The three pillars of sustainability are economic, social, and environmental. Economic sustainability ensures efficient resource use, social sustainability promotes equity and well-being, while environmental sustainability safeguards natural resources and ecosystems. Economic growth can support sustainable development when it considers social and environmental factors, leading to long-term prosperity and improved quality of life for current and future generations.
Sustainability's three main pillars represent environmental concerns, socially responsible practices, and economic cooperation. These three pillars are also informally referred to as people, planet, purpose, and profits. It's useful to understand the terms sometimes used in place of the three pillars. By embracing the 3 P's of Sustainability People, Planet, and Profit businesses can create a harmonious balance that leads to enduring success. Economic sustainability is all about giving people what they want without compromising the quality of life, especially in the developing world. Environmental sustainability: It is the process of meeting the needs of air, food, water, and shelter as well as ensuring that the environment is neither affected nor polluted. Sustainability is an essential part of facing current and future global challenges, not only those related to the environment. The social pillar ties to the concept of social license. A sustainable business should have the support and approval of its employees, stakeholders, and the community it operates in. Economic sustainability aims to maintain the capital intact. If social sustainability focuses on improving social equality, economic sustainability aims to improve the standard of living. In the context of business, it refers to the efficient use of assets to maintain company profitability over time. Economic sustainability refers to practices that support long-term economic growth without negatively impacting social, environmental, and cultural aspects of the community. Sustainable development means “meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the needs of future generations”. Thus, economic growth will be sustainable if fixed assets, including land, remain constant or increase over time. Sustainable economic development in business means effective production while considering the environmental future. Sustainable economic growth ensures that there is an emphasis on the quality of life. In a sustainable economic growth, future generations must be considered. Green growth forms the core of sustainable development strategies. The central assumption is that economic growth can continue while reducing resource use, environmental pressures, and impacts.