Unsustainable: Measurement, Reporting, and the Limits of Corporate Sustainability

Corporate and financial actors enforce a business-friendly approach to global sustainability, but Matthew Archer argues that these metrics are often hollow symbols. Unsustainable contends that this depoliticizing tendency to frame sustainability as a technical issue enhances and obscures corporate power while doing little to address the root causes of the climate crisis and issues of social inequality. Archer seeks to mobilize alternative approaches through an intersectional lens incorporating Black and Indigenous theories of knowledge, power, and value, offering a vision of sustainability that aims to be more effective and socially and ecologically just.

Format: Hardback
Length: 256 pages
Publication date: 30 January 2024
Publisher: New York University Press

In recent years, companies have increasingly felt the pressure to be transparent about their environmental impact. Large documents containing summaries of yearly emissions rates, carbon output, and utilized resources are shared on companies' social media pages, websites, and employee briefings in a bid for public confidence in corporate responsibility. However, Matthew Archer argues that these metrics are often just hollow symbols.

Unsustainable takes a behind-the-scenes look at the world of big banks and multinational corporations, where sustainability begins and ends with measuring and reporting. Drawing on five years of research among sustainability professionals in the US and Europe, Unsustainable reveals how this depoliticizing tendency to frame sustainability as a technical issue enhances and obscures corporate power while doing little, if anything, to address the root causes of the climate crisis and issues of social inequality.

Through this obsession with metrics and indicators, the adage that you can't manage what you can't measure transforms into a belief that once you've measured social and environmental impacts, the market will simply manage them for you. The book draws on diverse sources of evidence, including ethnographic fieldwork among a wide array of sustainability professionals, interviews with private bankers, and apocalyptic science fiction, and features analyses of name-brand companies, including Volkswagen, Unilever, and Nestlé.

Making the case for the limits of measuring and reporting, Archer seeks to mobilize alternative approaches. Through an intersectional lens incorporating Black and Indigenous theories of knowledge, power, and value, he offers a vision of sustainability that goes beyond mere measurement and reporting and addresses the underlying social and economic systems that perpetuate environmental degradation and inequality.

In conclusion, Unsustainable is a thought-provoking and timely book that challenges the dominant narrative of corporate sustainability and offers a more holistic and intersectional approach to addressing the climate crisis and social inequality. By highlighting the limitations of measuring and reporting, Archer seeks to mobilize alternative approaches that prioritize the well-being of people and the planet over the interests of corporations and the financial system

In recent years, companies have increasingly felt the pressure to be transparent about their environmental impact. Large documents containing summaries of yearly emissions rates, carbon output, and utilized resources are shared on companies' social media pages, websites, and employee briefings in a bid for public confidence in corporate responsibility. However, Matthew Archer argues that these metrics are often just hollow symbols.

Unsustainable takes a behind-the-scenes look at the world of big banks and multinational corporations, where sustainability begins and ends with measuring and reporting. Drawing on five years of research among sustainability professionals in the US and Europe, Unsustainable reveals how this depoliticizing tendency power to frame sustainability as a technical issue enhances and obscures corporate power while doing little, if anything, to address the root causes of the climate crisis and issues of social inequality.

Through this obsession with metrics and indicators, the adage that you can't manage what you can't measure transforms into a belief that once you've measured social and environmental impacts, the market will simply manage them for you.

The book draws on diverse sources of evidence, including ethnographic fieldwork among a wide array of sustainability professionals, interviews with private bankers, and apocalyptic science fiction, and features analyses of name-brand companies, including Volkswagen, Unilever, and Nestlé.

Making the case for the limits of measuring and reporting, Archer seeks to mobilize alternative approaches. Through an intersectional lens incorporating Black and Indigenous theories of knowledge, power, and value, he offers a vision of sustainability that goes beyond mere measurement and reporting and addresses the underlying social and economic systems that perpetuate environmental degradation and inequality.

In conclusion, Unsustainable is a thought-provoking and timely book that challenges the dominant narrative of corporate sustainability and offers a more holistic and intersectional approach to addressing the climate crisis and social inequality. By highlighting the limitations of measuring and reporting, Archer seeks to mobilize alternative approaches that prioritize the well-being of people and the planet over the interests of corporations and the financial system

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781479822003