AEN T122WSB 6 individual essay

ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET
STUDENT DETAILS
Student
name:
Trần Phước Minh Hiếu
UNIT AND TUTORIAL DETAILS
Unit
name:
Academic English
Tutorial/Lectur
e:
Lecturer or Tutor
name:
Ryan Gabriel

Student ID
number:

22002465

Unit
number:

AEN-T122WSB-6
Monday 12:00 –
Class day and time: 15:15

ASSIGNMENT DETAILS
Title:
Length
:

What are the impacts of sustainable materials on businesses and the environment?
Due
Date
1200 words
date:
11th April 2022
submitted:
11th April 2022

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Student’s
signature:

Tran Phuoc Minh Hieu

Note: An examiner or lecturer / tutor has the right to not mark this assignment if the above
declaration has not been signed.

In today’s civilization, materials have played a key role in many sectors of the world's
economy as well as the future of the environment. Sustainable materials are known as materials that
can be made in required amounts without consuming non-renewable resources and are used by the
industrial sector and consumers. This essay will demonstrate how business, and the environment are
well-linked. Furthermore, the benefits and drawbacks of sustainable materials in terms of business
and the environment will be thoroughly examined. Throughout the article, the audience will gain a
deeper understanding of how sustainable materials are a significant element of modern civilization.

To commence, business and investing requires an appropriate and safe institutional
environment, which is one of the elements that offers an opportunity to expand business and increase
companies’ profit. The function is known as input-output conversion, that is archived through active
interaction with the environment. To be specific, it gains inputs from the environment, then
transforms them through the production facility into outputs that are also gained from the
environment, which then returns them back to the environment. The function will constantly receive
feedback from the environment to improve the enterprise performance. According to a United State
Environmental Protection Agency report (2009) the world population will potentially increase by
50%, which leads to 500% of the global economic activity also increasing, and increases 300% of the
global energy and material use from 2000 to 2050. In addition, the heads of major research institutes
in the United States, German, Japan, Austria, and the Netherlands (2000) have stated: “Unless
economic growth can be dramatically decoupled from resource use and waste generation,
environmental pressures will increase rapidly.” Therefore, there is no denying that business and


environment have a significant interlink due to the fact that the rise of material used to develop a
business can potentially cause many environmental effects.

On the other hand, utilizing sustainable materials is driven more attention by business as it
can provide many positive outcomes. With the growing popularity outlined previously, businesses
must adapt to the idea of rapid development, which is to be able to compete with large corporations
and grow as businesses. Hence, the local entrepreneurs can positively receive support and
recognition from the community by showing interest in using sustainable materials. Moreover, many
businesses decide to “go green” because the resource costs can be significantly cut to save more
money. While less of their income is used to protect the environment, the impact that helps improve
the environment can be seen more quickly. According to Littler (2003) “It is estimated that as much
as 42% of customers in the U.S are willing to pay more for “green” products.” Besides that, the
advantages of becoming more sustainable as a company are so compelling that 90% of CSOs (Chief
Sustainability Officers) state sustainability is linked to corporate innovation and strategy.
Consequently, using sustainable materials offers many benefits for business such as gaining support
and recognition as well as saving the money by reducing the inputs.

However, businesses need overcome numerous challenges of creating sustainable products in
order to be successful in "becoming green". Initially, using sustainable materials could be costly for a
business to deliver. The conversion to solar electricity is a specific example for this demonstration
due to the fact that it will necessitate the installation of solar panels at manufacturer facilities. Going
green can save money on energy. However, the savings are not always enough to cover the initial
conversion costs. In addition to the mentioned point, switching to green materials may result in
increased costs in the manufacturing process. To be more explicit, a furniture maker who turns
suppliers to obtain exclusively responsibly harvested wood will almost certainly have to pay a higher


price. The greater costs must either be passed on to customers in the form of higher pricing or come
at the expense of the company in the form of a lower profit margin on its commodities. Although
businesses desire to buy ecologically and socially responsible products and services, finding
sustainable sources is not always easy as well as comparing products is not always evident.
Decisions about sustainable sourcing may sometimes necessitate industry-specific expertise and
procedures, or finance is not always readily available.

On the aspect of the environment, utilizing sustainable materials provides various
environmental benefits, including cleaner water and air, the preservation of natural resources, and a
reduction in the impact of global warming. This benefits the environment by lowering pollution
levels in the land, waterways, and air. Fewer pollutants are emitted into the environment through
using alternate sources of energy and avoiding the consumption of fossil fuels, recycling and
decreasing waste, and driving more effectively. According to a study conducted by the
Environmental Protection Agency (2009), quality of air in the United States has been slowly
improving, although around 127 million Americans still live in locations with potentially harmful
levels of air pollution as of 2008. Moreover, reducing waste benefits the ecosystem by reducing the
quantity of garbage that needs to be disposed, where it can biodegrade and emit carbon dioxide,
which contributes to the greenhouse gas effects. The Environmental Protection Agency (2009) also
advocates recycling rather than burning waste, which releases dust and other potentially dangerous
chemicals into the atmosphere. Consequently, going green such as using sustainable materials
provides multiple ecological benefits, which would include the sustainability of the environment, and
a reduction in the effects of global climate change.

Contrarily, the principal causes of concern in an energy-dependent world are frequently
related to human energy consumption. Using sustainable materials such as carbon dioxide and other


pollutants, which are released when hydrocarbons are burned to provide some of usable energy.
Furthermore, water scarcity, for example, might create severe supply chain delays and waste. These
negative impacts can result in a drop in income as well as a fall in the very well of the communities
affected by the insufficiency. Climate change can also reduce crop yields and cause price volatility in
commodities. Based on a CDP survey in 2016, which was created on behalf of 75 organizations with
over 2 trillion dollars of procurement spend, reports that 72 percent of 4,005 global suppliers
indicated continuing to pose hazards to their operations and profits. However, only around half of
them have made sustainability a part of their corporate strategy. As a result, while utilizing
sustainable materials has numerous environmental benefits, there are challenges that businesses need

to focus on in order to avoid environmental risks such as lack of green infrastructure, and requiring a
high level of enthusiasm.

To summarize, sustainable materials have a significant impact on businesses since they
enable them to achieve a competitive advantage, increasing the value of their organization. However,
going green might be costly for a company at first, perhaps leading to greater production costs. In
addition, using sustainable materials can help the environment by reducing pollutants in the land and
water, as well as encouraging customers to reduce their consumption and reuse products in order to
reduce waste. As one of the disadvantages of sustainability, using sustainable materials like
hydrocarbons has a detrimental influence on carbon dioxide and other pollutants emissions, which
can potentially lead to price volatility in commodities.


REFERENCES
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