Business Society: Ecological Approaches to Sustainability

The Anthropocene - Age of Humans (2000)

Crutzen & Stoermer:

A proposed geological epoch defined by significant human impact on Earth's systems.

The Anthropocene - Driver of Change (2000)

Crutzen & Stoemer:

Human change - climate change, biodiversity loss and resource depletion are considered the consequences of human action.

Planetary Boundaries (2009)

Rockström et al.:

A 'safe operating space for humanity' based on 9 critical Earth system processes that govern life.

- Transgressing these boundaries can destabilase the Earth's System

Earth System Processes (2009)

Rockström et al.:

1. Climate change

2. Biosphere integrity

3. Land-system change

4. Freshwater change

5. Bio-geo-chemical flows

6. Ocean acidification

7. Atmospheric aerosol loading

8. Stratosphere ozone depletion

9. Novel entities

Purpose of Planetary Boundaries

Offers businesses a scientific-based lens to examine how businesses impact & are affected by ecological processes.

Net-Zero

Balancing GHG emissions released and emissions removed from the atmosphere:

- Decarbonisation

- Off-setting / carbon capture & storage

UN Paris Agreement (2015)

- Limit global warming to 1.5C

- Cut emissions by at least 45% by 2030

- Achieve net-zero by 2050

Who has pledged to Net-Zero?

- 107 countries

- 9,000+ businesses

- 600 financial institutions

Limitations to Net-Zero strategies

- Reliance on offsetting strategies

- Technological optimism

Indigenous Knowledge Systems

Traditional knowledge held by indigenous communities.

Sacred Ecology (2017)

Berkes:

Argued that indigenous and local knowledge systems are essential complements to modern scientific ecology - offering insight as to how to approach sustainability.