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Question: Discuss about the Environmental Sustainability. Answer: Introduction The scarcity of energy resources is evident since 20th century, hence needed an alternative model to restore the natural sources. The natural sources of energy, like, petroleum, coal, natural source of gas. The excess use of natural energy started giving alarm and there is a need to restore it. Humans are the primary users of these natural sources of energy. The usage of energy started when humans learnt to use fire, gradually with the expansion of harvesting field and urbanization the deforestation occurred[1]. This event gradually affected the air. The excess use of natural resources of energy started affecting the opportunity of the future generation. To reduce the wastage of the natural energy and environmental pollution environmental sustainability is essential. Environmental sustainability defines as to build ecological buildings and conscious community who will know the importance of energy restoration after fulfilling the need. This report deals with the importance of environ mental sustainability. The primary focus of the report is to give an outline of the triple bottom development and sustainable development. The report gives a details idea of the pollution and energy consumption caused by the construction company and lastly, gives a report of an Australian construction company based on the sustainability development. Discussion Environmental Sustainability Environmental Sustainability can be defined as the mutual reciprocal action within the environment to prohibit the damage of natural resources, which helps to uphold the quality of the environment. Environmental sustainability is a practice that to assure the availability of the future resources for the future population. The environment is able to rejuvenate itself by natural processes that help to sustain in long run. Such as, when a fruit falls from the tree on the ground it naturally decomposes[2]. The decomposed food adds nutrients to the soil, which eventually enrich the soil and make the soil favorable for other plants and animals. This is how the environmental sustainability works. Without any external intruder, the nature itself takes many ways to sustain its resources. The intrusion of humans poses threat to the environment as human uses every natural resource for their own need. The usage of natural resources reduce the nature`s viability for some time. The effect can be l ong lasting if the time is not given to nature to recover the deficit. The excess use of resources impedes the nature to overcome its deficit, which leads to long-term damage. Environmental sustainability implies sustainability of many sphere of the environment. Such as agriculture, building construction, energy usage these are some domains where unsustainably is found. These are the domains, where human in intrusion is maximum, thus the people exhaust energy. It is obvious that in a nature every living thing depends on other living things for living. Human started using natural resources since the learnt to satisfy their needs. Human started using fire and discovered the natural source of energy. Human started using caves for shelter. Human started using various parts of plants apart from satisfying their appetite, they used the bark to cover themselves, used the log as weapon. Gradually human started using trees extensively as to build houses, made fields for agricultures, established villages, made furniture for their own needs, built industries[3]. These usages lead to extinction of forests and posed threat to the environmental sustainability. Energy Consumption In 21st century, the main threat poses by the industries as they consumed excess energy than required. Among the several industries, the construction industries are responsible for adding 87% of carbon to the climate. This includes burning up of fossil fuels for instances, coal, petroleum, diesels, and natural gases during construction. This emission of carbon affects the size of the energy footprint. The energy footprint implies that the land require to absorb the emitted carbon. This is a measurement tool for measuring the size of the carbon footprint[4]. The urbanization, agricultural usage of land, industrial establishments reduces the land of CO2 absorption. Construction companies are responsible for emission of green house gas largely; approximately 19% of the green house gas is emitted by the building industries. The rate of CO2 emission has grown since 1971 and it is increased by 2% from the previous. The consumption of energy during building construction is high. The energy is divided by two categories, primary energy and secondary energy. The secondary energy signifies the thermal energy, chemical energy, thermal energy, electrical energy. The energy is generated by burning up of coal, petroleum and other natural gases during construction. This consumption of excess energy is affecting the natural reserve of energy storage. For instances, natural coal reserve is 891530 million ton whereas the production of coal after mining and refining is 7520 million ton and the usage in 7514 million ton same as natural oil, the natural oil reserved is 223454 million ton and the