BIC: Two minutes to understand sustainable development

sustainable development everybody's talking about it but what do those two words really mean let's take a couple of minutes to see what sustainable development is all about the idea first emerged in the late 1980s as a response to the world's growing social and environmental problems with globalization the inequality gap between rich and poor countries is widening everyday and the projections for population growth are alarming how are we going to feed a total of nine billion people in 2050 how can we offer everyone access to clean drinking water health care education how can we protect biodiversity

and take concrete action against climate change how can we make sure that industrial development means progress for everyone the proposed solution was a new kind of development or rather a variation of the traditional model called quite simply sustainable development the term was officially defined in 1987 as part of the preparations for the Rio Earth Summit sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs does that sound a little abstract to you let's put it this way sustainable development means that growth must

be accomplished with respect the nature and humankind and where is sustainability achieved right here at the crossroads of economic goals social responsibility and environmental protection now are you wondering whether a company can combine respect for the environment the social equity and commercial success well the answer is yes not only that but sustainable development creates value here's how upgrading production tools to use less energy and water is good for the environment and for the pocket-book offering eco-design products and packaging that use just what's necessary saves materials and reduces shipping costs paying attention to employees improving their

quality of life at work and helping them develop their skills all serve to strengthen their engagement and stronger employee engagement means better overall performance creating products that are accessible to the world's poorest populations means opening new markets the ones whose populations are going to grow the fastest between now and 2050 monitoring the working conditions offered by suppliers and subcontractors means minimizing risks that could damage the company's image as you can see sustainable development affects just about everything more and more companies today understand that they have important economic social and environmental responsibilities and are committed to

making a difference the ones that seize this opportunity to create value will find that their success is in a word sustainable you you