Introduction to Sustainability Analytics

Society must consider the impacts of climate change and the subsequent move toward public and corporate environmental sustainability. This book will merge corporate and public sector perspectives on sustainable development with regard to business and engineering approaches. Sustainability metrics and indices will be addressed using practical examples. It will also introduce and expand on economic issues, environmental concerns, social concerns, and ethics. It will address decision analysis and sustainability analytics in the context of the business value of corporate social responsibility, public policy, life-cycle assessment, climate change and energy, and a circular economy.

Dr. Ram Ramanan, a Fulbright Fellow, has over 40 years of academic, consulting and corporate experience in corporate social responsibility (CSR), sustainability, compliance, environmental risk mitigation, and ethics in over a dozen nations. He has a PhD in Environmental Science (Engineering) from the University of Texas at Dallas and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin. He also holds MS and BS degrees in chemical engineering from Bombay University and the Indian Institute of Technology, respectively. He received a US Department of State Fulbright Fellowship in 2006 to provide environmental and sustainability thought leadership in India where he spoke at over twenty major academic and professional forums. Ram has provided executive briefings, presented & published papers, and chaired sessions, panels and conferences worldwide over four decades. Ram is now Affiliate Research Professor at Desert Research Institute. He currently serves on the Board of World Institute for Scientific Exploration 'Wise', and the Editorial Review Boards of the 'Vedic Journal' and the International Journal of Risk & Contingency Management and has served on the International Board of Air &Waste Management Association from 2011-2013. As Chair of the Education Council at AWMA, Ram led a group of over fifty academics, including several tenured professors, all devoted to promoting environmental sustainability education globally. An educator at heart, in the 1990s, as industry board advisor to the Environmental Solutions Program at The University of Texas at Austin, Ram promoted the concept of risk based decision making that led to the establishment of the "Risk Management Center". He recently retired from the Illinois Institute of Technology's Stuart School of Business, where he was industry associate professor and interim director of the Center for Sustainable Enterprise.

Foreword Preface Acknowledgments Author Chapter 1 Sustainability Analytics and Social Responsibility Chapter 2 Sustainability Analytics and Decision Acumen Chapter 3 Sustainability Analytics and Decision Execution Chapter 4 Sustainability Analytics for Global Issues Chapter 5 Sustainability Analytics Applications Appendix A: List of SASB Material Sustainability Components Appendix B: Definition of Terms-US OMB Circular No. A-94 Revised Appendix C: Pentagon Presentation on Measuring Performance, 1998 Appendix D: Green Chemistry Principles Appendix E: Assessment of Climate Change Impact Appendix F: Criteria-Pollutant Health and Welfare Benefits in 2010 Index