Abstract
The relationship between corporate and sustainability performance continues to be controversial and unclear, not withstanding numerous theoretical and empirical studies. Despite this, views on corporate responsibilities “meet where management can show how voluntary social and environmental management contributes to the competitiveness and economic success of the company.” This approach is fundamental to the business case for infrastructure sustainability. It suggests that beyond-compliance activities undertaken by companies are commercially justified if they can be shown to contribute to profitability and shareholder value. Potential public good benefits range across a wide spectrum of economic (for example employment, local purchasing, reduced demand for electricity generation), social (indigenous employment and development, equity of access), and environmental (lower greenhouse gas emission, reduced use of non-renewable resources and potable water, less waste, enhanced biodiversity). Some of these benefits have impacts that lie in more than one of the economic, social, and environmental areas of public goods. Using a sustainability rating schemes and potential business benefits from sustainability initiatives, this paper presents a brief summary of an online survey of industry that identifies how rating scheme themes and business benefits relate. This allows for a case to be built demonstrating which sustainability themes offer particular business benefits.
Keywords
- Business Case
- Corporate Sustainability
- Sustainability Performance
- Sustainability Initiative
- Employee Engagement
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Acknowledgments
This work was undertaken as part of the Sustainability Assessment for Infrastructure Project and is part of the larger CRC for Infrastructure and Engineering Asset Management. The CRC for Infrastructure and Engineering Asset Management (CIEAM) would like to acknowledge the financial support from the Commonwealth Government’s Cooperative Research Centres Program and the contributions from our industry, government, and university participants. The overall support provided by the CEO, Professor Joseph Mathew, is gratefully appreciated.
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Stapledon, T., Shaw, G., Kumar, A., Hood, D. (2015). Understanding the Business Case for Infrastructure Sustainability. In: Lee, W., Choi, B., Ma, L., Mathew, J. (eds) Proceedings of the 7th World Congress on Engineering Asset Management (WCEAM 2012). Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-06966-1_48
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-06966-1_48
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