This book expands on law-related research by examining the legal aspects of sustainability with a focus on the impact on business strategies. It recognizes that firms must adopt an integrated approach to law and sustainability, considering multiple disciplines and goals, and serve as a forum for bringing together scholarship from fields such as environmental law, energy, government regulation and intellectual property. Firms increasingly have an interest in transitioning to sustainable business practices that take into consideration the fact that global resources are finite and will be increasingly scarce. They acknowledge that current actions have social, economic and environmental consequences and employ options to ensure that future generations have the same options and benefits. Examples of sustainable practices increasingly employed by firms include the institutionalization of “whole life-cycle” analysis in marketing and product design, utilization of sustainable inputs and energy sources, tracking and reporting sustainability performance, attempting the valuation of future generation prosperity and happiness as a discounting mechanism, and integrating sustainability into firm culture and management goals. It is clear that law and regulation have an extremely important role to play in the transition to more sustainable business practices. Broadly stated, law can provide structure for firms responding to forces that pull transition by enabling sustainability leadership and competitive advantage through funding models, intellectual property rights and collaboration means. Additionally, law can work to push transition by compelling firms to act through regulatory structures, accounting and governance mechanisms.

This book advances an innovative, multi-jurisdictional argument for the necessity of company law reform to reorient companies towards environmental sustainability.

This open access book discusses the challenges and opportunities faced by companies in an age that increasingly values sustainability and demands corporate responsibility. Beginning with the historical development of corporate responsibility, this book moves from academic theory to practical application. It points to ways in which companies can successfully manage their transition to a more responsible, sustainable way of doing business, common mistakes to avoid and how the UN Sustainable Development Goals are integral to any sustainability transformation. Practical cases illustrate key points. Drawing on thirty years of sustainability research and extensive corporate experience, the author provides tools such as a Step-by-Step strategic guide on integrating sustainability in collaboration with stakeholders including employees, customers, suppliers and investors. The book is particularly relevant for SMEs and companies operating in emerging markets. From a broader perspective, the value of externalities, full cost pricing, alternative economic theories and circular economy are also addressed.

This is a guide to making the United States environmentally sustainable. It explains the progress made to date on sustainability, including a description of the most significant obstacles to rapid and increased success. Building on the framework that has guided real progress so far, the author explains in detail how to make a greater variety of more sustainable decisions even more attractive, how law can provide an even better enabling environment for sustainability, and how public opinion and leadership can more effectively be engaged to support sustainability.

What kind of decision-making should multinationals engage in to create a sustainable company? There is substantial debate over why CEOs, senior management and Boards of Directors make the wrong decisions by not asking the right questions, with the result that not only is the company itself damaged, but all of the stakeholders find themselves at a detriment. Focusing on innovation, technology transfer and the use of intangible assets, Energy Law and the Sustainable Company features case studies from the oil and gas sector, to illustrate how to develop a sustainable business. Considering corporate social responsibility from the perspective of international and national law, the book demonstrates how companies can be both profitable and ethical using the influences of psychology to encourage senior decision makers to make the right decisions. It was revealed that reputation was the main principle influencing decision-making. The book also discusses how companies have reported on their sustainability strategy and considers how technology transfer and intangible assets may play a part in addressing global sustainability. This book should be invaluable reading to students and scholars of Sustainable Business, Business Law, Corporate Social Responsibility, Environmental and Energy Law as well as Environmental and Energy Management.

In combining practice and theory, this textbook provides a management perspective on the ‘business case’ for sustainability. Drawing on examples from 20 frontrunner companies located in the Netherlands, it builds upon a unique research project in which CEOs and middle-managers gave access not only to their decision-making process, but also revealed how their perceptions shaped the transition process. This book identifies four different archetypes of business cases and related business models that business students and managers can use to identify phases and related attitudes towards sustainability. The book provides in-depth analysis and insight into: • theoretical concepts and an overview of the relevant literature • the different business cases for sustainability • behavioural characteristics of each phase and the typical barriers between them • more than 70 tipping points • approaches to shaping stakeholder dialogue • effective engagement of stakeholders in each phase of transition • how companies move through the phases towards higher levels of sustainability • insights of employees of the 20 companies whether the business case was really achieved • summary of the interventions which have proved successful in these companies. This book offers students as well as managers of vocational and academic institutions at undergraduate and postgraduate level insight into real-life transition processes towards sustainability.