Building a Sustainable Organisation: EV Industry and Individual Lifestyle Analysis

This report evaluates the sustainability of the Electric Vehicle industry and its impact on reducing carbon emissions. It also examines individuals' current lifestyle and how they can comply with sustainability ideas. The report discusses the advantages and disadvantages of electric vehicles and the importance of sustainability in business. It concludes that sustainability is crucial for reducing negative impacts on the environment, economy, and society and developing a healthy future for upcoming generations.

Building a Sustainable
Organisation

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
PART A...........................................................................................................................................1
Critical analysis of Electric Vehicle Industry and evaluation of their sustainability and its
impacts to reduce carbon emissions and slowing down climate change................................1
PART B............................................................................................................................................6
Examination of individuals’ current lifestyle and how could an individual comply with
sustainability ideas..................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
A sustainable business can be explained as the minimum negative impact or maximum
positive impact of the activities of an organisation on society, environment, economy and
community. Sustainability in a business helps the organisation to carry its activities wisely and
produce products and services without any negative impacts on the overall wellbeing of society,
environment and economy. This report will be evaluating the sustainability of EV (Electric
Vehicle) production and if they are truly sustainable or not. It will also, explain the impacts of
EV in reducing the carbon emissions and decreasing the global climate crisis. Moreover, this will
also demonstrate a reflection on individuals’ lifestyle and how sustainability can be achieved.
MAIN BODY
PART A
Critical analysis of Electric Vehicle Industry and evaluation of their sustainability and its impacts
to reduce carbon emissions and slowing down climate change
The definition of sustainability has been given by many authors and scientists with
different views and various compositions regarding sustainability (Wolff and et. al., 2020). In
true sense sustainable business can be defined as the ability of a company to keep the negative
impacts of their activities on environment, society and economy as low as possible or increase
the positive impacts on the welfare of the community, environment and economy.
Electric vehicles are the mode of transport that rely on the electricity and plug in charging,
involving vehicles run by batteries or hybrid electric vehicles and vehicles that are run by electric
fuel cells. The sustainable development of the Electric Vehicle industry focuses on benefiting the
society and economy in the long run. According to the researchers there are certain parties such
as government, industry and market that influence the production and commercialization of the
electric vehicle sector and the sustainability. It could influence the success of the electric vehicle
industry because they are the major players who are responsible for the patenting and prototype,
social impact, fuel run economy, investments, subsidiaries, and research and development of the
EV Companies and its role towards sustainability. If the major stakeholders of the electric
vehicle industry such as suppliers, government and people fulfill their commitment, involvement
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and effort the electric vehicle industry may provide the opportunities for sustainable
development and growth.
Sustainability is a greater trend due to climate change and increased awareness towards the
impact of activities of an organization on the environment (Ahmed, Qaed and Almurbati, 2020).
Climate change can be defined as the impact of human activities that forced the warming of
planet and extreme weather conditions which threatening the existence of all the living beings on
the planet with rising sea level, food insecurity, wildfire, draught, displacement, flooding etc.,
which is considered as the greatest challenges that the human beings are facing in the 21st
century as per the report of World Health Organization.
The greatest contributor to climate change is the emission of greenhouse gases because it
prevents the energy escape atmosphere due to which a constant increase in temperature can be
seen. The major causes of greenhouse gases are the emissions of carbon dioxide and carbon
monoxide in the environment which break the ozone layer that reduces its capacity to reflect the
harmful radiation and heat of the sun stopping it from entering into the atmosphere. The use of
electric vehicles has been a newly developed idea that could help to reduce the overall carbon
emissions and reduce the impact of transportation on the overall climate change.
The electric vehicle industry has become one of the world famous and most innovative
industries across the world (Tost and et. al., 2018). There are a greater number of vehicles that
contribute to the pollution of higher rates and electric vehicles have become one of the most
important innovations to reduce the overall impact on climate change. According to the research
of the European Union, the transport sector contributes up to 28 % of total carbon dioxide
emissions and 13% off carbon monoxide emissions that are the major contributors for climate
change and ozone depletion. Therefore, the economies are focusing towards development and
advancement of electronic vehicles to avoid and decline the overall pollution caused by the use
of vehicles across the world.
