Governance, Ethics and Sustainability

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Governance, Ethics and Sustainability

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Introduction
Business sustainability is also referred as corporate sustainability that focuses on coordinating and
managing environmental, financial and social demands and issues to make sure that organisations
conduct their operations responsibly and ethically (Ng and Rezaee, 2015). It plays a significant role in
the modern era because by focusing on these three factors, corporations are able to maintain a
balance between their impacts and they are able to sustain their progress by making sure that they
positively affect a diverse range of stakeholders (Rezaee, 2016). While complying with business
sustainability policies, effective reporting is crucial for companies to make sure that they maintain
transparency in their operations. Organisations can rely on “GRI (Global Reporting Initiative)
Reporting Standards” which are referred to international guidelines that direct companies to make
sure that they effectively report their practices and actions taken by the management that effect
their stakeholders (Vigneau, Humphreys and Moon, 2015). This report will use the “GRI Reporting
Standards” to evaluate the case of “Timberwell Constructions” in order to prepare a “sustainability
assessment report” for the company.

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Economic Sustainability
Economic sustainability is defined as the approach that focuses on achieving long term economic
growth without adversely affecting cultural, social and environmental factors (Bhattacharjee and
Cruz, 2015). This approach ensures the ability of an economy to support a defined level of
production without wasting resources to make sure that they did not go extinct. In case adequate
policies are not implemented for the use of these resources, then it could lead to their extinction,
which could harm the interest of the current and future generations (Fransen, 2017). In this regards,
organisations play a major role by ensuring that they reduce waste of these resources and use them
properly to address major issues such as climate change. Moreover, companies should take actions
to avoid engaging in corrupt practices to make sure that the interest of its stakeholders is not
harmed (Fregonara et al., 2016).
The risks associated with climate change and the financial implications are faced by Timberwell
Constructions as a result of the changes brought by local authorities. A good example is the “Local
Environmental Plan (LEP)” which is implemented by “Stanwell Council” in order to handle the
challenges associated with climate change. These changes are implemented by the local authority to
make sure that companies become protective of bushfire safety. As per the new guidelines,
companies are expected to use materials that are fire-retardant on their construction sites, and they
are also obligated to increase the boundary space between building and land. As per these changes,
it is provided by the local authorities that the development site of Timberwell is a “bushfire prone
area”. The management of the company has taken a step for addressing this issue by working with
the local authority, and the necessary changes will be made in the six weeks. It is also working
alongside an “external town planning company” to make sure that it makes this whole process more
efficient and while reducing the expenses. These changes will costs around four million dollars to the
company and it will also pay fifty thousand as the fee of the company which is hired for this process.
It has been found in a recent investigation that “five employees and two external consultants” of the
company were engaged in corrupt practices since they give bribery to “council project offers”. Since
these charges are proved, these individuals are charged with corruption charges by the local
authorities. The management has also been taken steps to set an example of these employees to