Sustainable Boardrooms

This book discusses various interactions in the sustainability and development sector. It presents a thematic approach to describe progressive models and cases on disruptions, innovations, regulatory and institutional evolution related to the area of sustainability, through an organizational and boardroom level governance lens. It documents how certain schools of thought, models of engagement and methods-platforms-practices impact society and while doing so, brings together varying theoretical debates, practicing models and instruments of transformation in green governance. Sustainable policy making demands a whole of government approach in decision-making processes. Further, inclusiveness and ‘green’ consciousness of corporate boardrooms are paramount, without which, effective socially responsible business practices are absurd. Human resource development, shaped on sustainable corporate ethics, requires well-trained sustainability specialists, managers that can think ‘green’ in their overall decision making which are essential for green governance. In this context, the book creates a functional, interpretive repertoire of stories, commentaries, life experiences, and reflections of corporate leaders, academics, and practicing consultants, on their decision-making processes, and how they interpret sustainability. These stories and thoughts help create a functional academic construct, which will assist academics teach ‘green’ competencies to business school students better, and entrepreneurs and business executives to better understand the idea of sustainable growth.

A Global CEO study by Accenture and the UN Global Compact has shown that 94% of CEOs think that their board should discuss sustainability. And yet there is a real danger that boards are not living up to expectations on sustainability, paying lip-service to the concept rather than fully embedding social and environmental issues into their strategies and operations. Talking Sustainability in the Boardroom sets out why this is the case, identifies the obstacles, and then explains the opportunities for the long-term performance of the organisation that can arise through focusing on social and environmental issues. Written by two leading specialists in sustainability who have significant experience of working directly with boards, this book presents a very practical framework for embedding sustainability into board conversations and strategies. Steps include identifying and prioritising the social and environmental issues that are most pertinent to the organisation and will have the biggest impact on business, presenting the competences and skills to enable this, guidance on how to structure board meetings to ensure that these conversations truly take place, and the development of action plans and tools for measurement.

On a world scale, the implicit deal between corporation and community is undergoing a revolution in the period 1990–2000. For the first time, corporate boardrooms are having to confront the environmental challenge not as a peripheral issue around "public relations", but as a core issue of credibility with its customers. As trust in big business has declined, consumer willingness to alter buying behaviour to register disapproval has accelerated. As a result, boardrooms in the largest companies are having to redraw their strategic procedures regarding the environment. This book aims to advance the general understanding of corporate environmental governance as an issue capable of separate and detailed analysis. It aims to provide not an overview, but a series of test cores into the generally unexamined issues surrounding the changing ethos of corporate action and environmental investment. To date, the "business and environment" strategic conversation has reached only a minute proportion of a global audience. Over the next twenty years, this dialogue will transform business into the 21st century. Moreover, it will become internalised into a way of working within Corporate Culture. Greening the Boardroom explores through case studies and surveys some of the changes in this process, in Europe as well as in Asia and North America. Suitable for readers in general management, business, government and academia, this book is an important contribution to the corporate environmental debate by the author of The Environmental Audit and Business Strategy: A Total Quality Approach.

"On a world scale, the implicit deal between corporation and community is undergoing a revolution in the period 1990–2000. For the first time, corporate boardrooms are having to confront the environmental challenge not as a peripheral issue around "public relations", but as a core issue of credibility with its customers. As trust in big business has declined, consumer willingness to alter buying behaviour to register disapproval has accelerated. As a result, boardrooms in the largest companies are having to redraw their strategic procedures regarding the environment. This book aims to advance the general understanding of corporate environmental governance as an issue capable of separate and detailed analysis. It aims to provide not an overview, but a series of test cores into the generally unexamined issues surrounding the changing ethos of corporate action and environmental investment. To date, the "business and environment" strategic conversation has reached only a minute proportion of a global audience. Over the next twenty years, this dialogue will transform business into the 21st century. Moreover, it will become internalised into a way of working within Corporate Culture. Greening the Boardroom explores through case studies and surveys some of the changes in this process, in Europe as well as in Asia and North America. Suitable for readers in general management, business, government and academia, this book is an important contribution to the corporate environmental debate by the author of The Environmental Audit and Business Strategy: A Total Quality Approach."--Provided by publisher.

To achieve society's goals, as set out in the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement, the finance sector has a crucial role to play in driving sustainable business and the transition to a net zero economy. To achieve this change, it is vital for the finance sector to allocate capital to the firms, investments and activities looking to create a more sustainable world. Green and Sustainable Finance offers a comprehensive guide to green and sustainable principles and practice in banking, investment and insurance to help finance professionals manage sustainability risks and support their clients and customers in transition. Given the need for urgent, rapid and sustained change, it is essential that all finance professionals understand and apply these principles so that every professional financial decision takes account of sustainability. Written by the CEO of the Chartered Banker Institute this fully updated second edition includes the most recent assessments of climate science from the IPCC, extended coverage of sustainability reporting and carbon accounting, and regulatory and market developments in sustainability risk management. It also features material on the rapid growth of sustainable lending and investment and the latest finance sector alliances and initiatives. Endorsed by the Chartered Banker Institute as the core text for the global benchmark Certificate in Green and Sustainable Finance, this book is essential reading for finance professionals, university students and individuals working to embed sustainability in business, finance, policy and regulation.

Supply Chain optimization is a topic of increasing interest today, whether the main intention is to maximize the efficiency of one's global supply chain system or to pro-actively make it greener. There are many changes that can be made to improve the performance of a supply chain, ranging from where materials are purchased, the types of materials purchased, how those materials get to you, how your products are distributed, and many more. An additional question on the mind of some decision makers is. Can I minimize my environmental footprint and improve my profits at the same time?

This encyclopedia is the most comprehensive and up-to-date source of reference for sustainability in business and management. It covers both traditional and emerging concepts and terms and is fully international in its scope. More than 700 contributions of internationally renowned experts provide a definitive access to the knowledge in the area of sustainable and responsible management. All actors in the field will find reliable and up to date definitions and explanations of the key terms and concepts of management in this reference work. The Encyclopedia of Sustainable Management represents all aspects of management and business conduct. It takes sustainability as a management concept that gives due credit to the complexity and diverging constraints in which businesses and corporations act today, and it emphasizes and focuses approaches that help ensure that today's management decisions and actions will be the basis for tomorrow's prosperity.

Of Books, Barns, and Boardrooms: Exploring Praxis through Reflexive Inquiry is at once scholarly and deeply personal. A rich weave of learning moments across multiple contexts— formal education, workplace learning, relationships with horses—this text explores the various ways that pedagogy and practice emerge with and through our lived experiences. Centring the metaphor of join-up, a relational approach to starting new horses, the book intertwines educational theory with storied experience to uncover opportunities for cultivating collaborative spaces born of trust, deep communication, agency, and relationality. A highly readable text, Of Books, Barns, and Boardrooms models reflexive inquiry as a way of being while inviting us to imagine possibilities for re/humanizing teaching and learning.