Governance, Ethics and Sustainability

This report discusses the need for sustainability in terms of economic, social, and environmental sustainability. It focuses on Timberwell Constructions GRI sustainability reporting and its implementation of retention policies to retain staff.

Governance, Ethics and Sustainability
Name:
Course:

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Table of Contents
Introduction...............................................................................................................................................2
Methodology..............................................................................................................................................2
Timberwell Constructions GRI sustainability reporting........................................................................3
First: Economic sustainability.................................................................................................................3
Second: Environmental sustainability......................................................................................................5
Third: Social sustainability......................................................................................................................8
Conclusions..............................................................................................................................................10
References................................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
The need for sustainability is increasing in terms of economic, social and environmental
sustainability. The economic sustainability concerns with the scarce resources that represent a
constraint that affects not only business organizations' performance, but the economic system as
a whole. These effects include the changes in energy markets from fossil energy to electric and
nuclear energy (Reddy & Thomson 2015).
In addition to waste management, pollution and land use for economic expansion. The
environmental sustainability due to climate change is the concern of business, governments and
professionals worldwide. Climate change highly affects the social sustainability and it is
expected to have a negative effect due to the increase in the level of pollution in the air and
spread of diseases (Wandahl, Lund & Neve 2019).
The GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards (GRI Standards) are developed to be used by firms
when reporting on their impact on the economy, society and the environment. GRI standards
represent a set of interconnected rules that should be used in implementing organizations'
sustainability report (Stichting Global Reporting Initiative 2016).
Timberwell Constructions GRI sustainability reporting will be discussed in the following section.
It is a company that works in residential development, it develops complexes in the Stanwell
Council district. The company faces strong competition in the housing market, the matter that led
to increased turnover rates and it should implement retention policies to retain its existing staff.
Methodology
This report provides a sustainability assessment of Timberwell Constructions by referring to the
Consolidated Set of GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards 2016. The economic, social and
environmental standards are considered. Accordingly, nine cases of sustainability reporting are
included. The information of Timberwell Constructions is used in matching the company
activities with the GRI standards. This report states the company implemented activities and its
intended activities to be done, but not its future decisions.

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Timberwell Constructions GRI sustainability reporting
First: Economic sustainability
1.1 Definition
The sustainability concept in construction has been developed over the past years. Housing is
known to be a human right that efforts should be devoted to its acceleration. Economic
sustainability of construction enables the industry to design and manage buildings, materials and
energy consumption within larger urban development (Bahauddin, Rahman & Ahmed 2014).
Sustainability reporting represents an important step for achieving a sustainable global economy,
because reporting develops companies’ accountability and increases trust, facilitates values
sharing that builds a more sustainable society (Global Reporting Initiative 2014)
Within the economic frameworks, construction sustainability could be achieved through
maintaining the wellbeing of society over time (Australian Government 2013).
1.2 How the company can confront it
Material topic Description Management approach
Disclosure 201-2
Financial
implications and
other risks and
opportunities due
to climate change
The emerging concept of green
buildings promotes efficiency and
results in cost reduction. Despite
this, the high initial investment
cost and lack of management
awareness about the high-cost
savings during operations,
represent a risk to construction
projects. Therefore, for green
building owners and users
decisions are vital issues to
improve the cost savings.
Consumption of energy in green
buildings is proved to decrease by
33%, the matter that declares
 Existing company
documentation:
Timberwell diversifies
its energy sources by
depending on
renewable sources and
electricity.
 Private initiative to the
reported event:
Timberwell plans to
increase its
consumption of
renewable sources of
energy by at least 50%
during the coming 3

