| dc.description.abstract | Abstract
The highly debated topics of climate change, economical and political issues, and the onset of the corona pandemic are just a couple of examples that call for acknowledging the presence of risk. Such environments stand in the way of the preferred scenario for continuous development. The purpose of development has been specially emphasized since the 1960s, the period after the Second World War when a common view in the Western World was promoted to highlight the urgency of ‘economic development’ of less advanced countries. In later times the value of businesses and services they provide and the role they play in driving economic stability and sustainable development has been an active object for much discussion in both the political arena and academia (e.g. by Atkinson, 2000; Smyth, 2019). For instance, United Nations is one of the most influential global actors in promoting sustainability in the form of Sustainable Development Goals addressing economy, welfare and development in combination with a sustainable touch.
Economic entities such as businesses, companies, organizations or firms are major actors and play a significant role in the existing systems within society, and are the chosen objects of the thesis offering the platform and context in which the concept of sustainability is looked upon. Therefore, the purpose of the thesis is to comparatively analyse existing indexes and reporting approaches for measuring sustainability in business.
As it is noted in the thesis, businesses are crucial for the overall economical development and growth, yet often are the ones to be blamed for leading the environment to where it is today. ‘Unsustainability’ as an opposite state of what businesses aim for exposes companies to unnecessary actions and potential threats. It may become challenging to justify sustainability in large scale industries and businesses. Firstly, due to the inconsistency of what the term constitutes of, and secondly due to the utility of available methods.
The indices/indicators and related companies were chosen randomly, considering whether or not the information (technical notes) is available. By reviewing seven existing indexes and reporting methods I compare and analyse the main narrative and data based approaches for measuring sustainability in the context of business. The narrative ones to a large extent incorporate the theories of Triple Bottom Line (TBL), Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors, Corporate social responsibility (CSR); while the data based provide metrics as single indicators or composite indices for justifying sustainability efforts within the business. Some of the indexes present an extensive approach and, for instance, include the methods known in the risk field (as sensitivity, dominance and Monte Carlo analyses), and/or SDGs, LCA and process standards by ISO.
Another point of discussion here is whether the approaches companies follow in their reporting processes are enough. Are the theoretical suggestions from the literature dating back to the 60s applicable in the context of business today? Moreover, are they capable of promoting conditions where companies would utterly invest into the future wellbeing of society and environment by rejecting “short-term gains over serious considerations of ecological impacts” (Purvis et al., 2018, p. 3). | |