Scholarly record
FOOTPRINTS AS MEASURES OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF ENTERPRISES
Abstract
The 21st century presents us with enormous challenges related to environmental protection. This applies to both the citizens of our globe, businesses, institutions as well as regions and countries. Contemporary companies increasingly focus on sustainable development and corporate social responsibility, and report their actions contributing to improvement and protection of the environment. Metrics known as footprint family, such as ecological, carbon, water, energy, waste, land or material footprints, are gaining in popularity. These indicators capture the complexity of environmental impacts derived from specific resources consumption or waste discharge. The purpose of this article is to analyze the relationships between selected indicators of footprint families and to determine their usefulness for assessing the environmental impact through production and consumption processes. Specialists agree that a single indicator is insufficient to assess the impact of a business on the environment. It is important to ask which of the footprint family indicators should be considered and whether one aggregated indicator can be defined. Five footprints have been selected as being sufficient to characterize the environmental dimension of a company's sustainable development and an aggregated indicator has been defined.
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