Sustainability Matters: Why and How Corporate Boards Should Become Involved

Corporate sustainability can be broadly defined as the pursuit of a business growth strategy by allocating financial or in-kind resources of the corporation to a social or environmental initiative. Today, more than ever, corporate sustainability has risen to the status of strategic business matter and demands supervision from the top. However, despite the extensive body of literature available on corporate governance and sustainability as separate areas of research, minimal attention has been paid to the interaction between the two. In particular, there is limited knowledge of the role that should be performed by the board of directors in designing, endorsing, and overseeing the implementation of a corporate sustainability program.The publication highlights a series of issues for a pragmatic boardroom discussion on the subject. Chapters include:- The business case for corporate sustainability.- The legal case for corporate sustainability.- Emerging board practices in corporate sustainability oversight.- Sustainability and customer value.- Sustainability performance assessment.- Sustainability communication.- Sustainability and corporate philanthropy.