How Are Companies Becoming Sustainable?

With the rise in environmental-degradation across the planet, the corporate world pledges to be more conscious and responsible. Here’s a look at what businesses are really doing to go green…

- Humra Afroz Khan

As any environmentalist will tell you, the modern movement to go green is not a recent phenomenon. From Japan enacting the Basic Law for Environmental Pollution Control—the world’s first—in 1967, to India’s first Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1974, responsible entrepreneurs have constantly strived for a cleaner, more eco-friendly world. However, the need to adopt sustainability—in every sense of the word, and every way of life—has never been greater than now. And nor has the need for businesses to be accountable for the harm they have caused the environment.

To put things in perspective, there is now a ‘patch’ of garbage—approximately 1.6 million square kilometers large (about half the size of India!)—floating in the Pacific Ocean. An article published by Maryville University claims that, according to the journal Environmental Sustainability, “this plastic wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for companies that use it to create and package products”. The journal also states that we are on our way to producing about “27 billion tonnes of solid waste by 2050, due to a business environment that prioritises rapid production and turnover of products for maximum profits”. Unfortunately, that is not all. “Unchecked CO2 emissions are projected to contribute to a temperature increase of two degrees Celsius by 2050, which will cause sea levels to rise and catastrophic weather events to increase”.