production is 3973 million ton where as the consumption is 4135 million ton. The natural gas reservation is not an exception in contrast to the coal and natural oil, 209742 billion cubic meters is the storage of the natural gas and 3518 billion cubic meters is the production measurement whereas, 3376 billion cubic mete rs is the total amount which is used up by the construction industries. Triple Bottom Line (TBL) Triple bottom line consists of social, ecological and financial framework. This is a tool of measuring the performance of an organization. This measurement tool is adopted by many multinational organizations to evaluate the performance in broad perspective to increase the weight of the business value. Earlier in the traditional business, the bottom line is referred as profit and loss but gradually the concept change as the climate poses threat to the human race. The environmentalists started advocating the fact that environmental factors should be kept in the mind besides profit and loss[5]. The primary reason behind the concept is to maintain balance between industrial establishments and ecology. Another reason of triple bottom line is to build conscience among the people about the natural resources. This concept can be elaborated through examples such as, in case of construction industry, cement production causes air, soil and water pollution. Cement production reduces the fertilit y of the land and damage the upper layer of the soil, which leads to soil erosion and flood. On the other hand, toxic wastes are drained in to the river; because of the excess amount of alkali in the waste, it makes the water toxic to the people. Cement industry causes remarkable damage to the ozone layer. All these damage if compensated by the government with the money of the taxpayers then this will be the failure of the cost benefit analysis in terms of the society. Sustainable Development The sustainable development refers to the organizing the goals of human development and sustainability ecosystem. The earlier concept was centered at forest management, since 20th century the concept has changed to economical and social development[6]. Sustainable development works in three different domains social, environmental and economical. The environmental sustainability deals with the human settlement. The primary role of sustainable development is to meet the fundamental need of human like, air, water, food, clothes and shelter[7]. The sustainability development deals with the assessment of climate change and keeps the track of water and energy usage, renewable energy utilization. Relationship between TBL and Sustainable Development The relationship between triple bottom line and sustainability development is that both deal with the ecological balance. The sustainable development maintains the balance of ecology and biodiversity. The triple bottom line deals with the three dimensions, ecological, social and financial[8]. An organization looks after the people and planet besides profit. The triple down maintains parity between profit and the people and the planet. Sustainability development measures the deficit in the climate that is caused by the industry. Triple bottom line is a challenging task because a company has to keep its financial profits high and at the same time maintaining balance with the environment. Triple bottom line looks after the company`s interest towards social responsibility and economic value and its effect on the environment. Earlier company`s profit was satisfactory but at the same time, the company used to overlook the labors condition. The concept of sustainable development stands for holistic approach to balance between the needs and the awareness. Generally, development implies the need without taking into account the future impact. Depending on the ways, the effect of the development works. The impact is the consequence of the decision that leads to degradation of quality life. Triple bottom line deals with the job facilities, employee income, natural energy consumption, waste management and compare the employee income with the living cost of the employees. Triple bottom line deals with the internal public of the company as the employees are able to access all the advantages they were given and looks after the immediate damage that is caused by the organization`s power consumption , emission gases and solid and water wastes[9]. On the contrary, the sustainability development mostly deals with the external public who are directly affected by the climate change. Social impact responsibility directly falls under triple bottom line because a company looks after whether the pricing of the product is reasonable to the customer. Sustainable development emphasizes the needs of the people but not wanting to compromise the possibility of the future generation. The primary aspect of sustainability is to achieve the need of the under privileged. Sustainability pushes a way the all the limitations that was imposed on the people. The sustainability raises question on inequality prevailing in the society, which impedes the people to access the advantages of quality life. Significance of TBL in Sustainable Development Significance of triple bottom line is that it deals with the three domains, ecology, society