Sustainability Management

There is no doubt that the issue of sustainability has become a priority in many areas of business and operations. The practices of which extend into a variety of focus areas, including the very strategic operations of the business, via incorporation within the vision and mission of many companies.

Some of the key issues surrounding sustainability itself are concerned with the aspect of "endurance" of the environment within which we operate and ultimately live, in order to ensure that such environment can maintain and continue, resources must be adequately utilized to ensure the future capability of the respective environment to cater for continued production and support.

Within this awareness and knowledge of sustainability companies have established specific processes and means within their respective sectors in dealing with sustainability and their resultant "contribution" within this focus area. Ecocitizen Tatasteel has taken a specific approach on sustainable management within the focus area of energy conservation. This has been implemented as far back as 1983, and incorporates the implementation of "new technologies, modernisation of equipment and new ways of operating" (ecocitizen. tatasteel. com).

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This can be seen as a positive implementation of what Schaltegger, Burritt & Petersen (2003) provide as "corporate engagement is key to transforming markets" and "promoting a sector-wide shift to sustainable development and corporate best practice" (p. 41). Hence the company in question being that of Tata Steel has certainly taken proactive steps in approaching the environmental perspective of both energy conservation, as well as operating policies and procedures in seeking such best corporate practice within the promotion of energy conservation, operations as well as pollution control.

Additionally the company has sought to achieve certification under the ISO 14001: 2004 (EMS) with respect to their manufacturing and service facilities (ecocitizen. tatasteel. com). The aforementioned certification is provided as: "ISO 14001:2004 specifies requirements for an environmental management system to enable an organization to develop and implement a policy and objectives which take into account legal requirements and other requirements to which the organization subscribes, and information about significant environmental aspects.

It applies to those environmental aspects that the organization identifies as those which it can control and those which it can influence. It does not itself state specific environmental performance criteria. " (iso. org). The fact that Tata Steel has strived to achieve this certification implies that they are indeed committed to the issues surrounding corporate responsibility and best practice in so far as sustainability within their sectors of operation are concerned.

Contained within the company's Corporate Sustainability Report 2007, further insight into the level of commitment to sustainability is revealed within their independently audited policies and actual practices within the organization with reference to the areas of Economic Performance, Environmental Performance, Labour Practices, Human Rights, Society Performance and Product Responsibility. This report provides in depth, and audited information for all stakeholders in a transparent and in depth basis, focussed upon inter alia sustainability aspects within the previously mentioned focus areas.

References

ECOCITIZEN TATA STEEL (Online). Tata Steel Sustainability Management Website. Accessed online on March 26, 2010 via http://ecocitizen. tatasteel. com/ INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR STANDARDIZATION (Online). ISO Corporate website, accessed online on March 26, 2010 via http://www. iso. org/ SCHALTEGGER, S. , BURRITT, R. , ; PETERSEN, H. (2003). An Introduction to corporate environmental management: striving for sustainability. Sheffield, Greenleaf Publ.

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