Creating a Sustainable Organization: Approaches for Enhancing Corporate Value Through Sustainability

2. Background and Context

This chapter provides some important background information and context that are needed to develop a complete appreciation of this book’s subject matter. The chapter begins with a brief introduction to sustainability and its importance to business. It then discusses terminology and general concepts, with the goal of establishing some clarity regarding what many of the commonly used words and phrases in the public dialog mean and how they differ. The chapter then presents my assessment of how and why sustainability as practiced in corporations has not advanced as far and as fast as some observers might have predicted. It also provides a similar diagnosis for the current status of sustainability investing. The purpose ...