Sustainable Development and Economic Growth: A Reality or an Oxymoron?

Daniel El Chami

doi:10.19044/esj.2021.v17n41p1

Daniel El Chami Timac Agro Italia S.p.A., S.P.13 Località Ca' Nova I-26010, Ripalta Arpina (CR), Italy

DOI: https://doi.org/10.19044/esj.2021.v17n41p1

Keywords: Sustainable Development, Economic Growth, Profit Optimisation, Ethical Dimension, Environmental Pillar

Abstract

The word "sustainable" is on everyone's lips and every publication; however, it is over-and misused as a trend for marketing and profit purposes, sometimes unethically for "greenwashing". This distortion creates an obstacle in creating a more sustainable world and leads authors to describe sustainable development and economic growth as oxymorons. This paper describes the relationship between sustainable development and economic growth and explains how sustainability reporting, particularly management, governance and social disclosures (GRI 100), could effectively stimulate economic growth. However, to reach a sustainable model, the paper recommends a mental and theoretical transformation in economic growth's perception to move from profit maximisation to optimisation. Finally, the manuscript calls to intensify research in this direction for a sustainable transformation of our society.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

PlumX Statistics

References

Anderson, D.R. The critical importance of sustainability risk management. Risk Management 2006, 53 (4): 66-74.

Buller, P.F.; McEvoy, G.M. Strategy, human resource management and performance: Sharpening line of sight. Hum. Resour. Manag. Rev. 2012, 22 (1): 43-56. doi:10.1016/j.hrmr.2011.11.002

Camilleri, M.A. Valuing Stakeholder Engagement and Sustainability Reporting. Corporate Reputation Review 2015, 18 (3): 210-222. doi:10.1057/crr.2015.9

Chhotray, V.; Stoker, G. Governance theory and practice: A Cross-Disciplinary Approach. Palgrave Macmillan, Hampshire (UK) (2009): 296 p. doi:10.1057/9780230583344

Christmann, P.; Taylor, G. Firm self-regulation through international certifiable standards: determinants of symbolic versus substantive implementation. J. Int. Bus. Stud. 2006, 37 (6): 863-878. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400231

Conger, J.A. Motivate Performance through Empowerment. In: Locke, E.A. (Eds.), The Blackwell handbook of principles of organisational behaviour. Blackwell Publishing Ltd., Oxford (UK) (2003): 143-156.

Costa, J. Carrots or Sticks: Which Policies Matter the Most in Sustainable Resource Management? Resources 2021, 10 (2): 12. doi:10.3390/resources10020012

Costa, J.; Matias, J.C.O. Open Innovation 4.0 as an Enhancer of Sustainable Innovation Ecosystems. Sustainability (Basel) 2020, 12 (19): 8112. doi:10.3390/su12198112

Eidelwein, F.; Cisco Collatto, D.; Rodrigues, L.H.; Pacheco Lacerda, D.; Sartori Piran, F. Internalization of environmental externalities: Development of a method for elaborating the statement of economic and environmental results. J. Clean. Prod. 2018, 170: 1316-1327. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.09.208

Eisenmenger, N.; Pichler, M.; Krenmayr, N.; Noll, D.; Plank, B.; Schalmann, E.; Wandl, M.-T.; Gingrich, S. The Sustainable Development Goals prioritise economic growth over sustainable resource use: a critical reflection on the SDGs from a socio‑ecological perspective. Sustain. Sci. 2020, 15: 1101-1110. doi:10.1007/s11625-020-00813-x

Emara, N.; Chiu, I.-M. The impact of governance on economic growth: the case of Middle Eastern and North African countries. Topics in Middle Eastern and African Economies 2016, 18 (1): 126-144.

Everett, T.; Ishwaran, M.; Ansaloni, G.P.; Rubin, A. Economic growth and the environment. Defra Evidence and Analysis Series, Paper 2 (2010). 51 p.

Folkens, L.; Wiedemer, V.; Schneider, P. Monetary Valuation and Internalization of Externalities in German Agriculture Using the Example of Nitrate Pollution: A Case-Study. Sustainability (Basel) 2020, 12 (16): 6681. doi:10.3390/su12166681

García-Gusano, D.; Istrate, R.; Iribarren, D. Life-cycle consequences of internalising socio-environmental externalities of power generation. Sci. Total Environ. 2018, 612: 386-391. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.08.231

Gelb, S.; Islam, B.; Mason, N.; Gatune, J.; Kweka, J. Business impact on reform of private economic governance. Business Environment Reform Facility (BERF) (2019). Available Online: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5ca628fbed915d0c57e97ec8/BERF_Business_Impact_on_Private_Economic_Governance_28_March_2019.pdf

Goosen, M.F.A. Environmental management and sustainable development. Procedia Engineering 2012, 33: 6-13. doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2012.01.1171

Guest, D.E. Human resource management and performance: a review and research agenda. Int. J. Hum. Resour. Manag. 1997, 8 (3): 263-276. doi:10.1080/095851997341630

Hadj Fraj, S.; Hamdaoui, M.; Maktouf, S. Governance and economic growth: The role of the exchange rate regime. International Economics 2018, 156: 326-364. doi:10.1016/j.inteco.2018.05.003

IPCC. Adaptation to climate change in the context of sustainable development and equity. In: McCarthy J.J. et al. (Eds), Climate Change 2001: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2001): 877-912.

