Business Sustainability Requires Ethics

We cannot simply "flip the switch" and move from fossil fuel-based power to renewable power as many would like to believe. Sustainability is an evolution not a revolution. The global community has developed a reliance on fossil fuels and many other nonrenewable commodities, including precious metals and other minerals provided by the earth. These natural resources are enablers in today's society in that they are necessary to fuel our lifestyle and quality of life. Globally, the result is a continued depletion of natural resources, thus, if not arguably, increasingly affecting our ability as a society to ensure the availability of natural resources for future generations. Therefore, while we continue to consume natural resources we have to hope and anticipate that our future generations will continually evolve sustainably. Businesses drive the world economy, and whereas governments can pass legislation for standards and requirements, ethical behavior cannot be legislated. However, it is clear that once unethical behavior is uncovered, the consequences to an organization for its unethical behavior can be severe, but by then the damage is already done and difficult, if not impossible, to undo. The Code of Ethics that a business adopts determines and shapes its ethical practices and it is the resulting culture and attitudes of its employees that maintain its reputation. Although founded in common principles, each business will adopt a unique ethical code. Arguably, it is, at least in part, through the ethical decisions that engineering companies achieve the Social License to Operate (SLO) that drives sustainable development locally, regionally, and globally. In this paper we take a look at ethics and the social license that businesses, specifically engineering companies, are adopting to guide the sustainability evolution and the consequences (intended and unintended) of those paths.