Ecophilosophy as a philosophical underpinning of sustainable development

The subjects considered here underpin the philosophical way in which the sustainable development concept is justified. In this context, the new branch of philosophy known as ecophilosophy is seen to have left behind the special pleading on behalf of humankind's exploitative attitudes towards Nature, in favour of considerations that - as they assign value to the biosphere per se - aim at the harmonious coexistence of the human species with all beings present in the biosphere. In the conceptual terms with which ecophilosophy has armed itself, sustainable development is the search for proper moderation in so far as human activity in the environment is concerned. A strategy for sustainable development is a mechanism needing to be incorporated into any further advancement of Western civilization. Ecophilosophy's chances of emerging are related to whether an inevitable, unavoidable antagonism between Nature and culture does or does not exist. It is the contention of this article that it does not. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

The determinants of corporate sustainability performance

This paper investigates the factors that drive high levels of corporate sustainability performance ("CSP"), as proxied by membership of the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index. Using a stakeholder framework, we examine the incentives for US firms to invest in sustainability principles and develop a number of hypotheses that relate "CSP" to firm-specific characteristics. Our results indicate that leading "CSP" firms are significantly larger, have higher levels of growth and a higher return on equity than conventional firms. Contrary to our predictions, leading "CSP" firms do not have greater free cash flows or lower leverage than other firms. Copyright (c) The Authors. Journal compilation (c) 2009 AFAANZ.