Janssen, M.; van der Voort, H. Agile and adaptive governance in crisis response: lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic. Int. J. Inform. Manage, 2020, 55: 102180. doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102180

Krechovská, M.; Procházková, P.T. Sustainability and its integration into corporate governance, focusing on corporate performance management and reporting. Procedia Engineering 2014, 69: 1144-1151. doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2014.03.103

Liu, J.; Tang, J.; Zhou, B.; Liang, Z. The effect of governance quality on economic growth: based on China's provincial panel data. Economies 2018, 6 (4): 56. doi:10.3390/economies6040056

Macellari, M.; Yuriev, A.; Testa, F; Boiral, O. Exploring bluewashing practices of alleged sustainability leaders through a counter-accounting analysis. Environ. Impact Assess. Rev. 2021, 86: 106489. DOI: 10.1016/j.eiar.2020.106489

Nair, S.R. The link between women entrepreneurship, innovation and stakeholder engagement: A review. Journal of Business Research 2019, 119: 283-290. doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.06.038

OECD. Building a coherent response for a sustainable post-COVID-19 recovery. ECD Policy Responses to Coronavirus (COVID-19). Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Available Online: https://www.oecd.org/coronavirus/policy-responses/building-a-coherent-response-for-a-sustainable-post-covid-19-recovery-d67eab68/

Ong, T.; Trireksani, T.; Djajadikerta, H.G. Hard and soft sustainability disclosures: Australia's resources industry. Account. Res. J. 2016, 29 (2): 198-217. doi:10.1108/ARJ-03-2015-0030

Ong, T.; Djajadikerta, H.G. Corporate governance and sustainability reporting in the Australian resources industry: an empirical analysis. Social Respons. J. 2018, 16 (1): 1-14. doi:10.1108/SRJ-06-2018-0135

Schaltegger, S.; Hörisch, J. In search of the dominant rationale in sustainability management: legitimacy-or profit-seeking? J. Bus. Ethics 2017, 145 (2): 259-276. doi:10.1007/s10551-015-2854-3

Schneider, H. Participatory governance: The missing link for poverty reduction. Policy Brief No. 17, OECD Development Centre (1999): 30 p.

Schulte, J.; Hallstedt, S.I. Company risk management in light of the sustainability transition. Sustainability (Basel) 2018, 10 (11): 4137; doi:10.3390/su10114137

Stankevičiūtė, Z.; Savanevičienė, A. Designing sustainable HRM: The core characteristics of emerging field. Sustainability (Basel) 2018, 10 (12): 4798. doi:10.3390/su10124798

Stofkova, Z; Sukalova, V. Sustainable development of human resources in globalisation period. Sustainability (Basel) 2020, 12 (18): 7681. doi:10.3390/su12187681

Thistlethwaite, J.; Menzies, M. Assessing the governance practices of sustainability reporting. Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), Policy Brief No. 71, (2016). Available Online: www.jstor.org/stable/resrep16159

UN General Assembly. Report of the world commission on environment and development: Our common future. Oslo, Norway: United Nations General Assembly, Development and International Cooperation: Environment, (1987).

United Nations Global Compact; Accenture Strategy. The UN Global Compact-Accenture Strategy CEO Study 2016, Agenda 2030: A Window of Opportunity. Accenture Strategy, New York, (2016).

UN-SDG. The 17 Goals – Sustainable Development Goals. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the United Nations (UN). Available Online: https://sdgs.un.org/goals

Uysal, G. Impact of Human Resource Management on Economy: Firm Management Perspective. Manag. Stud. 2017, 5 (4): 308-311. doi:10.17265/2328-2185/2017.04.005

Vlad, C.A.; Ungureanu, G.; Militaru, M. Human Resources Contribution To Economic Growth. Revista Economica 2012, 1/2012: 850-860.

Warford, J.; Schramm, G. (1987). Environmental management and economic development. Ann. Regional Sci. 1987, 21 (3): 1-2. doi:10.1007/bf01287278

Willumsen, P.; Oehmen, J.; Stingl, V.; Geraldi, J. Value creation through project risk management. Int. J. Project Manag. 2019, 39: 731-749. doi:10.1016/j.ijproman.2019.01.007