Ch. 2

Question 1

Define sustainability.

Answer 1

humanity meeting its current needs without overburdening the natural environment or future generations

Question 2

Define environmental sustainability.

Answer 2

Environmental sustainability means maintaining ecological integrity, preserving biodiversity, and maintaining the balance of natural systems (such as the global cli-mate), and it means that natural resources are consumed by humans at a rate less than that at which they can be replenished.

Question 3

Define social sustainability

Answer 3

Social sustainability means that a minimum standard of basic necessities and human rights is afforded to all people, who have sufficient resources to keep them-selves, their families, and their communities healthy and secure.

Question 4

Define economic sustainability.

Answer 4

Economic sustainability means having economic systems that are accessible to everyone and that help to spread and generate prosperity globally.

Question 5

When was the first major United Nations meeting on environmental issues?

Answer 5

1972

Question 6

Who first defined “sustainable development”?

Answer 6

the Brundtland Commission in 1987

Question 7

What is corporate social responsibility?

Answer 7

corporate social responsibility (CSR), is when companies undertake social or environmental activities for the wider benefit of society

Question 8

What does ESG stand for?

Answer 8

“E” referring to environment, “S” to social, and “G” to governance

Question 9

Where did the term ESG originate?

Answer 9

In the financial section, and the term ESG was coined in a 2005 report by the UN Global Compact

Question 10

Describe the E in ESG

Answer 10

a company’s relationship to climate change or to nature: Typical metrics include a company’s carbon dioxide emissions, water usage, or its impact on deforestation.

Question 11

Describe the S in ESG

Answer 11

how a company treats its employees and manages relationships with suppliers and communities

Question 12

Describe the G in ESG

Answer 12

a company’s leadership, including board composition, executive compensation, risk management, and other internal procedures

Question 13

What is one important way that ESG scores can be used?

Answer 13

One important purpose is their use in screening companies for inclusion in ESG investment funds.

Question 14

Name an important set of international sustainability goals

Answer 14

United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are part of the 2030 Agenda

Question 15

What are ecosystem services?

Answer 15

the benefits (directly quantifiable resources like timber production or less tangible services like spiritual values) ecosystems provide to humans

Question 16

What are supporting ecosystem services?

Answer 16

fundamental conditions that enable the existence of all other services (e.g. species habitat and genetic diversity)

Question 17

What are provisioning ecosystem services?

Answer 17

services that generate resources, such as freshwater and food, for society that can often be traded in markets.

Question 18

What are regulating ecosystem services?

Answer 18

These services involve the regulation of valuable natural processes such as carbon sequestration and pollination.

Question 19

What are cultural ecosystem services?

Answer 19

the non-material benefits and enjoyment humans derive from ecosystems

Question 20

What is a natural capital?

Answer 20

a slightly wider view of resources than ecosystem services, incorporating the value of all the world’s natural assets, including geology and minerals

Question 21

What is decoupling?

Answer 21

Decoupling is when organisations claim to fulfill stakeholders’ expectations for action on sustainability, without actually making any changes in what they do in practice.

Question 22

What is attention deflection?

Answer 22

Attention deflection is when organisations hide unsustainable practices from stakeholder attention, prepare selective and inaccurate disclosures, make incomplete comparisons with other products and services, and use vague and irrelevant statements.

Question 23

What is greenwishing? (not greenwashing)

Answer 23

well-intended efforts to tackle sustainability challenges, which may not make enough of a difference or encourage superficial changes when more structural ones are required

Question 24

What are the 4 phases of life cycle assessments (LCA)?

Answer 24

1. Goal and scope definition
2. Inventory analysis
3. Impact assessment
4. Interpretation

Question 25

Which group does research on corporate social responsibility and shares best practices on sustainability among its members?

Answer 25

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). The Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) group has played a similar role to the WBCSD for investors.

Question 26

What is the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework?

Answer 26

a framework through which companies can report on all sustainability related impacts, regardless of whether these are financially material to investors or not

Question 27

Which frameworks allow companies to specifically report on those sustainability issues which are financially material to investors?

Answer 27

Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and the newly formed International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB)