ACCA P1考試：Integrated Reporting and Sustainability

1.4.2 Interactions

Although social and environmental impact issues have been separately identified previously, it can be argued that they should not be analysed separately because of the multiple interactions between them because:

economic impacts increasingly include the monetary value of social and environmental costs and benefits;

reaping environmental benefits is often conditional upon the achievement of social changes; and

socio-economic conditions influence environmental awareness and the subsequent level of diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies.

2 Sustainability

2.1 The Concept*

Sustainable development:

"… not a fixed state of harmony, but rather a process of change in which the exploitation of resources, the direction of investments, the orientation of technological development and institutional change are made consistent with future as well as present needs.

"Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

—Bruntland report to the World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987

"Improving the quality of human life while living within the carrying capacity of supporting ecosystems."

—World Wildlife Fund, 1991

*The "needs of the present" include the provision of economic, social and environmental benefits. New development should be judged against criteria (e.g. public transport, affordable housing and avoidance of long commutes). Unsustainable development includes environmentally destructive features (e.g. traffic pollution) or uses of non-replaceable energy (e.g. oil).

The concept of sustainability can be considered from several viewpoints. For example:

Sustainable for whom and what: humans, animals, natural resources, developed nations, developing nations?

Sustainable in what way: ecological focus or social focus, needs or wants, current status quo or change?

Sustainable for how long: definite, indefinite, infinite?

Sustainable at what cost: economic, generation, preservation, substitution?