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Research needs and opportunities in Context-Based Sustainability

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  • Mark W. McElroy
  • Bill Baue

Abstract

In recent years, a new, literalist approach to managing the sustainability performanceof organizations has emerged, the makeup of which stands in stark contrastto the prevailing, incrementalist approach. Unlike the incrementalist approach,which is predicated on the view that progress in sustainability occurs whenevermarginal improvements in the social and environmental impacts of organizationsare made, the literalist approach takes a more rigorous stand. Under the literalistdoctrine (also known as context-based sustainability, or CBS), an organization?ssustainability performance is a function of what its social and environmental impactsare relative to specific norms, standards, or thresholds for what such impactsmust be in order to be sustainable. Here the literalist doctrine relies on the principleof sustainability context, or the general idea that sustainability performance assessmentsmust be made in light of social and ecological limits, and never withoutthem. Actual implementations of sustainability context in practice, however, arestill the exception, not the rule, mainly because generally-accepted guidelines forhow to do it do not yet exist. In response, this paper takes up the question of whatthe research and development needs and opportunities are in the field of CBS, andwhich must be addressed if moving sustainability context from the realm of theoryinto practice is to have any chance of succeeding. The authors begin by definingCBS, explaining the logic and epistemology behind it, and then continue by identifying and discussing specific issues of interest for further research and developmentin the social and environmental accounting domains.

Suggested Citation

  • Mark W. McElroy & Bill Baue, 2013. "Research needs and opportunities in Context-Based Sustainability," FINANCIAL REPORTING, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2013(2), pages 47-70.
  • Handle: RePEc:fan:frfrfr:v:html10.3280/fr2013-002004
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Giles Atkinson & Simon Dietz (ed.), 2007. "Handbook of Sustainable Development," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 1818.
    2. Randers, Jorgen, 2012. "Greenhouse gas emissions per unit of value added (“GEVA”) — A corporate guide to voluntary climate action," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 46-55.
    3. Daly, Herman E., 1990. "Toward some operational principles of sustainable development," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(1), pages 1-6, April.
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    Cited by:

    1. Olivier E. Malay, 2021. "How to Articulate Beyond GDP and Businesses’ Social and Environmental Indicators?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 155(1), pages 1-25, May.
    2. Olivier E. Malay, 2020. "How to articulate beyond GDP and businesses’ social and environmental indicators?," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2020014, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).

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