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Assignment Sample on BUSI1602 Global Business and Sustainability

Introduction

A change in the climate that causes the temperature of the environment to increase all around the globe is known as global warming. Global warming over the years has occurred by the release of carbon dioxide and many other pollutants that get collected in the atmosphere and cause the absorption of the radiations of the sun, which causes the temperature to increase.

Greenhouse gases are gases that absorb radiation from the sun and emit the radiant energy that lies within the infrared range. The radiant energy that is being released into the atmosphere causes the greenhouse effect. This emission of greenhouse gases causes depletion in the layer of ozone and causes the radiation of the sun to directly fall to the surface of the earth. The depletion of the ozone layer is a major reason behind global warming as the radiation directly falling onto the surface also increases the temperature of the surface of the earth, hence causing global warming.

Corporate Social Responsibility: The self-regulatory model for business that can help an organization to become socially accountable towards the stakeholders of the company, to the public that is attached to the company, and also to themselves is known as the Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR of a company (Crane and Matten, 2020). By the practice of CSR, the companies can become conscious of the level of impact that they have on the different aspects such as the economic, environmental, and social aspects of the society. The engagement of CSR into the course of a company’s business enhances the environment of the business also the society of the company, instead of having a negative contribution towards the environment and society. Through the use of Corporate Social Responsibility, a business can significantly benefit society with the additional benefits of boosting the brand of the company. CSR creates a strong bond between the organization and the employees and helps in creating a link between the outer world with the whole organization.

The emission of gases has been a major issue for the corporate world and it is of prime importance to find ways to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases in the different sectors of the corporate world.

Industry Sector:

The industrial sector is an integral part of the secondary sector that is a combination of productive organizations and enterprises that can supply or produce services, and goods. The sector of industrial goods includes the stocks of various companies that can produce the capital goods that are used in the process of manufacturing, construction, and extraction of resources. The businesses that consist of the industrial sector of goods create the machinery for other industries and sell thatmachinery, supplies, and equipment that can be used for the production of other goods rather than selling them to the consumers directly.

Impact of the Industry Sector on the Emission of Greenhouse Gas: The industry sector is one of the most direct or indirect sources of the emission of greenhouse gases into the environment. The sector being heterogeneous has seen the emission of greenhouse gases in both a rapid decrease and also a rapid increase in the emission of the greenhouse gases from various sources of the industry since the beginning. The key points or areas of the emission of the greenhouse gases from the industry sector can be attributed firstly by the release of greenhouse gases emissions (GHG) from the use of energy by the industry and secondly the greenhouse gases that are emitted from various industrial processes of the sector. In the year 2000, the emission of greenhouse gases from the industry sector was divided into various areas of the industry, out of which, 15.4% of the total emission was caused by the combustion of the fuels directly (National Research Council, 2010). The other indirect mode of emission came from the use of the technology in the sector and emissions that were caused by the process of production (C2ES, 2018). Various workshops have been undertaken to understand the emission of greenhouse gases by the various processes of the industry and the kind of impact the greenhouse gases have on the environment.

Recommendations to Reduce the Emission of Greenhouse Gases by the Industry Sector: Various workshops and meetings have been undertakento provide the required knowledge regarding the harmful effects of greenhouse gas emissions from the industry and the need to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases by the industry sector. Multiple policies have been discussed over the years that can reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases from the various processes of the industry with the primary focus of the policies being on taxes, voluntary approaches, and trading processes (Chaika, 2019). The overall aim of the process is to promote the good practices or approaches that can be successful for the sector. Some of the decisions that the companies of the industry sector have to make to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases are given as follows:

• Taking a Voluntary Approach (VA): The voluntary approach has been a widely used process for the reduction of emissions of greenhouse gases in the industry sector and has been the most widely used process by the companies in the industry sector. The process of the voluntary approach is CO2 or energy-related, although many others also cover the emissions from processes. The voluntary approach taken can be an agreement that is non-binding for getting a report of the emissions and progressing onto the targets those areas self-defined by the company for the negotiation of the agreements that are bounded legally (Chapin et al., 2010). This provides the benchmark and helps in the assessment of the performance of the emissions of the company and helps in limiting the emissions to a large extent.
• Emission Trading: Another process that the companies can use is emission trading, an approach based on the market to control the emissions by providing incentives to the environment for the reduction of emissions. This method has been used by various organizations of the industry and is an effective method for the reduction of emissions.
• Development of formal partnership for reduction of GHG emission: The company can develop a partnership for the reduction of GHG emissions such as the formation of an agreement between the company and the government, the company, and non-government organizations (Fernando, 2021). This is done by analyzing the current processes of the company and finding the right solution according to the current plans of the company.
• Increasing awareness among people in the industry: The increase in awareness regarding greenhouse gas and providing proper knowledge regarding what are the harmful effects of greenhouse gases on the environment can be an important approach to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Impact of the Recommendations on the Stakeholders: The stakeholders of the industry sector are the shareholders, employees, customers, and the communities who have an interest in the strategy of the sector. When environmental sustainability is incorporated into the processes of the industry sector, the change in the processes can have an impact on the stakeholders of the sector in multiple ways (Gambarelli, 2020). The stakeholders should have a say on the company’s processes of sustainability to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases and also have a say on the decisions of the sector. The impact that the recommendations can have on the stakeholders are:

