Question

Three pillars of sustainable development

Answer 1

Three pillars of sustainable development are people, planet and profit. These three pillars need to be equally strong to ensure the sustainability.

(i) Economy ( Profit) - The basic objective of any business is to make money. Any business, howsoever people oriented, environment friendly or ethically run it might be, can not sustain if it does not make profit. Therefore profitability is a first requirement to sustain other functions.

(ii) Communities (People)- There must exist a harmonical and mutually beneficial relationship between the business and society, as some of its closest and most important stakeholders such as customers, employees and local governance come from society. For a sustainable existence, the organisation must take into consideration, the well being of the communities it works in, and protect their interests while it operates.

(iii) Environment( Planet) - While profit making is essential, it must be known that most of the economic activities take toll on environment in different ways. The businesses consume natural resources, sometimes in excess, and release harmful substances in the environment ( such as toxic waste, ecologically unfriendly products such as polythene) which are responsible for many modern day problems. Irresponsible businesses which don't control emissions or consume the resources excessively affect the sustainability negatively, which must be a cause of concerns for all.