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Material topic Description Management approach
energy savings to exceed
construction cost premium over
20 years (Weerasinghe &
Ramachandra 2018).
years.
Disclosure 205-3
Confirmed
incidents of
corruption and
actions taken
Corruption is the major factor
responsible for hindering
developmental efforts. It hampers
strategic development of business
organizations. Corruption is
negatively related to economic
development that results in
negative national incomes. Anti-
corruption laws and actions,
enhance the economic
performance in terms of better
access to community services,
quality production and low
environmental impact. Corruption
complicates the process of laws
applications that aim to eliminate
environmental pollution and
negatively impacts economic
development (Murshed &
Mredula 2018)
 Existing company
documentation:
Timberwell faced a
public corruption
scandal of offering
bribes to the project
officers of the council
to get service done.
 Private initiative to the
reported event:
Timberwell suspended
the employees involved
in the scandal without
pay waiting for the
results of the
prosecutions. It also
ended its contracts with
the 2 outsourced
consultants.
Disclosure 206-
1Legal actions for
anti-competitive
behavior, anti-
trust, and
monopoly
In economic terms, the weak
versus strong sustainability refers
to the degree of substitution and
official and legal mechanism to
validate the delivery of
substitutions. The relative prices
 Existing company
documentation: The
company was accused
of anti-competitive
conduct involving
wrong use of market

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Material topic Description Management approach
practices represent the major indicator
regarding substitution.
Regulations are essential to
protect the natural capital.
Markets effectiveness is essential
to achieve sustainability in
resources allocation over the long
run. Therefore, the monopolistic
activities should be strictly
prevented by the law and
allowance of substitutes should be
enforced to ensure fair market
competition. The possibility of
substitutes is a function of the
technical advancement and
preferences of the future
generations (Australian
Government 2013).
power and special
dealings
 Private initiative to the
reported event:
Timberwell
Constructions should
wait to the Federal
Court decision
according to its anti-
competitive conduct
and misuse of its
powers
Second: Environmental sustainability
2.1 Definition
Environmental sustainability refers to living and meeting the needs of the present within the
finite earth limit while keeping the rights of the future generations. Environmental sustainability
involves the protection of the wildlife, quality of the environment and its ability to renew (Yuan
2013; Ehrstrom 2016).
2.2 How the company can confront it
Material topic Description Management approach
Disclosure
302-1 Energy
consumption
The reduced greenhouse gas
emissions by depending on sources
of clean energy in housing activities
 Existing company
documentation:
Timberwell environmental

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Material topic Description Management approach
within the
organisation
results in green physical operations.
Environmental sustainability
involves the construction of green
buildings, energy management,
clean transportation and managing
water use. Resources management
results in reduced operating costs
and leads to healthier outcomes.
The greening of buildings day-to-
day operations proved its success to
keep the environment against
climate change and yield positive
results (James & Card 2012).
impact assessment
revealed that the wallum
sedge frog covered 60%
of the company’s Otford
Park development site.
 Private initiative to the
reported event:
Timberwell acted with
Stanwell Council and
involved environmental
supporters to mitigate the
negative impact of its
developmental project on
the wallum sedge frog.
Disclosure
304-2
Significant
impacts of
activities,
products, and
services on
biodiversity
There are some organizations that
are interested in documenting
sustainability practices in their
sustainability reports, but in fact,
they are corrupted, but in fact they
do not pay attention to
environmental sustainability and
cheat in the samples provided to
governmental authorities to check
their sustainability. These
companies are exposed to paying
fines to the government for their
corruption. Also, people started to
demand eco-friendly products that
depend on accurate sustainability
measures and processes designed to
 Existing company
documentation:
Timberwell incident of
clearing 0.45 hectares of
endangered ecological
community coastal
grasslands.
 Private initiative to the
reported event:
Timberwell should
conduct an external
review of its vegetation
plan, prolong its audit
activities with its partners
and implement a
rehabilitation program at a

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Material topic Description Management approach
improve the organizations'
environmental performance. They
are supposed to reducing CO2
emissions, manage wastes and stop
using toxic materials (Green, Toms
& Clark 2015).
cost of at least than $440
thousands.
Disclosure
307-1 Non-
compliance
with
environmental
laws and
regulations
The CO2 emissions impact the
atmosphere while the construction
materials are transported.
Construction depends on
deforestation by using wood in the
building. The construction
materials impact the atmosphere
with high carbon emissions. This
results in vegetation loss, changes
nutrient cycles, biotic diversity
threats, forest squeeze and water
pollution caused by informal
housing. The spread of individual
houses over a large portion of land
threatens the environment.
Therefore, planning of housing
regulations should consider the
environment in the pre-construction
stage to ensure it is environmental
friendly (Ndlangamandla &
Combrinck 2019)
 Existing company
documentation:
Timberwell incident of
clearing 0.45 hectares of
endangered ecological
community coastal
grasslands
 Private initiative to the
reported event:
Timberwell was fined
$200,000 or its anti-
environmental
sustainability action.

