Environmental Sustainability Report: TBL, Development, Construction

This report delves into the critical aspects of environmental sustainability, focusing on the intricate relationship between energy consumption and climate change. It highlights the role of urbanization as a significant driver of energy demand while acknowledging the necessity of providing shelter for the population. The report introduces the concept of sustainability, emphasizing the need to meet current demands without jeopardizing the future. It explores key areas such as energy consumption, the triple bottom line (TBL) framework, sustainable development, and sustainable construction. Additionally, the report provides a sample sustainability report based on the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and concludes with an analysis of global warming and potential mitigation strategies for the building sector.

Running head: ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
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1ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
Abstract
The report on environmental sustainability revolves around the energy consumption and
climate change. The urbanization is identified as one of the culprit of energy consumption.
On the contrary, urbanization cannot be stopped as it fulfill the people`s basic need to provide
shelter. The idea of sustainability came from this as sustainability relies on the concept of
fulfilling people`s need without compromising the opportunity of the future generation. The
report discuss and give a basic idea of energy consumption and climate change, triple bottom
line and sustainable development and sustainable construction, which is found suitable for the
society and ecologically balanced environment. The report also provides a sample report
drafted on the concept of the Global Reporting Initiative`s. The report concludes with facts of
global warming and the possible measures to mitigate the energy consumption by the
building sectors.

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Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................3
Discussion......................................................................................................................3
Environmental Sustainability.....................................................................................3
Energy Consumption..................................................................................................5
Triple Bottom Line (TBL).........................................................................................6
Sustainable Development...........................................................................................7
Relationship between TBL and Sustainable Development........................................7
Significance of TBL in Sustainable Development.....................................................9
Concept and Significance of Sustainable Construction...........................................10
Sustainability Report of a Hypothetical Company...................................................11
Challenges and Issues in Reporting Sustainability..................................................14
Conclusion....................................................................................................................15
References....................................................................................................................17

3ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
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 occurred1. 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 environmental 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.
1 Moldan, Bedřich, Svatava Janoušková, and Tomáš Hák. "How to understand and measure environmental
sustainability: Indicators and targets." Ecological Indicators 17 (2012): 4-13.

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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 decomposes2. 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 long 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
2 Moldan, Bedřich, Svatava Janoušková, and Tomáš Hák. "How to understand and measure environmental
sustainability: Indicators and targets." Ecological Indicators 17 (2012): 4-13.

5ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
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 industries3. 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 footprint4. 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
3 Pereira, Luis S., Ian Cordery, and Iacovos Iacovides. "Improved indicators of water use performance and
productivity for sustainable water conservation and saving." Agricultural Water Management 108 (2012): 39-
51.
4 Laurent, Alexis, Stig I. Olsen, and Michael Z. Hauschild. "Limitations of carbon footprint as indicator of
environmental sustainability." Environmental science & technology 46.7 (2012): 4100-4108.

6ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
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
meters 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 loss5. 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 fertility of the
5 Gimenez, Cristina, Vicenta Sierra, and Juan Rodon. "Sustainable operations: Their impact on the triple bottom
line." International Journal of Production Economics 140.1 (2012): 149-159.

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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 development6. 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
shelter7. 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,
6 Griggs, David, et al. "Policy: Sustainable development goals for people and planet." Nature 495.7441 (2013):
305-307.
7 Griggs, David, et al. "Policy: Sustainable development goals for people and planet." Nature 495.7441 (2013):
305-307.

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social and financial8. 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 labor’s 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 wastes9. 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
8 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.
9 Gimenez, Cristina, Vicenta Sierra, and Juan Rodon. "Sustainable operations: Their impact on the triple bottom
line." International Journal of Production Economics 140.1 (2012): 149-159.

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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 away 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 workers10. 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 process.
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
10 Gimenez, Cristina, Vicenta Sierra, and Juan Rodon. "Sustainable operations: Their impact on the triple
bottom line." International Journal of Production Economics 140.1 (2012): 149-159.

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affected by the pollution an industry is creating11. 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 demolition12.
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 well 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 river13. This contamination directly harms the people and makes the water of the river
11 Dincer, Ibrahim, and Marc A. Rosen. Exergy: energy, environment and sustainable development. Newnes,
2012.
12 Hwang, Bon‐Gang, and Jac See Tan. "Green building project management: obstacles and solutions for
sustainable development." Sustainable development 20.5 (2012): 335-349.
13 Kibert, Charles J. Sustainable construction: green building design and delivery. John Wiley & Sons, 2016.

11ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
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 energy, 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 energy14. The third challenge is that manage the waste during the construction and
14 Hong, Taehoon, et al. "A review on sustainable construction management strategies for monitoring,
diagnosing, and retrofitting the building’s dynamic energy performance: Focused on the operation and
maintenance phase." Applied Energy 155 (2015): 671-707.