MASTERS IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Environmental
Sustainability
Business Ethics
Tracy-Ann Smith

University College of the Caribbean

The main objective of profit-based organizations is to increase wealth or capital. There are four types of

capital namely: human, financial, manufactured and natural. Natural capital refer to natural resources

used by mankind to serve their needs, such as : the ecosystem, tundra, mangroves, soil, sun, sea, oil,

coral reefs et ctera. The economists claim that natural capital rely on the availability of human-made

capital and clearly states that natural capital is an environmental resource and should not be treated as

“living off an income”. Are natural resources being exploited? Would consumers of natural resources

have a moral obligation in preserving such?

Natural resources are used by most businesses whether in production or otherwise and by all human

beings to create goods and services. This process has a negative impact on the environment as it

contributes to air, water and land pollution, which alters the energy balance on Earth’s climate and

cause climate change. This often has adverse effects on the environment resulting in droughts,

hurricanes, floods, loss of fisheries and migration from low-lying coastal regions. With continued release

of harmful gases in the atmosphere, much harm is caused to human health. Therefore, humans need to

protect the environment.

The conservation of scarce resources and pollution reduction is an environmental crisis and although it

is costly to clean the environment, government officials, stockholders, employees and environmentalists

have moral obligations to obey the law, avoid negligence and be honest. Businesses are fulfilling their

moral obligations to the environment by promoting recycling as a means of eliminating waste as well as

introducing conservation methods in their operations.

Norman Bowie supports the view that businesses have a moral and legal obligation to obey the

environmental laws. He believes that the protection of the environment is the responsibility of all its

consumers. Businesses have two responsibilities to the environment, do not lobby against an

environmental legislation and use available expertise to educate consumers about the causes of
environmental harm. The consumers should also be aware of the best practices to be used in protecting

the environment.

All consumers of natural resources benefit from its usage and have a responsibility to sustain it for

generations to come. Allan Holland views sustainability as passing on to future generation the same

amount of capital as the present generation enjoys despite growing human populations. The key

elements to sustainability are: resilient political institutions, effective regulations, appropriate social

skills and habits, a climate of trust and an accountable science and technology.

The environmental sustainability is done by working towards reversing worldwide planetary destruction

through reinvestments in sustaining, restoring, and expanding stocks of natural capital, so that the

biosphere can produce more abundant ecosystem services and natural resources.