Electronic vehicles provide a range of advantages for helping sustainable growth which are
as follows:
 Neutralize emissions: The electric vehicles do not emit carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide
or nitrogen dioxide which lowers down the overall pollution caused by the use of vehicles
(Borland and et. al., 2018).
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 Simplicity: The electronic vehicle engines are smaller and compact due to which they do
not require cooling circuits that use CFC that is a polluting agent, nor does it require other
equipment such as gear shift, clutch etc. that reduces the noise pollution done by the
vehicles.
 Reliability: Due to the lower maintenance cost the electric vehicles are more reliable as
they are made up of simple components, have fewer breakdowns, have low rate of wear
and tear and have very low chances of fuel leak and fuel engine explosions (Bunclark and
Barcellos-Paula, 2021).
 Cost: The maintenance and use of energy cost of electric vehicles is considerably very
low in comparison to the vehicles that are based on fuels and combustion process. This
helps to create a greater welfare for the society and improve the economic conditions.
Figure 1: Cost and consumption savings of vehicles for every alternative source of energy
 Comfortably: Electric vehicles are considered more comfortable due to the absence of
noise and the unusual vibrations of the vehicle which make it more comfortable than
traditional vehicles.
 Efficiency: The use of resources to manufacture an electronic vehicle is lower as
compared to the manufacturing of fuel vehicles due to the lower need of resources for
producing electric vehicles.
 Accessibility: The electronic vehicles do not suffer from the same traffic restrictions as
the traditional vehicles which are unfortunately harmful for the environment and health of
people (Drempetic, Klein and Zwergel, 2020).
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 Driving range: Electric vehicles come with average range 250 to 350 km in a single
charge, but few models of Nissan and Tesla can travel up to more than 500 km in a single
charge due to their innovative ideas which are constantly improved in the electronic
vehicle industry. Achieving such distance coverage with fuel vehicles is nearly
impossible because they are restricted with the physical foundation of their fuel tanks
which support travelling for limited distances.
 Charging time and cost: Although the electronic vehicles take an average of 4 to 6 hours
to charge completely and fueling is comparatively much easier, certain supermodels have
capacity to charge themselves within an hour or so.
 Bulk and weight: the batteries may be heavy and may consume certain space but they are
better than the fuel tanks and the overall combustion system which reduces the weight of
the overall frame in comparison to the traditional vehicles.
There are certain negative consequences of electric vehicles which as shown by the recent
studies as follows:
 Equally harmful as traditional vehicles: Many experts have proven that electric vehicles
are using fuel but the manufacturing and production of electronic batteries and the
electricity that would be required by huge amount of electric vehicles will lead to greater
devastation in future.
 Mining can cause industrial pollution: due to the increasing mining of lithium Cobalt
magnesium and indispensable raw materials that are required to manufacture a battery are
homogenous energy guzzlers, which requires more energy than manufacturing a regular
Vehicle.
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Figure 2: Global Green House Emissions by economic sector
 Higher energy and heat emissions: A study conducted by a Swedish environmental
research institute proves that electronic car batteries require huge amounts of energy
which are drawn from the power plants, producing 80 to 90 grams of carbon dioxide for
powering a single battery (Budsaratragoon and Jitmaneeroj, 2019).
 Replacing costs are high: Replacing the existing vehicles will create junk for the planet
because their existence fuel engines will be of a very less use for manufacturing electric
vehicles that will create a lot of junk of previous vehicles for producing new vehicles.
Moreover, the hundred grams of carbon emitted would definitely become more severe if
billions of electric vehicles are produced.
Therefore, it can be said that there is a requirement of rethinking and innovations to develop
such solutions that could really bring sustainable changes for all the economies across the world
(Golicic, and et. al., 2020). The strategy of innovating electric vehicles must be carefully
designed by keeping in mind the impacts of these kinds of vehicles on the climate and overall
carbon emissions.
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PART B
Examination of individuals’ current lifestyle and how could an individual comply with
sustainability ideas
We are coming around the idea to become more sustainable and live a healthy lifestyle to
protect our future generations by creating a better world in terms of better culture, environment,
society, economy etc. I have started to think of my day to day life and its impact on the planet so
that my overall carbon footprint can be reduced for creating a better environment for living.
