Sustainability: Environmental management, transparency and competitive advantage

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that responsible environmental management, and social reporting, extends beyond the boundaries of multinational organisations to smaller commercial organisations such as shopping centres. A range of published works, over a decade relating to corporate reporting, environmental management and information management have been reviewed. The paper is divided into the following sections: Introduction/Background/Environmental Reporting/The Built Environment/Shopping Centres/Conclusions. The literature traces the development of sustainability over the last 20 years and the growing need for organisations of all sizes to provide detailed transparent information to investors, and shareholders, to maintain confidence and attract investment. The work highlights the importance of adequate environmental reporting if organisations are to survive in the long term, and achieve a sustainable economy. The paper proposes the adoption of transparent environmental reporting across all commercial organisations to enable a better understanding of environmental impacts for the benefit of society and attaining sustainability within the natural environment. The paper parallels the evolution of corporate social reporting within multinational enterprises, with the need for smaller commercial organisations also to provide appropriate levels of environmental reporting.