An investigation on companies' sustainability self-awareness

Research Question

Can companies become self-aware of their environmental responsibilities toward society?

Student researcher names

Manon Beliot, Anna Kerner, Fernando Bonilla

Project proposal summary

Our project focuses on the fact that companies are essential bridges in society. They connect consumers and producers and thus can be the most efficient actors to evolve toward a more sustainable society. We will explain how by stopping focusing only on profit companies could develop an activity sustainable for their employees, in which they have decent wages, sustainable for the environment by always remembering that their actions have consequences and also sustainable for their economic activities. People often assume that profits and sustainability cannot go together. However, if companies are not only trying to satisfy shareholders but are also considering themselves as connectors of the different society’s actors that are producers and consumers, it can be achieved. Firms have the power to redirect today’s capitalist economy toward a circle and virtuous economy. By paying their employees with decent wages, companies can allow them to buy more sustainable products and thus indirectly will increase their profits. This circle economy that would replace the modern economy where limits don’t exist, was theories by Kate Raworth. Kate Raworth is an economist that developed the « Donough Economy » theory. This theory explains that if firms could be more aware of their actions by always taking into consideration the impact that they could have on society, the world would evolve in a sustainable way. Profits should always be one of the main goals of companies, nevertheless, it doesn’t have to be the only one.