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Finding a balance between economic and environmental sustainability

Entrepreneurial finance could play a key role in funding environmentally sustainable investments that help generate economic value for organisations

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Entrepreneurial finance could play a key role in funding environmentally sustainable investments that help generate economic value for organisations
Sustainability is the backbone of business – this has always been true and for largely obvious reasons. Any organisation which is absent of sustainability is destined to, at some point or another, fail. Typically this is not a desirable outcome for an organisation. So sustainability is the name of the game.

In today’s society what exactly do we have in mind when referring to sustainability? I will elaborate on the concept under two broad themes: economic, and environmental.

“Economic sustainability” can be taken as meaning a combination of (i) remaining commercially viable (both now and ideally across future generations) and (ii) being able to sustain operations in the face of unexpected and severe events, such as the global financial crisis which struck in 2007/8 for example.

Economic sustainability can be viewed through five capitals, which include:

-Natural capital which comes from our ecological system;

-Produced capital which comes from our productive activities;

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