POTENTIAL BENEFIT TO THE ENVERONMENT OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

 

Measuring sustainability and sustainability rating systems

The balance of people, planet, and profit, otherwise known as the triple bottom line, is part of the ultimate goals of sustainable development and its stakeholders. Sustainability, defined as meeting the current needs of the present without affecting those of the future, is normally implemented in a project or organization through strategies that meet or accomplish the stakeholders’ vision and expectations in this matter. Sustainability goals and objectives are expected to be met with an effective engagement of stakeholders with progress measured through the use of some form of an assessment tool. However, sustainability assessments must first answer two questions before selecting the appropriate tool. First, determining what should be measured must be decided. This could be partially answered by understanding the origins, fundamentals and principles of sustainability. Second, determining how to measure the set of criteria must be addressed. Measurements can range from objective and quantitative to more subjective or qualitative metrics. This may partially explain the slow evolution of certain areas in sustainability reporting. Answering such simple stated questions becomes more challenging when considering that there is still no agreement among stakeholders on which elements are to be considered as part of the triple bottom line. Additionally, conceptual areas such as the origins, fundamentals, principles, criterion selection and measurement processes, are still evolving and undergoing debate demonstrating the infancy stage in which sustainable development currently exists.

Although there is no common agreement around some aspects of sustainability, there is certainty in the need for the development and implementation of tools to measure the progress made towards its goal(s). Sustainability assessments then become instruments to determine the degree of success for the implementation of macro-level policies, plans, and programs (PPP) at organizational and project level(s). Moreover, the assessment process implies the existence of approaches, models, appraisa

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