1st Edition
Business and Environmental Sustainability Foundations, Challenges and Corporate Functions
Environmental sustainability is increasingly important to organisations, whether for regulatory, financial or ethical reasons. Business and Environmental Sustainability looks at the environmental aspect of sustainability for all organisations pursuing competitive advantage. The book provides theoretical foundations from science, economics, policy and strategy, introduces three environmental challenges (climate change, pollution and waste) and looks at how corporate functions can address these.
This textbook provides a thorough foundation by introducing readers to the science, reasoning and theory behind environmental sustainability and then delves into how these ideas translate into principles and business models for organisations to use. Next, it covers environmental challenges from climate change, pollution and waste, and then goes on to examine the different corporate functions (from supply chain management to human resources) to illustrate how environmental sustainability is managed and put into practice in organisations. Finally, a set of integrative case studies draws everything together and enables the reader to apply various analytical tools, with the aim of understanding how companies can not only reduce their environmental footprint but can positively contribute to environmental sustainability.
Written by an award-winning lecturer, Business and Environmental Sustainability boasts a wealth of pedagogical features, including examples from a range of industries and countries, plus a companion website with slides, quiz questions and instructor material. This will be a valuable text for students of business, management and environmental sustainability and will also be suitable for broader courses on corporate responsibility and sustainability across environmental studies, political science and engineering.
Introduction
1. Introduction: the past and the present
Part I Foundations
2. Theoretical perspectives or “behind the scenes” of economics and science: why business should know and care about environmental sustainability
3. Principles, philosophies and policies for corporate environmental sustainability: from tensions to tools for regulators and companies
4. Strategies and business models for sustainability
Part II Environmental Challenges
5. Climate Change
6. Pollution
7. Waste
Part III Corporate Functions: Managing for environmental sustainability
8. Supply chain management for sustainability
9. Design, production and operations – greener and (c)leaner
10. Marketing, communication and sustainable consumption
11. Information technology and management systems for the environment
12. Accounting: sustainability reporting, accounting and finance
13. Human resource management for environmental sustainability
Part IV: Conclusion
Introduction to conclusion
14. Integrative case studies
15. Conclusion: the future
Index
Biography
Sigrun M. Wagner is Senior Lecturer in International Business and Sustainability at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK, and Head of the Department for Strategy, International Business and Entrepreneurship in the School of Business and Management.
"Dr. Sigrun Wagner's Business and Environmental Sustainability is a great foundational text to emphasize the importance of environmental sustainability in business studies. The text introduces science, economics, policy, and strategy to help readers understand environmental sustainability. Furthermore, the text presents the integration of environmental sustainability across the functions of a business with a focus on three grand challenges: climate change, pollution, and waste. Importantly, this is one of the first sustainable business texts to introduce strong sustainability which is critical to long-term flourishing for all of us. Dr. Wagner's text will provide a firm grounding in environmental sustainability to guide tomorrow’s business leaders." - Nancy E. Landrum, Ph.D., Professor of Sustainability Management, Loyola University Chicago