• Reduction in the Potential of Litigation: The incorporation of sustainable methods that reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases is important that helps the sector and the stakeholders realize the importance of protecting nature. These processes take into account the impacts of the development of the economy in the future. This in turn helps in the benefit of the company and improves the quality of the consumer’s life.
• Increase in Sales and Profit: The stakeholder’s concerns regarding environmentally sustainable practices have increased and hence the development of green practices has helped in attracting consumers. The increase in the desire of the customers has increased the sales and in turn, has increased the profit of the sector.
• Improvement in Corporate Social Responsibility: The industry sectors have been held accountable to their stakeholders to adhere to the environmental regulations and reduce the emission of greenhouse gases. This helps in improving the CSR of the sector with their stakeholders as they both look for methods to make the sector more sustainable.

Global sustainability and the impacts of global sustainability:

Global Sustainability: The conditions in which nature and humans, the biosphere and the societies, the Earth and the world can co-exist in such a way that enables all of them to live in productive harmony, resilience, and stability that can support the present and the future generations is known as global stability  (Abrahamson, 1989). The science of global sustainability explores the interactions that take place between natural and social systems, starting from the local to the global scales that particularly focus on sustainability as a scope for the development of humans in the context of changes in the global environment and resilience.

Impact of Global Sustainability: Global sustainability has a major impact on the lives of the people as it can improve the quality of the lives of the people. Global sustainability also protects the ecosystem of the environment and also preserves the natural resources to save them for future generations. In the corporate world, global sustainability provides the organization with a holistic approach (Bygrave and Ellis, 1997). Global sustainability helps in creating a sustainable, prosperous, and equitable world, and in the context of an organization, it increases the sustainability of the company and it also can maximize the benefits that a company has by focusing on the long-term environmental goals.

Mining Sector:

The mining sector is a major part of the secondary sector with the sector being completely dedicated tothe detection of the location and the extraction of the metals and the mineral reserves present underground from all around the globe. The minerals and the products of minerals form the backbone of almost all the industries and are a very common practice in every country around the world. The global mineral and metal reserves from around the world are being mined to gain profit and are used for the process of making jewelry, investments, and various industrial applications (Harvey, 2018).

Impact of the Mining Sector on the Emission of the Greenhouse Gases: The emission of greenhouse gases isa major concern for the environment. The mining sector has a significant contribution to the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. In reference, the greenhouse gases that are present anthropogenically are heavily emitted during the process of actual mining directly into the environment and the gases are also indirectly released in the activities that associated with the energy-intensive processes required for the pieces of equipment of mining, transport of ores and in the industry of processing. During the total process of mining of the ores and processing of the ores, mainly GHGs are released during the process of consumption of the energy that is produced by the combustion of the fossil fuels during the activities of mining. An approximate amount of 65wt % of the total energy that is consumed during all the stages of the mining process is caused by burning of the fossil fuels with the main emission being CO2  (Henderson et al., 2020). The sector of mining generates around 1.9 and 5.1 gigatons of CO2 that is equivalent to GHG emitted annually. The emissions occurring from this sector is originated from the coal-bed methane which is released from the mining of coal, especially in underground operations.

