¶ … Big Businesses Sustainable? Sustainable practices based on environmental regulations have been a concern for businesses, especially big businesses, in the past few decades. The significance of sustainable business practices has gained traction in the past few decades because of the enactment of regulations that seek to promote environmentally friendly practices by businesses. Countries across the world, especially developed countries, have been enacting laws that seek to help streamline business operations towards preventing and controlling environmental pollution. However, the significance of environmental sustainability in business operations has become vital in recent years (Stephenson & Rodriquez, 2012). This is largely attributed to the increase in social pressures for environmentally friendly and sustainable business operations. Despite these attempts, there are concerns on whether big businesses are environmentally sustainable.

Importance of Environmental Sustainability in Business Practices

As previously mentioned, environmental sustainability has become a buzz word and an important aspect of successful and profitable business operations. Given social pressures and the negative impacts of business activities on global climate, environmental sustainability is regarded as one of the most important components towards realization of business goals and objectives. Business organizations in the modern business environment are required to not only focus on profits but also take care of the communities where they operate through environmentally friendly activities and practices. Chief executives and finance chiefs are increasingly acknowledging the need to incorporate sustainability into their business models and practices (Ranganathan, 2013).

Sustainability is an important aspect for businesses because it enables them to be socially responsible through addressing environmental concerns using suitable strategies. In this case, sustainability is not only good for the business but also generates numerous benefits for the society...

In light of recent environmental concerns, sustainability is crucial for businesses because of the need to address global warming by lessening the emissions of greenhouse gases. Climate change, which has emerged as a major environmental issue in the recent past, is brought by greenhouse gases emissions from production processes associated with big companies. Consequently, the most suitable measure for addressing this environmental problem and dealing with climate change is adopting sustainable business strategies and practices.
Big Businesses and Sustainability

Big businesses are increasingly facing the need to be ecological and sustainable in their operations because of the extent with which their activities affect the environment. Ranganathan (2013), states that these businesses continue to fall short of assuming the leadership responsibility and role on the urgently needed sustainability across the globe. Even though chief executives of these kinds of businesses have publicly recognized the need for sustainability and its significance for businesses, they are encountering numerous difficulties in ensuring their operations are above par in relation to sustainability. Some of the reasons for failure of big businesses to be sustainable across their practices include non-compliance with environmental regulations, lack of effective internal policies and controls, lack of suitable sustainability tools, negligence, and ignorance.

Despite these challenges, there are some big businesses that have adopted relatively suitable practices towards ensuring sustainable business practices. One of the measures undertaken by big businesses to be more sustainable and ecological in their operations is efficient use of resources like water and energy. Energy use has been a major issue in sustainability because of the environmental harms of conventional energy production processes and plants. Additionally, the use of water has gained significant attention because of the impact of climate change on the world's ecosystems and depletion of natural resources. Consequently, big businesses have focused on…