Environmental

Environmental sustainability rests on the principle that everything needed for human survival and well-being depends on the natural environment. Businesses can take an active role in creating conditions that ensure humans have continued access to and benefit from the resources found in nature.

Activities include working to reduce pollution, waste generation, and natural resource use (e.g., energy, water, materials). There may also be activities to preserve biodiversity, manage land use, and develop sustainable products and services.

Sustainable environmental management involves identifying negative environmental impacts of an organization and working to eliminate or avoid them. At its best, environmental sustainability creates positive or regenerative impacts, such as creating more renewable energy than is used.

What will I learn in this section?

There are a variety of environmental topics that relate to business activities. Understanding these topics provides a foundation to work on projects and policies that are most relevant for reducing the environmental impacts from your organization’s activities.

Take a moment to look at the list of topics in the left navigation to learn what is covered in this section.

Understanding environmental risk

Environmental risk is pervasive in today’s interconnected, unpredictable world. Every company, large and small, has a degree of environmental risk. It may arise from external, uncontrollable forces, within a company’s operations, or through supply chains.

External environmental risks include many of the physical impacts associated with climate change. Extreme weather events, rising sea levels, floods, droughts, and similar effects of the warming climate pose substantial risks to virtually every supply chain. As such, today’s business leaders are increasingly identifying, assessing, and managing environmental risks as they become more material and demand urgent attention.

Internal, operational environmental risks vary by industry. Here are some common (and preventable) sources of environmental risk arising from internal and supply chain operations:

• Being unaware of environmental risks in a company’s operations can result in an unanticipated release or spill of a pollutant.
• By disregarding environmental regulations and safeguards, a company faces the risk of enforcement action by a government agency or private legal action by affected groups.
• An issue or event that conveys indifference (or worse) to environmental protection will harm a company’s reputation and brand far more than any advantage gained.
• Actual or apparent failure to manage and minimize environmental impacts may create barriers to attracting investment.

Above all, environmental risks, when not managed effectively, can get out in front of a company and put it in a defensive, reactive posture. It makes good business sense to understand, assess, and manage environmental risks from the start.