and economy. An organization tries to maintain parity among three. The triple bottom line deals with the internal people of an industry and with the wastes, the industry emits during the production. The triple bottom line is a framework, which helps an organization to take the responsibility of the workers[10]. The payment methods, the wage that decides the livelihood of the workers, health benefits, educational benefits these are some of the aspects that the framework deals with. Triple bottom line earlier dealt with only profit and loss but since 20th century, the triple bottom line framework incorporated the two factors, society and ecology. The scarcity of natural resources of energy started creating alarm hence the need of a new framework to restore the natural sources appears to be essential to the environmentalists. The framework also encourages the industries to opt for recycling proc ess. These significances of triple bottom line support the objectives of sustainability development. The sustainability tries to meet the people`s need without hampering the opportunity of the future generation. Triple bottom line takes care of the external people whether they are affected by the pollution an industry is creating[11]. It is obvious that air and water pollution impedes the people to meet their need. The triple bottom line takes care of the society and people besides the company`s profit and takes the responsibility of the workers. Concept and Significance of Sustainable Construction Sustainable construction refers to the construction, which is ecologically favorable. This sustainable construction also known as green construction, the sustainable construction is resourceful and helps to maintain the ecological balance. The sustainable construction is called sustainable because of its planning of the area, design of the buildings, the operation of the architect and engineers, the mode of renovation, and the future planning of demolition[12]. The planning of the sustainable construction cooperates with the architect, engineers and the workers and with the customers. The sustainable construction stresses on the economy, longevity, usefulness and wellbeing. The sustainability lies with the energy consumption of the construction. The consumption does not harm the natural resources of the energy and this model tries to divert the energy usage towards the renewable energy. The main objective of this construction is to restore the natural energy for the future use as wel l as meet the people`s need. Another aim of the sustainable construction is to minimize the waste and pollution. The domestic waste can be solid and liquid which contaminate the water when it is drained into the river[13]. This contamination directly harms the people and makes the water of the river unusable and if used the many water borne disease can be spread. Health is another objective of the sustainable construction. From the planning to the finish of the project the investors and the organization look after the health benefit of the workers, architect and the engineers and later the clients and the people who can be indirectly affected by the construction. Emission of carbon from the construction industry is significantly high but the sustainable construction keep this in min d as minimize the emission of carbon to protect the ozone layers. The concept of sustainable construction based on natural materials and focuses on the using of renewable energy like bio gas, solar energ y, retaining rain water to reduce the waste of natural resources. Sustainability Report of a Hypothetical Company Name of the Company: Olive Tree Construction Location: Towsnville Business: Building Construction Olive Tree Construction is the real estate company based on Australia and operated in New Zealand, Indonesia, and New Guinea. A report is drafted based on the Global Reporting Initiatives. The report is on the economic, environmental and social performance of the company. The report is drafted after supervising the five years performance of the company. The primary challenge face by the company is that the emission of carbon by using the natural resources. This challenge is vital as it affecting the ozone layer. The second challenge is usage of natural source of energy for construction, which may diverted to the renewable energy[14]. The third challenge is that manage the waste during the construction and the household waste management. This is important or else sustainability will lose its balance. The fourth challenge can be the air pollution that can be happen due to the traditional use of transport. A construction project requires a huge amount of water in that case using of natural resource of water may pose threat to the society. The sixth challenge the company may face is the reliability to the employees and good will in the employment market. Among the three domains, the economic domain deals with the cost of the product. This is essential for the clients so that they can meet the need as well as the company can maintain its profit. The usage of local resources to cut down the cost is also considered. To develop the theme high quality housing can be provided with low cost if the local resources are used properly. An employment is also needed during the