Environmental soundness: a pragmatic alternative to expectations of sustainable development in business strategy

In recent years, many companies have responded publicly to pressure to improve their environmental performance. The paradigm within which these responses have been made, however, appears to be confused. This paper proposes the role that companies are best able to play in the societal progression towards sustainable development. We argue that the concept of sustainable development may only be properly applied at the global level; it follows that a ‘sustainably developed’ company or industry sector is not a practical objective. Nevertheless, the contribution which business can make within a sustainable development framework is recognized as being of the highest importance. We suggest that the nature of this contribution pivots around a distinction between environmental soundness (which concerns the interaction between the environment and economics) and sustainability (which adds a broad social element to the environmental and economic, and requires the consideration of time horizons). It is proposed that companies are well positioned to pursue effective environmentally sound corporate strategies. It is also argued that such strategies offer great potential to advance social justice, as environmental improvements are often disproportionately beneficial to poorer groups in society. In contrast, arguments are presented against companies attempting to move beyond environmental soundness to address those broad social elements demanded by sustainable development. A broad allocation of those responsibilities inherent in sustainable development to societal institutions is presented, placing the suggested role of business into context. In advocating the adoption of corporate strategies based on environmental soundness we do not seek to derogate the concept of sustainable development; we do aim to stem the apparent continuing erosion of its fundamental tenets and to identify responsibilities that are appropriate to business. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.