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Third: Social sustainability
3.1 Definition
Social sustainability concerns mainly with social interactions between people that involve issues
like, gender inequality and discrimination, diversity at workplace, poverty, labor conditions and
education. Social sustainability is also called the ethical code of conduct that should be
implemented and ensure equality. In addition, it is related to social resources management
process, like people capabilities, skills, relationships and the social values. Social sustainability
could be attained when the country becomes able to fulfill the basic needs of its citizens (Mani,
Agrawal & Sharma 2015).
Building organizations that are socially sustainable refers to managing multi-stakeholder that is
characterized by its conflicting nature. The creation of a socially sustainable organization is in
need of management strategies related to reflexivity thinking attitudes (Galuppo et al. 2014).
3.2 How the company can confront it
Material topic Description Management approach
Disclosure 401-
1 New
employee hires
and employee
turnover
The institutional theory of
corporate social responsibility
argues that economic conditions
like the organization health and
general economic conditions
define the organization ability
to adopt socially responsible
behavior (Mani, Agrawal &
Sharma 2015).
Existing company
documentation: Timberwell
faces high employees turnover
due to high competitive
market conditions.
 Private initiative to the
reported event: The
company had to increase the
pay rates of the workers and
implemented a regular
rostered day off in response
to high turnover rates
caused by increased
competition in the industry.
Disclosure 406- Social sustainability barriers  Existing company

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Material topic Description Management approach
1 Incidents of
discrimination
and corrective
actions taken
could be represented in
financial shortage, weak
governmental intervention and
industry obligations. The law
enforcement by the
governmental authorities is
likely to prohibit corruption
activities and enhance the
implementation of codes of
conduct. Wrong practices
include adopting minimum
legal labor standards, low levels
of training and development
and weak financial incentives
(Nakamba, Chan & Sharmina
2017)
documentation: Workplace
harassment due to
discrimination on an age
basis.
 Private initiative to the
reported event: Update its
policy of anti-discrimination
and provide training on anti-
discrimination to all
employees.
Disclosure 413-
1 Operations
with local
community
engagement,
impact
assessments,
and
development
programs
Government pressure results in
organizations' implementation
of social sustainability
measures. Also, the competitive
pressure of adopting social
measures results in adopting
similar practices that result in
increased competitiveness level
in the market. In addition,
customer requirements and
buyer specifications affect the
level of social sustainability.
Moreover, the governmental
direct incentives impact
 Existing company
documentation: Timberwell
worked with Stanwell
Council in order to conform
to its required changes in its
Local Environmental Plan.
 Private initiative to the
reported event: Timberwell
effectively responded to the
climate change and the
increasing turnover threat
that contradicts peoples'
safety. Timberwell supports
the governmental initiatives

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Material topic Description Management approach
sustainability either directly or
indirectly. Incentives include
tax benefits and extended
property rights (Mani, Agrawal
& Sharma 2015)
for social sustainability by
considering to include
larger distances between
buildings and complexes
boundaries and using anti
fire building materials.
Conclusions
Economic sustainability of construction enables the industry to design and manage buildings,
materials and energy consumption within larger urban development. Timberwell plans to
increase its consumption of the renewable sources of energy by at least 50% during the coming 3
years.
Markets effectiveness is essential to achieve sustainability in resources allocation over the long
run. Environmental sustainability refers to living and meeting the needs of the present
generations within the finite earth limit while keeping the rights of the future generations.
Social sustainability focuses mainly on people social interactions that involve issues like, gender
inequality and discrimination, diversity at workplace, poverty, labor conditions and education.
The corporate social performance is measured in terms of the accounting-based measures rather
than the market-based measurements. Timberwell development an impact assessments and
initiated social housing programs based on the needs assessment of the local community. It will
develop its anti-discrimination policy and provide training of anti-discrimination to all of its
employees.

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References
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Government, Australia.
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sustainability', Research in Rural Sociology and Development, 2016, pp. 125-158.
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