Lecture2.2

Question 1

What is corporate sustainability?

Answer 1

Definition: Corporate sustainability is a management paradigm under which companies engage in activities consistent with sustainable development.

Question 2

What are the three defining dimensions of corporate sustainability?

Answer 2

Dimensions:
- Comprehensiveness of sustainable development
- Level of ambition
- Level of integration

Question 3

What are the four elements of comprehensiveness?

Answer 3

Elements:
- The economic (TBL)
- The environmental (TBL)
- The social side (TBL)
- The notion of intergenerational equity (meet need without limiting need of future generations)

Question 4

What does comprehensiveness mean in corporate sustainability?

Answer 4

Comprehensiveness: The more elements of sustainable development included in a company’s statement, the more comprehensive it is.
A company that only considers single elements, fails to recognize the interconnected
and holistic challenges that the environment and our society is facing.

Question 5

What is the significance of the level of ambition?

Answer 5

Level of Ambition: Reflects the effort a company must exert to meet its sustainability goals. Evaluate how ambitious targets are and the plans to achieve them.
e.g. by 2030 net-zero by implementing xy
trying vs. achieving

Question 6

What does the level of integration capture?

Answer 6

Level of Integration: Measures the extent to which sustainability is embedded in a company’s core activities.
e.g. not good: having business separated from foundation
e.g. good: sustainable product portfolio

Question 7

What is the ‘sustainability cube’?

Answer 7

Sustainability Cube:
- A three-dimensional vector space combining comprehensiveness, ambition, and integration.
- Enables comparison of different understandings of corporate sustainability.

Question 8

What key points does the sustainability cube highlight?

Answer 8

Key Points:
- No single correct understanding of corporate sustainability.
- Enables systematic comparison and contrast of perspectives and understandings of corporate sustainability.
-> stringent: top right
-> lenient: bottom left (zero, Ursprung)

Question 9

Why do definitions of corporate sustainability matter?

Answer 9

Importance:
Possibility to professionally evaluate different understandings
- Genuine companies use stringent definitions.
- Lenient definitions unlikely to drive fundamental changes.