Recommendations to reduce the emissions of Greenhouse Gases in the Mining Sector: Growth in the economy, growth of the population, and urbanization are acting as the fuel in the demand for new infrastructure and technologies. With the efficiency of energy becoming a major concern it is essential to use the mining practices sustainably. With all the growth coming up, the demands for minerals are increasing everyday and it has become very essential for companies to find a way of meeting the needs of minerals sustainably as the mining sector is the center of the green transition. The government has come up with the idea of “MissionZero Mine”, the companies of the mining sector need to follow the steps according to the “MissionZero Mine” to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases and become sustainable (Jabbour and Flachsland, 2017). They are as follows:

• Reducing the use of water and maximizing the recovery of water: The companies of the mining sector need to find ways of reducing the use of water in the process of mining and maximize the recovering of water through various processes to make the process of mining more sustainable.
• The efficiency of energy and electrification: The process of electrification in the mines can help the companies lower the costs of mining and will help reduce the amount of emission because of the reduction in the use of diesel in the process of mining, hence reducing greenhouse emission that is released during the process.
• Decarbonization of mining: The decarbonization of the mining process would help companies to take their net emissions of GHG to almost zero, which implies that the process of decarbonization would cause almost the complete reduction in the process of coal combustion in mining (Mastrángelo et al., 2019). This will allow the complete reduction in the emission of greenhouse gases into the environment that would allow the companies in meeting the emission goals of the company.
• Enhancement of lifecycle: The companies need to do an in-depth analysis of their process of emission of greenhouse gases and need to find a foundational reference that would help in the development of ideas for the required advancement in technologies. This is done by designing equipment for mining and developing various processes that would reduce emissions in the process of mining.
• Optimization with Data mining: The companies can use algorithms that are machine-learned that can predict the ways of optimizing the cost and cause a reduction in the emission of carbon.

Impact of the Recommendations on the Stakeholders: The stakeholders are the individuals who have great influence in the development of the plan and ensuring the success of the plan. While considering making a sustainable change in the mining sector the mining industry needs to consult its stakeholders while implementing the recommendations. The stakeholders of the mining industry are the consumers of the mining industry, the employees of the mining industry, the shareholders, and the communities (Merrill, 2019). The impacts that the recommendations can have on the stakeholders of the mining industry are as follows:

• Improvement in Corporate Social Responsibility: The mining sectors are held accountable towards their stakeholders to adhere to the sustainability practices that can reduce the emission of greenhouse gases from the mining process and can in turn improve the quality of their relationship (Swaney, 1992). The role of the stakeholders has increased with the improvement in the recommendations to increase the sustainability of the mining company and hence reduce the emission of greenhouse gases. This has improved the corporate social responsibility of the mining company.
• Increase in Profit: The stakeholders have got more involved in the necessity of saving the environment and bringing in sustainable processes to reduce any waste. The practices or the recommendations that have been made, have decreased the cost of mining and have increased the profit that the mining companies can gain. The satisfaction that the consumers get because of the sustainable practices is a great advantage for the stakeholders of the mining companies.

International agreements on the Reduction of Greenhouse gas emissions and regulations of the environment:

The government adopted the international agreement of the Kyoto Protocol on 11 December 1997 for the reduction of emission of greenhouse gases. The Protocol operates on the framework of the United Nations on the change in climate by committing countries that are industrialized and economies that are in transition by limiting and reducing the emission of greenhouse gas (GHG) according to the individual targets  (Norese et al., 2020).

Multiple policymakers have turned their attraction to economists, who usually recommend the market approach for any kind of problems of the environment over the command and control. The simplicity of the market vs command and control is appealing in nature and provides contemporary relevance, they act as a guide that is generalized for the development of policy (O’Connor et al., 2019).

The ecological challenges have emerged as a driving force in the development of all the innovations that occur in international businesses. International businesses respond to the ecological challenges through grants and subsidies by investing in environmentally friendly methods. In return, the government offers them money and helps in the reduction of costs.

Business risks and opportunities arising from environmental factors: The change in the temperature of the earth due to global warming has two major consequences, one that is profitable and another that is risky (Sankaran, 2019). The opportunities have arisen as the businesses have started to adopt according to the changes and which can arise as a risk and from the sense of opportunity, businesses have started developing policies to fight the disaster that can earn profit for the business.

Conclusion

Greenhouse gases are gases that get released into the atmosphere and are responsible for the hole in the ozone layer. This depletion of the ozone layer causes the harmful radiation of the sun to reach the surface of the earth and hence is a major reason behind global warming. Both the industry sector and the mining sector are major contributors to the emission of greenhouse gases as both processes large amounts of emitting greenhouse gas into the atmosphere. The impact that both the sectors have on the environment because of the processes of the sectors that emit greenhouse gases was concluded. Recommendations that are required to reduce the emission of greenhouse gasses from both the industry and how these recommendations could help the companies in both the sectors to increase their sustainability were concluded. These recommendations can have a major impact on the stakeholders of both the industry sector and the mining sector and can influence the relationship between the sectors and the stakeholders. The reduction in the emission of greenhouse gases can make the sectors much more sustainable and save the environment.

References

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