Considerably I thought of many ill habits that increase the overall carbon footprint in the
environment including my dietary habits and the use of vehicles etc. I recognize the importance
of sustainability in recent times and have changed my habits, like consuming less meat and only
driving when it is necessary. I think that the small changes could help to reduce the negative
impacts on the environment. I had been previously using the vehicle even to go to nearby
locations which may be 300 to 400 meters away. I changed my habit and started using a bicycle
to travel short distances or cover those distances on foot. I started to take care of the energy that I
used, waste that I created, food that I eat and lessened the use of plastic if not necessary. I
understood certain habits that can be helpful to live a more sustainable lifestyle which are as
follows:
- Saving energy: I started to save energy e at home by switching off the light during the
daytime, turning down heating, switching off the standby appliances, etc.
- Consuming less meat: The animal agriculture and meat industries are one of the biggest
contributors of climate change and pollution because they emit the highest amount of
carbon monoxide gases in the atmosphere. By eating less meat the pollution caused due
to its production and cooking can be lowered down to reduce my negative impact on the
planet (Linna, 2019).
- Eliminating single use plastic: The use of reusable materials such as water bottles, paper
bags or jute bags, etc. helped to reduce the impact of plastic pollution on the planet and
helped me to reduce the carbon footprint (Amaeshi, and et. al. eds., 2019).
- Recycle and reuse: I started to use the things again and again by recycling them or
purchasing those items that are made from recycled waste.
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- Save water: by using the bucket and eliminating showers I reduce the overall use of water
and its wastage that can help me to grow sustainably.
CONCLUSION
The above report concludes that sustainability in business is a very important practice in
today's life. It helps to reduce the negative impact of the companies on the environment,
economy and society and develop a healthy future for the upcoming generations. Moreover, it
has been analyzing and identifying certain positive impacts of the use of electronic vehicles such
as neutralizing emissions, reduction in cost etc. that can help in reducing carbon emissions and
creating a sustainable economy. Furthermore, it has been elaborating about the critics for electric
vehicles such as the pollution caused due to mining, harmful effects of manufacturing batteries,
higher energy and heat emissions and creating of junk that makes the production of EVs
unsustainable. In the end, this report has been examining the current lifestyle of an individual and
how sustainability can be achieved.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Wolff, S. and et. al., 2020. Transforming automotive companies into sustainability leaders: A
concept for managing current challenges. Journal of Cleaner Production, 276. p.124179.
Tost, M. and et. al., 2018. The state of environmental sustainability considerations in
mining. Journal of cleaner production, 182. pp.969-977.
Borland, H and et. al., 2018. Creating theory for business strategies for sustainability and climate
change: Transitional and transformational strategies and ecocentric dynamic capabilities.
In Business strategies for sustainability (pp. 65-80). Routledge.
Bunclark, L. and Barcellos-Paula, L., 2021. Sustainability reporting for sustainable supply chain
management in Peru. Sustainable Production and Consumption, 27. pp.1458-1472.
Drempetic, S., Klein, C. and Zwergel, B., 2020. The influence of firm size on the ESG score:
Corporate sustainability ratings under review. Journal of Business Ethics, 167(2). pp.333-
360.
Budsaratragoon, P. and Jitmaneeroj, B., 2019. Measuring causal relations and identifying critical
drivers for corporate sustainability: The quadruple bottom line approach. Measuring
Business Excellence.
Golicic, S.L. and et. al., 2020. A global meaning of supply chain social sustainability. Production
Planning & Control, 31(11-12). pp.988-1004.
Linna, T., 2019. Insolvency proceedings from a sustainability perspective. International
Insolvency Review, 28(2), pp.210-232.
Amaeshi, K. and et. al. eds., 2019. Incorporating sustainability in management education: An
interdisciplinary approach. Springer.
Ahmed, Z. A., Qaed, F. and Almurbati, N., 2020, November. Enhancing Museums’
Sustainability Through Digitalization. In 2020 Second International Sustainability and
Resilience Conference: Technology and Innovation in Building Designs (51154) (pp. 1-
4). IEEE.
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