Learning Module 1: What is Sustainability PDF

lOMoARcPSD|11364796 Learning Module 1: What is Sustainability? Development Focused Definitions: *Sustainability development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs* Concept of needs, in particular, the es...

lOMoARcPSD|11364796 Learning Module 1: What is Sustainability? Development Focused Definitions: *Sustainability development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs* Concept of needs, in particular, the essential needs of the world’s poor to which overriding priority should be given The idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organizations on the environment*s ability to meet present and future needs The United Nations has formulated the 17 Sustainable Development Goals aiming to enhance sustainable development of humanity. Many companies, organizations and institutions apply these goals; however, progress is rather slow and often the progression of one SDG happens at the expense of another. Strong vs. Weak Sustainability Strong: next generation should also have a certain share of natural resources (Intergenerational) same opportunities for future generations Weak: Next generations should just use what is already produced (Tupper ware). same level of opportunities for future generations (e.g., no more resources but therefore innovative technologies) Strong vs weak sustainability thus disagrees about the degree reversibility of actions that is needed to be sustainable 6 / www.temagroningen.nl / [email protected] Gedownload door Bart S ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|11364796 Critics of Development focused approach: + Focus on the most vulnerable (the poor that are the most impacted) /without a voice (next generations that cannot participate in the debate yet) + Wide range of domains e.g., culture, social, environmental domains are included into the SDG + Links to extant thinking / global resonance - Minimal frame shift: does not highlight possible problems of an ever higher furthermore mentality - Human centric: underappreciating other environmental and animal concerns Impact Focused Definitions: - Mostly focused on environmental impact Planetary boundaries Environmental impact of humanity When looking at this it is obvious that our environmental impact is too high! Different ecological footprint measurement tools have arisen to determine how many natural resources are used of nations, corporations and individuals Also, other sustainability concepts to assess the environmental impact have emerged National natural capital accounting Products LCA: considering the environmental impact of the entire lifecycle of a product Scope 1-2-3 Emissions: considering the emissions of supplier, sub-supplier etc. Critics of an impacts focused approach: 7 / www.temagroningen.nl / [email protected] Gedownload door Bart S ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|11364796 + guided by natural boundaries + quantification and comparison possible + frame shift first ecological limits and not human needs - Measurement challenges - Not quantifiable e.g., we do not know the impact of micro plastics, hence we cannot quantify it - Social domains underrepresented: poverty and social inequalities are not addressed Dimension Focused Definitions: - Often very inclusive, but also tends to neglect some dimensions Triple Bottom Line (third approach to define sustainability) Idea is to collectively consider social, environmental, and economic dimensions when defining sustainability Problems: It is not as specific as the SDG; hence it is difficult to determine what are the relevant constituent elements? What if win-win-win is infeasible? Can advancement on one can compensate other? E.g., LED streetlamps vs switching to sustainable energy for streetlamps, while the first one has some positive effects on all three dimensions the latter one has long term much more pronounced effects but also implying some initial social disruptions and increased costs Sustainability Performance Many companies are increasingly measured based on their Environmental Social Governance Performance Critics of Dimensions (e.g., Triple Bottom Line, ESG) focused approach + Pluralistic + generalizable and adaptable framework: can be applied widely and adopted broadly + Integrative focus: more holistic considerations, does not only consider environmental impacts - Incremental changes: also small steps are considered good, even though the impact might be rather low 8 / www.temagroningen.nl / [email protected] Gedownload door Bart S ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|11364796 - implied compensation possibility misleading: advancement in one field cannot compensate for neglecting another field - non-synergistic changes deemphasized Reading: Ehrenfeld (2008) Chapter 2 Sustainability by design: Being sustainable often leads to a bigger, more unsustainable problem than the initial problem. Questions: 1. What does Ehrenfeld identify as the reasons for why sustainability is so difficult to achieve? because humanity tends to only solve the symptoms of unstainable behavior, instead of fundamental problem, this leads in the long run to even more unsustainability. E.g., in order 9 / www.temagroningen.nl / [email protected] Gedownload door Bart S ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|11364796 to fight global warming governments have introduced CO2 trading, however this only leads to a slowdown in R&D, in order to solve the underlying issue Renewable Energy needs to be introduced 2. What definitions approach for sustainability does Ehrenfeld seem to pursue? Impact focused definition as he talks about the impact 3. What does Ehrenfeld mean by “technohubris”? That we tend to solve all problem symptomatic with means of technologies, leading to immediate solutions to the problem, however in the long run, this approach has serious side effects. The long run of success if the technological fix has led to unjustified expectations that such solutions can always be found Thomas Homer Dixon calls this “Technohubris” Definition: The simplistic belief that any problem can be fixed by technology alone, and that more and newer technology always makes a system perform better. 10 / www.temagroningen.nl / [email protected] Gedownload door Bart S ([email protected])