According to the definition proposed in the report “Our Common Future”, published in 1987 by the 'World Commission on Environment and Development of the United Nations Environment Programme', sustainable development means:
“Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.
In this definition, the concept of sustainability is associated with three pillars that render economic development and environmental protection compatible:
The principal aim of Sustainability of INC is to apply the principle of fairness in a broader sense, to the social divide and to act to create conditions of dignity for the lives of each individual; an approach very much alive today in the corporate market, which dictates rules that are part of a broader perspective, expressed through the corporate approach to social sustainability, balancing the tasks typical of financial management (such as optimising risk and return ratios over a given time scale), with broader and more collective aspects that affect nature, sociality and/or governance.
This form of sustainable development configures as an ethical financial reality that makes economic choices through investment solutions not necessarily aimed exclusively at the pursuit of short-term profit.
Pursuing environmental sustainability policies implies a more responsible use of natural resources, protecting eco-systems, preferring responsible energy use and developing a greater awareness of the impact of certain actions , encouraging recycling and combating waste in general. Environmental sustainability requires action through change not only of habits, but of social norms and conventions, through the international associations and organizations that share these goals.
In detail, factors capable of confirming or otherwise the efficiency of the adopted conduct depend on indicators, designed to define the real use of resources expressed in physical units over given time scales (for example COXNUMX emissions performance or efficiency indicators); reports comparing the intentions and effective results of environmental policies; efficiency indicators comparing environmental results and the economic resources invested to achieve them (reductions to atmospheric emissions/costs of structural and/or management interventions); lastly, indicators of overall well-being, which include the overall sustainability percentage in a final report.