Framing Sustainability Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Completion requirements
Even as humans have sought to dominate nature, the reality is that business systems and the economy are subsystems of the biosphere. Read this chapter to discover the four key "meta-concepts": sustainable development, environmental justice, earth systems engineering and management, and sustainability science. You will also find practical frameworks and tools businesses can apply to develop sustainable innovation.
What is the difference between eco-efficiency and ecosystem solutions? How can the meta-concepts, frameworks, and tools be applied to identify sustainable business practices?
3.4 Practical Frameworks and Tools
Key Takeaways
- Business systems and the economy are subsystems of the biosphere.
- Businesses, including companies and supply chains and their interdependent ties to natural systems, like those natural systems, are composed of material, energy, and information flows.
- Mutually reinforcing compatibility between business and natural systems supports prosperity while sustaining and expanding the goods and services ecosystem services provide.
- Biologically inspired business models and product designs can offer profitable paths forward.
- Constraints, rather than limiting possibilities, can open up new space for business innovation and redesign.