How the sustainability experts define sustainability

WHAT’S IN A WORD? — “Sustainability” is a broad term that both serves to encompass the vast range of things we know we need to do differently — and functions as a great marketing buzzword.

We’ve been asking our interview subjects all year how they define it. The responses are more uniform than we expected; Exxon Mobil, for example, uses the exact same definition as the U.N., it turns out.

Most say it’s about preserving resources for the future; the disagreements are over the pace, the technology and the profit margins.

Bill Weihl, founder, ClimateVoice: Sustainability, broadly, is taken to mean operating in a way that preserves the ability of future generations to thrive. Fifty years ago, we didn’t realize, or most of us didn’t, that carbon emissions were such a problem. But we know now, and have for several decades. But the framing of corporate sustainability — by companies, by business schools, and by many NGOs — is focused on what each company can do. How can company X be more sustainable? Sometimes, that’s enough. For climate, it’s clearly not.