Sustainability

Sustainability is all about the environment, right?

We believe it is important to put sustainability on equal footing with safety, cost and production. We call it ‘squaring the triangle’.

Sustainability
Sustainability

Three pillars to sustainability

The environment is definitely part of sustainability, and many may naturally think sustainability is managing environmental impacts, but it’s much bigger than that. Sustainability is about conducting our lives, activities and businesses in the present in a way which does not compromise future generations and their ability to meet their own needs.

There are three pillars to sustainability:

  • Environmental Sustainability
  • Social Sustainability
  • Economic Sustainability

There is no greater weight of responsibility on us than to ensure we safeguard our world for future generations.

We work within our environmental constraints, for the benefit of society, and grow the economy.

Economic development should raise living standards, increase wealth, improve education, provide access to better healthcare and allow for investment in the natural environment. The reality is that despite significant economic development, many live in poverty; there is not a direct correlation between economic development, prosperity, ecology and social equity.

The largest challenge in modern times is unquestionably climate change, global warming and the need for energy transition. Energy has to be clean and affordable as we make the transition to alternative fuels and energy mixes. We have a wealth of knowledge and ideas about creating energy; we’re very good at it. The problem is making it cheap enough so it can be widely distributed at global scale and compete with conventional methods for generating energy.

There’s also a mindset change towards long-term strategic planning which can be counter-intuitive to business investment where private equity and shareholders may look for short-term return on investment. Sustainability is a move away from a 3 – 5 year investment cycle to investing in the short-, mid-, and long-term. Organisations which only deal in the short-term and cannot demonstrate sustainable business practices through the mid- and long-term, should, in theory, make themselves un-investable.

At Goal7, we’re passionate about sustainability. We’re wholly invested in it through the services we provide to our clients and in our personal lives. There is no greater weight of responsibility on us than to ensure we safeguard our world for future generations. We encourage businesses to develop themselves in a way which ensures we can meet our needs today, without forfeiting the needs of people tomorrow. A balance between environmental, social, and economic sustainability.