construction and after the construction is finished to smoothen the operation. The regulation of employees income, contribution of tax comes under the economic measure. The themes of the ecological domain are global warming caused by the carbon emission. Reduction of waste and pollutants, measurement of carbon footprint help to balance the ecosystem[15]. Promote the renewable energy to restore the natural source of energy for the future generation. Promote the alternative transport system to reduce the carbon emission, which helps to promote the biodiversity[16]. Water cons ervation is another important criterion to maintain the balance of the ecosystem, retaining the rainwater as the alternative source of conservation of water. The wise use of raw materials helped the company to reduce the waste production[17]. The recycle of the used product help the ecosystem to stay in balance. Every year the company should promote environmental management to keep eye on their throughout supply chain. The Global Reporting Initiative`s introduced the possible solution of the third domain that is Society. The significance of human society is the diversity and to maintain the diversity the company should update its internal work culture[18]. To promote a diversity mix company needs to be flexible when the workers are concerned. The company should provide equal work opportunity to the workers and besides that, the company should look after the health condition of the workers[19]. The education of the employee`s children comes under the responsibility of the recruiter. Apart from concentrating on the profit and loss, a company should be sensitive towards its employees and the workers. Few ways can be suggested as to create an employee friendly environment, like taking up necessary safety measures during construction, which may help to reduce the chances of accidents, the post accident care should be prepared to reduce the chances of causality during construction. Employees health shoul d be a matter concern throughout the year. To make efficient employees proper training should be conducted that will help to increase the good will of the company in the employment market. The company is also responsible for the external public and for the community relation is important. Several social responsibility projects are important for the community involvement[20]. Opting for green building construction is favorable for the community. In the corporate social responsibility project, the company should donate local school building and other activity clubs to participate in community. Challenges and Issues in Reporting Sustainability In reporting sustainability of a company, the primary challenge that is faced is the communication. There are several means of communications. The people who are doing the research they have to stay alert in and responsive in all communication means[21]. In terms of reporting sustainability the suppliers of the particular company are also needed for the data collection. It is often experienced that the small and medium suppliers are not very easily accessible. With the help of the technology the investors and the client can the search a particular company`s sustainability report[22]. This may make the company insecure to the market so some company show reluctance in sharing their data. This step is challenging in reporting sustainability as the researcher has take out the authentic data from the company. On the contrary, some companies find the sustainability reporting not useful so there is a tendency of skipping the reporting. To remove this issue the Global Reporting Initiative`s researcher faces challenge to convince the company`s higher authority. Another challenge that is faced is that, some companies do not rely on the effectiveness of the sustainability report. Conclusion The aim of environmental sustainability is to establish an environment that will meet the people`s need without hampering the future opportunities. The establishment of urbanization which needs construction to meet the people`s basic need but the consequence of modernization is curbing the future savings of life. The natural resources have started degrading for the fast growing construction[23]. For instances the construction of Dubai started since 1999 and the energy consumption was approximately 120 million square meter and in 2017 it is increased to 160 million square meter[24]. It is assumed the floor area of energy consumption will reach its highest limit which is 180 million square meter by 2020. It is evident that construction cannot be stopped as people`s need is one of the priorities but in order to maintain the climatic balance United Nation has signed an agreement in July, 2017 with 195 members from 155 countries to mitigate the green house gas emission by 2020[25]. The co nsequence of construction is also the rise of global temperature, as of now the temperature is increasing by 2? every year. Australia is also dealing with global warming and reason is construction industry[26]. According to Paris deal is the energy consumption is not reduced then the building sector will consumed the whole carbon budget of Australia. References Abbott, John.Sharing the city: community participation in urban management. Routledge, 2013. Biswas, Wahidul K. "Carbon footprint and embodied energy consumption assessment of building construction works in Western Australia."International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment3.2 (2014): 179-186. Dincer, Ibrahim, and Marc A. 