Durability

The term durability (or soutenability ) is used since the Années 1990 to indicate the configuration of the human company which enables him to ensure its perenniality.

This human organization rests on the maintenance of a livable Environnement, on the Economic development with the planetary scales, and, according to the points of view, on a equitable Social organization.

The transitional period towards durability is done by the Sustainable development .

Terminology

The durability is quality of what is durable (definition of Petit Larousse). In Right, it is the period of use of a well. In the field of the Reliability, it is the aptitude of a good to achieve a function until an absolute limit is reached (see standard NF X 60-500).

The terms of durability and Sustainable development were popularized in the Années 1990.

In 1987, the Rapport Brundtland defined the Sustainable development like the development objective compatible with the Besoin S for the future generations. It must include three pillars: economic, Environmental, and of social equity.

Another term is also employed in this direction: the neologism “ soutenability ”, built on an English word (see ). One speaks sometimes about “bearable development” (see the article ).

Origin of the problem

Environmental balance

The environmental questions and of access to the Natural resources constitute since the Années 1970, with the Oil crises and the Pollution, an increasing concern of the Western companies.

It is observed indeed that, according to the studies of experts in ecology, the ecological Empreinte of the Humanité exceeds since the medium of the Années 1970 the capacity of the Ground to regenerate news Natural resources, and to absorb the Déchet S of all kinds of the economic activity. The phenomenon of Climate change is only one of the aspects of this problem, whose origin is partly a tendency to a greater concentration of Gaz to greenhouse effect in the atmosphere.

The Fishing resources and the energy are the two fields where the exhaustion of the resources is more to fear.

It is thus especially the environmental problem which appears today at the great day in the contemporary Western companies.

Social equity

In the developed Countries, one realized in second half of the 19th century, at the time of the Industrial revolution, the need for taking care of the respect of the interests of the employees in the companies, with the wage earners associations S, the Right to strike,… From where expressions commonly employed like “economic and social”, “capital/work”, which strongly marked the spirits and the institutions.

The inequalities on the social aspects exist however:

an imbalance enters the developed Pays and the Developing country, in particular the the least advanced Pays, with very strong inequalities of access to the Connaissance (education), to the Alimentation and the Santé (food, Médicament S); from where the appearance of movements Altermondialiste S, of claim of the Food sovereignty, ONG on the Human rights…
inside the developed Countries, there exist also very strong inequalities.

Seek new durable economic models

Low/strong durability

In front of the difficulty in integrating the environmental constraint in the total operation of the economy, one saw appearing two Paradigme S ecological S:

the durability low

On this assumption, compatible with the neo-classic economists, and defended by Hartwick (1977), there is substitution between artificial capital (richness created) and natural capital (Natural resource).

strong durability

On this assumption, defended by Daly (1990), the stock of Capital naturalness should not drop. Daly supports that Capital naturalness and artificial capital is complementary and nonsubstitutable.

Concept of " capital naturel"

In order to have a total visibility from an economic standpoint, certain experts thus spoke about " Capital naturalness " , which should supplement the other shapes of capital.

The Classical economics envisaged three Factors of production :

ground,
work.
the Capital .

From a point of view of the History of the economic thinking, it seems that the omission of the environmental aspects occurred about the middle of the 19th century, when the economists left side the Factor of production “ground and basement”.

Indeed, in the neo-classic economic theory, the capital can be increased by the Investissement. However, the ground is then regarded as immutable, the action of the man on the negligible environment and the constraints of raw material provisioning were then ignored. The Capital naturalness is today a component of the capital in the neo-classic theory.

However, this expression of Capital naturalness denatures the initial design of Factor of production of the classical economists.

Taking into account of the need for durability

New environmental concepts

Under other terms, the environmental concerns, which were represented by the Factor of production ground and basement, is returning since the Années 1970 in the debates of experts:

the ecological Empreinte is rather a macroeconomic concept , likely to be integrated in the economic aggregates (GDP,…),
the éco-effectiveness is as for it a microeconomic concept , which can be translated in the design of the produced S industrialists by multidimensional Analyzes of life cycle, using a whole of criteria.
the Factor 10, which corresponds to the possibility of creating produced S and service S which has an intensity of consumption of Natural resource much lower than the conventional methods. It was created on an initiative of the German institute of Wuppertal.
the MIPS, Material Intensity per Service Links, concept of industrial ecology.

The difficulty increases when it is a question of concretely integrating these concerns in the public administration and that of the companies.

Reduction of the gas emission with greenhouse effect

The taking into account of the environmental questions from the point of view of the emission of the Gaz to greenhouse effect is envisaged in the Protocole of Kyoto. Quota of gas emission to greenhouse effect are registered in the protocol, but are not respected by all the countries.

However, one runs up against two principal shelves:

the Gaz with greenhouse effect represent only part of the environmental pillar, that is to say some indicators of Sustainable development in the GRI,
these quotas do not take into account the social pillar,
they take into account economic dimension with an incomplete crossing with the environmental pillar.

It is thus difficult to generalize this tool with all the aspects of the economic life, more especially as the services are majority today in the contemporary economies.

Creation of indicators

The taking into account of the three pillars of the Sustainable development is made through different indicating S from Gestion:

the standard ISO 14000 for the environment,
the standard SA 8000 for the suppliers,
the specification OHSAS 18001 for hygiene, health, and safety with work.

The companies also use batteries of indicators taking as a starting point the Total Reporting Initiative (GRI) of the Compact Global, which gathers the three pillars and the Gouvernance.