Sustainability entails meeting the needs of today without compromising the needs of tomorrow. This concept of sustainability is achieved by minimizing the impact of any individual or corporate on the environment, society, and governance. A sustainable future depends on a balance of environmental, social, and governance factors.
The sustainability focuses of a corporation, however, are more specific to determining how its direct business processes impact the environment, social issues, and governance. Corporate sustainability includes creating long-term value for all stakeholders, especially the investment community, by using ethical, social, environmental, cultural, and economic business practices. The creation of wealth by businesses to foster sustainable development needs to be done without harming the environment. In a sustainable business practice environmental protection, justice for all, and business ethics are prioritized alongside profit and growth for an organization. Having a better understanding of the sustainability impact of a business result in reduced costs, better stakeholder relations, and more effective risk management.
Today’s climate crisis is believed to be caused by increasing carbon emissions from business and industry. As a result, global sustainability advocates are increasingly pressurizing companies to adopt greener business practices. A greener business can be fostered by managing biodiversity, investing in renewable energy sources, and encouraging sustainable investments. The United Nations is therefore more forcefully calling on businesses to contribute to reducing carbon emissions through adopting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Sustainable Development Goals are a collection of 17 interconnected global goals formulated by the United Nations as an “action plan for a better and more sustainable future”. Throughout the company’s sustainable action plans and policies, GSM Holdings focuses on achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
Sustainability advocates voices for universal human rights, community health, personal data protection, and the prevention of discrimination worldwide. As a company looks to achieve social sustainability, it needs to have a strong human rights policy, robust information security, and the ability to develop its employees’ talent. Human rights are an important component of social sustainability. As part of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), adopted by the General Assembly of United Nations in 1948, the United Nations sets out basic human rights to be universally protected. Therefore, it is important for companies to ensure that they do not compromise social and human rights in the business. Regardless of where the company needs to develop policies, all the above-said elements have been aligned into the ESG framework. We have established thirty-six metrics to measure social sustainability within our organization.
A growing number of international investors place an emphasis on transparency in corporate governance. The path to economic sustainability includes transparent corporate governance practices, informed decision-making, integrating sustainability into risk mitigation processes, and communicating to promote this goal. We at GSM holdings conduct annual ESG materiality assessments as part of achieving this goal. Our Corporate Governance initiatives emphasize the implementation of a code of ethics, elimination of abuse of power, and diversity and independence of boards.
