Grow your business today and build a better future with sustainable development
Keep reading to learn what sustainable development means and why it’s important for today’s businesses. Plus, discover global goals for sustainable development, explore real-world examples, and find ways to accelerate sustainability progress for your organization.
What is sustainable development?
Sustainable development is the practice of developing for today without depleting natural resources or harming the health and wellbeing of future generations. In 1987, the United Nations Brundtland Commission defined environmental sustainability as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
Today, developing countries and organizations across the globe are working to build, expand, and fuel progress. Facing the ever-increasing threat of climate change and diminishing resources, responsible governments and businesses are taking measures to ensure that their development and growth doesn’t have a negative impact on the planet.
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Sustainable development meaning for businesses
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), sustainable development is, “a broad term to describe policies, projects, and investments that provide benefits today without sacrificing environmental, social, and personal health in the future.”
For businesses, sustainable development means taking purposeful actions to track and reduce your environmental footprint—even as you work to grow your organization. If your business is committed to sustainability, it’s important to optimize your operational systems, drive efficiencies, reduce carbon emissions, and decrease the impact of your buildings, spaces, and processes.
Many of today’s businesses are actively seeking out sustainability strategies and solutions to boost their brand, increase customer loyalty, and build a more resilient world. After all, sustainability isn’t just good for the planet—it’s also good for your business.
Drive progress by embracing global goals for sustainable development
In 2015, all UN Members States adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as part of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This agenda laid out a 15-year plan to achieve these 17 goals.
According to the UN, the Sustainable Development Goals are the “blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all.” These global goals for sustainable development address an array of worldwide challenges, including inequality, poverty, environmental issues, peace, and justice.
The UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
- Goal #1: No poverty
- Goal #2: Zero hunger
- Goal #3: Good health and well-being
- Goal #4: Quality education
- Goal #5: Gender equality
- Goal #6: Clean water and sanitation
- Goal #7: Affordable and clean energy
- Goal #8: Decent work and economic growth
- Goal #9: Industry, innovation, and infrastructure
- Goal #10: Reduced inequalities
- Goal #11: Sustainable cities and communities
- Goal #12: Responsible consumption and production
- Goal #13: Climate action
- Goal #14: Life below water
- Goal #15: Life on land
- Goal #16: Peace, justice, and strong institutions
- Goal #17: Partnerships
As countries across the globe strive to achieve these 17 goals, the public is looking to businesses to advance sustainability efforts and work towards net-zero emissions. By launching programs that support a healthier environment, organizations across all industries can build brand trust, boost customer loyalty, and enhance employee satisfaction. In this evolving landscape, it’s more important than ever to accelerate your sustainability journey.
Why worry about waste?
11.5 billion tons of solid waste collected each year.
Electronic waste (e-waste) is fast growing and difficult to eliminate.
Poor waste management causes air and water pollution and soil contamination.
Learn how to accelerate sustainability for your organization by moving to a circular economy.
The three pillars of sustainable development
- Economic sustainability
While environmentally responsible businesses strive to be profitable, they aren’t willing to do so at any cost. Organizations that focus on sustainable development find ways to boost revenue and business growth without having a negative impact on their community, environment, or health and wellbeing of its employees. Another way businesses foster economic sustainability is by investing in products that have a positive impact on the environment. - Social sustainability
Social sustainability is about promoting a good quality of life, encouraging diversity, and providing equitable opportunities for all. In the business world, this pillar includes critical issues like health and safety, employee empowerment and inclusion, professional development opportunities, and work-life balance. - Environmental sustainability
Protecting the environment is a key objective for organizations that place a priority on sustainable development. As part of their sustainability efforts, many businesses take measures to enhance efficiencies, reduce resource consumption and waste, and measure and monitor carbon emissions.
These three objectives apply to companies across all industries, including:
- Manufacturing
- Energy
- Retail
- Automotive
- Financial services
- Infrastructure management
- Telecommunications
- Healthcare
- Agriculture
Four ways to achieve sustainable development
- Transition to renewable energy.
