A culture of sustainability or do we aim to solve one problem at a time?

Wisdom is avoiding situations where we will need it

With this article, it is argued that what we need in our world today is to create a culture of sustainability. Where the majority of businesses globally are aware of their most important impacts on the environment, economy and society and take action to minimise their negative and increase their positive impacts. A culture of sustainability will help create the wisdom we need to avoid situations where we will need it.

We are now collectively taking action to reduce the most negative impacts of climate change. Burning fires and CO2s was not an issue for thousands of years because there were so few of us on Earth. These impacts were absorbed by the Earth’s systems.

In today’s world, with a population of over 7 billion, there are more people on Earth than what there has been collectively over at least many hundreds of years. There are so many of us that we no longer can afford to conduct business as usual. We need to create a culture of sustainability and conduct business in clever, sustainable ways: where the majority of companies have an all-round view of their impacts and take action to reduce negative and increase positive outcomes.

With a culture of sustainability businesses will:

• understand the benefits of clearing their supply chains of all bad environmental and social practices
• know how they contribute to the societies and economies they rely on for growth and profit and share important information with stakeholders that are key for their success.

FBRH Sustainability Assurance Standards (for GRI reports)

The FRRH Sustainability Assurance Standards (for GRI reports) have been created as a simplified and meaningful tool to increase the quality of reports and promote a culture of sustainability:

• It is the only Sustainability Assurance Standard designed specifically for GRI Standards reports.
• Only expert FBRH Assurers who have passed the GRI exam provide assurance services.

• Different types of assurance focus on specific GRI Standards that can promote positive change. Whilst these Standards are not a panacea, they provide organisations and stakeholders with a good overall picture and identify areas for improvement.
  • GRI supplier environmental and social assessment standards (GRI 308 & GRI 414) will help companies begin the process of clearing their supply chains of bad practices.
  • Use of GRI 201-1 Direct economic value generated and distributed (EVG&D). Information on the creation and distribution of economic value provides a basic indication of how an organisation has created wealth for stakeholders.

Small and medium-size enterprises represent 90% of global economic activity

The FBRH Sustainability Assurance Standards (for GRI reports) have been designed to increase the pace of change and the number of companies affecting positive change on the environment, economy and society.

With the world’s population projected to reach 10 billion by 2050, a culture of sustainability is needed so we can continually address the many current and future challenges.