**3. What is sustainability?**

Different people or organizations might have different understandings or definitions for sustainability, depending on their area of specialty or function. Many people think the word sustainability is synonymous with "going green," or limit their understanding of sustainability to the environment. However, the word sustain means causing or allowing something to continue over a period of time. In the same logic, an unsustainable process or act assumes that it will come to an end sooner rather than later. The World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), known by the name of its Chair, Gro Harlem Brundtland, published its report "Our Common Future," in 1987 [1] and proposed the concept of sustainable development as an ideal for the global economy and corporations. Sustainability was defined as development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Based on the WCED definition of sustainability, focusing only on the environmental aspects of sustainability is short-sighted and partial. In addition to the environment, sustainability embraces several arenas including economics, materials, industry, human behavioral science, laws and legislation, social sciences, and finance, as depicted in **Figure 1**.

**Figure 1.** *Arenas of sustainability.*

To achieve sustainable development, there are three goals that need to be fulfilled: waste elimination or minimization, optimization of resources, and cost minimization. Achieving the three goals will lead to environmental sustainability, economic sustainability, and social sustainability, which are the three pillars of sustainability. From a business viewpoint, sustainability is about reducing costs in every conceivable form, which will lead to profitability, competitiveness, and continuity. These costs consist of the costs of raw materials, waste, deficits in resources, poor product design, inefficient production process, climate change, and unemployment. These costs can be grouped into three categories that represent the three aspects of business: Environmental, Economic, and Social.