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"Improved indicators of water use performance and productivity for sustainable water conservation and saving."Agricultural Water Management108 (2012): 39-51. Rogers, Peter P., Kazi F. Jalal, and John A. Boyd.An introduction to sustainable development. Earthscan, 2012. Santamouris, Matheos, ed.Energy and climate in the urban built environment. Routledge, 2013. Savitz, Andrew.The triple bottom line: how today's best-run companies are achieving economic, social and environmental success-and how you can too. John Wiley Sons, 2013. Tai, Fang-Mei, and Shu-Hao Chuang. "Corporate social responsibility."Ibusiness6.03 (2014): 117. Wan, Kevin KW, et al. "Impact of climate change on building energy use in different climate zones and mitigation and adaptation implications."Applied Energy97 (2012): 274-282. Zhao, Zhen-Yu, et al. "A corporate social responsibility indicator system for construction enterprises."Journal of cleaner production29 (2012): 277-289. Moldan, Bed?ich, Svatava Janoukov, and Tom Hk. "How to understand and measure environmental sustainability: Indicators and targets."Ecological Indicators17 (2012): 4-13. Moldan, Bed?ich, Svatava Janoukov, and Tom Hk. "How to understand and measure environmental sustainability: Indicators and targets."Ecological Indicators17 (2012): 4-13. Pereira, Luis S., Ian Cordery, and Iacovos Iacovides. "Improved indicators of water use performance and productivity for sustainable water conservation and saving."Agricultural Water Management108 (2012): 39-51 Laurent, Alexis, Stig I. Olsen, and Michael Z. Hauschild. "Limitations of carbon footprint as indicator of environmental sustainability."Environmental science technology46.7 (2012): 4100-4108. Gimenez, Cristina, Vicenta Sierra, and Juan Rodon. "Sustainable operations: Their impact on the triple bottom line."International Journal of Production Economics140.1 (2012): 149-159 Griggs, David, et al. "Policy: Sustainable development goals for people and planet."Nature495.7441 (2013): 305-307 Griggs, David, et al. "Policy: Sustainable development goals for people and planet."Nature495.7441 (2013): 305-307 Savitz, Andrew.The triple bottom line: how today's best-run companies are achieving economic, social and environmental success-and how you can too. John Wiley Sons, 2013. Gimenez, Cristina, Vicenta Sierra, and Juan Rodon. "Sustainable operations: Their impact on the triple bottom line."International Journal of Production Economics140.1 (2012): 149-159. Gimenez, Cristina, Vicenta Sierra, and Juan Rodon. "Sustainable operations: Their impact on the triple bottom line."International Journal of Production Economics140.1 (2012): 149-159. Dincer, Ibrahim, and Marc A. Rosen.Exergy: energy, environment and sustainable development. Newnes, 2012. Hwang, Bon?Gang, and Jac See Tan. "Green building project management: obstacles and solutions for sustainable development."Sustainable development20.5 (2012): 335-349. Kibert, Charles J.Sustainable construction: green building design and delivery. John Wiley Sons, 2016. Hong, Taehoon, et al. "A review on sustainable construction management strategies for monitoring, diagnosing, and retrofitting the buildings dynamic energy performance: Focused on the operation and maintenance phase."Applied Energy155 (2015): 671-707. Biswas, Wahidul K. "Carbon footprint and embodied energy consumption assessment of building construction works in Western Australia."International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment3.2 (2014): 179-186. Nagapan, Sasitharan, et al. "Issues on construction waste: the need for sustainable waste management."Humanities, Science and Engineering (CHUSER), 2012 IEEE Colloquium on. IEEE, 2012. Laurent, Alexis, Stig I. Olsen, and Michael Z. Hauschild. "Limitations of carbon footprint as indicator of environmental sustainability."Environmental science technology46.7 (2012): 4100-4108. Harris, Frank, and Ronald McCaffer.Modern construction management. John Wiley Sons, 2013. Hughes, Phil, and Ed Ferrett.Introduction to health and safety in construction. Routledge, 2012 Tai, Fang-Mei, and Shu-Hao Chuang. "Corporate social responsibility."Ibusiness6.03 (2014): 117. Zhao, Zhen-Yu, et al. "A corporate social responsibility indicator system for construction enterprises."Journal of cleaner production29 (2012): 277-289 Tai, Fang-Mei, and Shu-Hao Chuang. "Corporate social responsibility."Ibusiness6.03 (2014): 117. Hudson, Norman.Soil conservation: fully revised and updated. No. Ed. 3. New India Publishing Agency, 2015. Pereira, Luis S., Ian Cordery, and Iacovos Iacovides. "Improved indicators of water use performance and productivity for sustainable water conservation and saving."Agricultural Water Management108 (2012): 39-51. Wan, Kevin KW, et al. "Impact of climate change on building energy use in different climate zones and mitigation and adaptation implications."Applied Energy97 (2012): 274-282. Santamouris, Matheos, ed.Energy and climate in the urban built environment. Routledge, 2013.