Facing the increasing threat of global warming, many governments and businesses are shifting to renewable energy sources and technologies. Renewable energy refers to natural energy or production processes that can be continuously replenished, which means our planet will never run out of these types of energy. Some of the most common renewables include solar energy, hydroelectric power, wind energy, tidal power, geothermal energy, and biomass energy. Wind turbines and solar panels are among the leading sources of renewable energy. - Migrate to the cloud.
To meet sustainable development goals, many organizations are prioritizing cloud migration. By migrating your applications, workloads, and databases to the cloud, your business can reduce its carbon footprint by up to 98%, and lower energy consumption and costs1. Plus, innovative cloud solutions enable you to easily collect data insights about your organization’s environmental footprint so that you can make meaningful change. - Understand and reduce your carbon emissions.
Humanity emits about 50 billion tons of greenhouse gases each year—far more than nature can absorb. If you want to promote sustainable development, it’s essential to track and minimize carbon emissions across your supply chain. This will allow you to reduce your impact, enhance efficiencies, and make lasting changes. - Improve waste management.
Each year, 11.5 billion tons of solid waste are collected. Electronic waste, also known as e-waste, is one of the fastest growing categories—and one of the most difficult types of waste to eliminate. Poor waste management leads to air and water pollution and soil contamination. To help reduce waste, consider taking a circular approach to materials management. This not only means increasing the use of recycled content, but also responsibly sourcing materials for your organization’s operations, products, and packaging.
Sustainable development examples
Microsoft is committed to becoming carbon negative, water positive, and zero waste by 2030. With decades of experience promoting sustainability practices, we’re collaborating with organizations and experts around the world to help set sustainability best practices and science-based standards.
Here are a few more real-world stories about organizations that are making sustainable development a priority:
- Grupo Bimbo, Mexico-based international producer of baked goods and snack foods, is starting its sustainability journey by tracking emissions in Canada, Mexico, and the United States.
- Ingredion, a plant-based ingredients provider, aims to make the world a better place by tapping into powerful sustainability data. The company’s ambitious All Life 2030 sustainability plan targets emissions, plastics, energy sources, biodiversity, human rights, and more.
- FLSmidth wants to be the sustainability leader in the mining and cement industries—and the company is on track to accomplish that goal with its MissionZero plan for zero emissions and zero waste by 2030.
On the horizon: The future of sustainable development
As countries around the world strive to achieve global goals for sustainable development, businesses are taking a leading role in the effort. Environmentally responsible organizations are adopting strategies to reduce their carbon footprint, transition to renewable energy, conserve water, and improve waste management—all while remaining profitable and growing their businesses.
If your business wants to build customer loyalty and thrive today and well into the future, it’s more important than ever to focus on sustainable development.
Frequently asked questions
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Sustainable development is the concept of developing for today without depleting natural resources or harming the health and wellbeing of future generations. For businesses, this means making sustainability a priority and working to track and reduce your environmental footprint—even as you focus on growth.
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As our planet faces the growing threat of climate change and diminishing natural resources, sustainable development is more important than ever. Today’s businesses must take measures to ensure that their growth doesn’t negatively affect future generations. Plus, sustainable development strategies allow businesses to lower costs, enhance customer loyalty, and build a more resilient world.
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There are numerous benefits of sustainability. First and foremost, sustainability strategies help us decarbonize our planet and conserve natural resources to ensure that future generations can thrive. For organizations, environmental sustainability isn’t just good for the environment—it’s also good for business. By making sustainability a priority, organizations across all industries can build brand trust, boost customer loyalty, and enhance employee satisfaction.
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Sustainable development is based upon three fundamental pillars:
- Economic sustainability
- Social sustainability
- Environmental sustainability
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The primary goal of sustainable development is to meet current growth and development needs without depleting natural resources or having other negative impacts on future generations.
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