Understanding Sustainability Principles and ESG Policies

ISBN-13: 9783031344824 / Angielski / Miękka / 2023

Colin Read

Opis

This textbook explores sustainability, climate change, and the corporate responsibility movement from a broad array of perspectives, including the challenges, risks, and opportunities of ESG policies, energy and environmental science, economics and philosophy, and sound public and private sector management. There is no intergenerational issue that is more pressing than the challenge of sustainability and climate change. It is a concern that will only worsen within any reader’s lifetime, especially if we fail to act. At the same time, there is growing concern among corporations arising from the Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) paradigm that includes climate risk, future profits, and stakeholder expectations. Many of our leading institutions also increasingly acknowledge a responsibility for corporate decisions since the onset of the Industrial Revolution that plays no small role in bringing us to the existential precipice of our day. This book  provides necessary tools of sufficient sophistication to address complex intergenerational issues, such as global warming, economic justice and fairness, appropriate intergenerational planning, sustainable finance, corporate risk management, and governance.  The book offers a vital resource for students, shareholders, sustainability practitioners, agencies, and advocates interested in climate action, intergenerational accountability, and economic sustainability. 

Spis treści

Introduction

Definitions of Sustainability

Competing Ideals and an Emerging Consensus

The Science of Sustainability

Energy and Entropy

Technology and Engineering

Complex Systems

Social Responsibilities

Emerging Sciences

The Economics of Sustainability

The Social Discount Rate

Non-Renewable Resources

Depletable Resources

Renewable Resources

Backstop Technologies

The Schumpeterian Hypothesis

The Challenge of Laissez Faire

The Natural Resource Curse

The Role of Government and Regulation

Tragedy of the Commons

Environmental Sustainability

The Limits of Growth- Environmental Degradation

The Earth’s Carrying Capacity

The Ethics of Sustainability

The Great Philosophers

Every Seventh Generation and the Veil of Ignorance

Close the Barn Door

East  Meets West

Social Sustainability

Human Interactions and Populations

A Clash of Cultures and Ideologies

The Politics of Sustainability and Sustainable

 Managerial Sustainability

Sustainable Business Practices

Business Waves and Fads

Green Goods and Green is Good

The Green Supply Chain

Sustainability Successes 

The FutureReporting the Triple Bottom LinePolicy Prescriptions

Conclusions.

O autorze

Colin Read has been teaching economics and finance for forty years, most recently as a Professor of Economics and Finance at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh. He also acts as a voice of ESG awareness on a number of corporate boards and consults on sustainability issues. He has written over a dozen books on economics and finance, with his most recent title The Bitcoin Dilemma that describes the financial benefits and environmental costs of cryptocurrencies.

Blurb

This textbook explores sustainability, climate change, and the corporate responsibility movement from a broad array of perspectives, including the challenges, risks, and opportunities of ESG policies, energy and environmental science, economics and philosophy, and sound public and private sector management. There is no intergenerational issue that is more pressing than the challenge of sustainability and climate change. It is a concern that will only worsen within any reader’s lifetime, especially if we fail to act. At the same time, there is growing concern among corporations arising from the Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) paradigm that includes climate risk, future profits, and stakeholder expectations. Many of our leading institutions also increasingly acknowledge a responsibility for corporate decisions since the onset of the Industrial Revolution that plays no small role in bringing us to the existential precipice of our day. This book provides necessary tools of sufficient sophistication to address complex intergenerational issues, such as global warming, economic justice and fairness, appropriate intergenerational planning, sustainable finance, corporate risk management, and governance.

The book offers a vital resource for students, shareholders, sustainability practitioners, agencies, and advocates interested in climate action, intergenerational accountability, and economic sustainability. 

Colin Read has been teaching economics and finance for forty years, most recently as a Professor of Economics and Finance at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh. He also acts as a voice of ESG awareness on a number of corporate boards and consults on sustainability issues. He has written over a dozen books on economics and finance, with his most recent title The Bitcoin Dilemma that describes the financial benefits and environmental costs of cryptocurrencies.