• Products that provide minimal impact to the environment.

VanCity’s responsibility to its employees is articulated by the fourth commitment in its STATEMENT OF VALUES AND COMMITMENTS which states that it will:

• ensure that VanCity is a great place to work;
• Create a workplace that is healthy, diverse, stimulating, and rewarding;
• Provide the leadership, tools, resources and opportunities for employees to do their best work and achieve their full potential; and
• Respect and honour employees responsibilities to their families, friends and communities.

Corporate sustainability in business can be viewed as a way of interrelating with the broader community. Increasingly recognised, yet poorly understood, its implementation may have profound impacts on the way we live our lives, where we work, our community structures and how we purchase and invest.

John Holland, P.Eng., C.Eng.
President, PHH ARC Environmental Ltd.

Erwinder Sanghera, B.Eng (Hons), M.Sc., MIET
Project Manager, PHH ARC Environmental Ltd.