Understanding sustainability and sustainable development

What does sustainability mean? A concise definition is that: 'Sustainability is the capacity for continuance in the long-term'. It is widely accepted that sustainability has three components - an economic component, an environmental component and a social component. Politicians, academics, non-governmental organisations and industrialists have developed a jargon for sustainable development that refers to the 'three pillars of sustainability'.

The best examples of sustainable development result in a 'triple win' scenario with all the three pillars strengthened simultaneously.

A good example of a 'triple win' sustainable development scenario is the efficiency improvements made at our Wilhelmshaven plant.

During the last twenty years output from the Wilhelmshaven plant has increased by over 400%. In the same period total energy consumption has increased by approximately 50%. These efficiency improvements have provided an economic sustainability win by boosting the cost competitiveness of the plant, an environmental sustainability win as there are correspondingly lower emissions per unit output, and a social sustainability win as the efficiency improvements have gone hand-in-hand with safety improvements.

The efficiency improvements have also enabled INEOS Vinyls to close smaller less efficient plants and this in turn has allowed overall production levels to be maintained with a much lower total environmental impact.

However, it is not always possible to achieve a 'triple win'. There are often compromises whereby the strengthening of one pillar weakens another pillar. For example, we know that increasing recycling of PVC products will strengthen the environmental pillar of sustainability. In some, but not all, cases this is not cost effective in comparison to producing the virgin product (weakening the economic pillar). Furthermore safety statistics and wage rates for the recycling operations are often worse than for the tightly controlled and well-managed PVC manufacturing operations (weakening the social pillar). Furthermore the transportation of dispersed waste to centralised recycling facilities could add its own environmental, economic and social impacts.

In making compromises it would be helpful to know if we should be giving priority to any one of the three pillars. The problem is that different people have different views about where the priority should lie.

Many environmental activists believe that we are rapidly heading towards an environmental catastrophe through exhaustion of natural resources, environmental pollution and climate change. They therefore have the view that the environmental pillar of sustainability is paramount.

Everyone should agree that we have to look after our planet, however some people have challenged the apocalyptic view. Perhaps the most high profile recent example was a book by Bjorn Lomborg, a Danish statistician, 'The Skeptical Environmentalist'. Lomborg labelled the popular view of environmental collapse as the "Litany". He did not deny that there are environmental problems to be solved, but rather challenged the view we are heading for an apocalypse. This book has sparked heated debate with opinions as diverse as the issues themselves.

Human rights activists and socialists proclaim that social injustice and inequality cause human misery and war. They have the view that the social pillar of sustainability is paramount.

The chasm between rich and poor nations and inequalities between citizens within nations undoubtedly causes severe tensions, however there are differences of opinion regarding whether global and national situations are getting better or worse. There are also differences of opinion about how greater equality and social justice can be achieved. Many now consider the collapse of communism in several states as failed attempts to create fairer societies.

Economists argue that if essential product requirements are met then if a product or business is not cost competitive it will be wiped out of the market. They have the view that the economic pillar is paramount.

It is clear to anyone in business that cost competitiveness is essential unless a product has some unique characteristic or special brand image that enables it to sustain a premium price. However, some would argue that one company's loss generally means another company's gain and the net effect is that the overall economy is sustained.