Challenges to overcome
Weighing up long term impacts and short term costs
Sustainable development means taking decisions with a view to the impacts on future generations. This implies that key decisions may sometimes have a long pay back period - so that investment in a long term project might be more risky as values and regulations related to the project might change within the timescale. This might also imply that decisions that are really sustainable might involve greater short term costs to achieve a long term and more sustainable outcome. The potential clash between sustainability, efficiency and value for money is considered in the financial management and accounting module
Understanding your impacts
Performance data, or its absence, can potentially act as a driver in its own right. Some organisations have better data on their social, economic and environmental impacts than others. A lack of meaningful data will leave you with a nagging concern about being unsighted on important issues, but more positively good data can give you a clear understanding of a need to take action. An early useful exercise is to gain a clearer understanding of what your most significant social and environmental impacts are so that those activities can be prioritised in the action planning phase, which includes developing a performance management framework.
Are there key challenges in this area we haven’t discussed? If so, tell us about them.
Do you have another example of how these challenges can be overcome? If so please submit a case study