The awareness of sustainability concepts are woven though-out earliest civilizations whose hunter-gatherer lives were interdependent on their environment and communities, for providing food, safety and shelter.

In 1987 the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development published ‘Our Common Future’, also known as the Bruntland report, attributed to Gro Harlem Bruntland, who was at the time Chair of the Commission. The Bruntland report aimed to discuss ‘the environment and economic development ‘ as one single issue, and a frequently quoted expert is recognized to define the concept of sustainability as follows:

"development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

The Sustainability meaning and concept, is a process that envisions a “desirable future imperative” for human societies, in which living conditions and resource-use continue to meet human needs, without undermining the ‘integrity, stability and beauty’ of natural biotic systems. The emphasis upon a ‘desirable future’ points towards a global population forecast from 7.4 billion to 11 billion by the end of the century, who if continued consumption at both present levels of product development and rates, would create irreversible impacts to the world’s ecosystems and endanger life-itself.

The Paris Agreement of December 2015 signifies the outcome of the common will of leaders from politics, industry, society and science to decarbonise the future. These globally-shared goals for international cooperation and support for Sustainable Development are central to transform global energy markets and catalyse new models of economic development, whereby organizations embed sustainability into their culture and operations, and partner with society.

The advancement and practicality to transform procedures to Carbon Neutrality and Zero Waste Economies is both assisted and accounted for through various Reporting Systems and Management Framework systems, such as Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI) at National-level, and all types of ‘balanced scorecards’ and ‘certified measurement systems’ for various organizations spanning business, retail, manufacturing and materials. The concept initiation for these Standards and Sustainability Values is that organizations are responsible first and foremost to all their stakeholders, and these include everyone that is involved with the company whether directly or indirectly, as well as the planet we are living on.

One Sustainability approach is often referred to as the ‘Triple Bottom Line’ – TBL - it is a bottom line that continues to measure profits, but also measures the organization’s Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) against people and the planet on both a local and global scale, thereby expressing their impact through Economic business results, Social Responsibility and Environmental Performance.

There are various certified measurement and management systems used by organizations to document and report on environmental, social and other sustainability-related impacts of operations, supply-chains and product-life cycles. Examples include those from the IIRC (International Integrated Reporting Council); GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) and SASB (Accounting for a Sustainable Future).

The ISO 14001 is a universal standard Environmental Management System - EMS management tool - which can be used for an organization’s strategy to implement its environmental policy, to scope its activities, improve and control environmental outcomes, and comply to governmental regulations.